Good morning! The Golden State Warriors won Game 1 of the NBA Finals, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers, 104-89. Here are the plays everybody will be talking about Friday.
LeBron’s turnover sealed the game for the Warriors. The Cavs had already erased one 14-point deficit when they took a short-lived three-point lead in the third quarter. But then the Warriors went on a 15-0 run, with their bench scoring 13 of the points, and eventually stretched the lead back to 20 with under six minutes to play. But back came the Cavs, cutting the lead to 11 with more than three minutes to go, which is an eternity in the NBA. That’s when Kyrie Irving stole the ball and LeBron James started a fast break that looked as if it would cut the lead to single digits. Instead, Draymond Green caught James from behind and knocked the ball loose. Stephen Curry nailed a 3-pointer at the other end, and it was game over.
Green’s leg was out of control again. This would never get mentioned if not for what happened between Green’s foot and Steven Adams’ groin in the Western Conference Finals; now it is hard not to notice when Green’s legs go flying. This time it happened when Green was fouled by Irving and then sold the foul with a little bit of flopping. As Green fell backward, it appeared that his foot hit Irving in the upper-chest area. Green will not be punished, nor should he. But geez, it’s as if Green has no control over his right leg, at all.
Matthew Dellavedova accidentally punched Andre Iguodala in the groin. In a move that will have some screaming double-standard, Dellavedova swung wildly at the ball while playing defense from behind on Iguodala and accidentally punched Iguodala in the groin. The officials reviewed the play and called only a common foul. This has some wondering how this was different from Green’s kick to Adams’ in the groin in the Western Conference Finals, a move that led to a Flagrant 2 foul for Green. The defense of Dellavedova is that this is more of a “basketball play.” But it can also be argued that the swing was nowhere near the ball and was just as reckless as what Green did (via The Cauldron).
Bonus Kerr Smash. As happy-go-lucky as Steve Kerr can seem most of the time, he does have a temper that occasionally flares up, especially during timeouts. Early in the second half, as the Warriors’ 14-point lead was evaporating, Kerr called timeout and then promptly destroyed his white board.
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
