MANILA, Philippines – Golden State Warriors’ immaculate post season record continues as Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry buried Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers at their “Trilogy” opener, 113-90.
The Golden State Warriors are obviously the more dominant team entering to the NBA 2017 Finals with a 67-15 record in the regular season and 12-0 in the playoffs. The Cleveland Cavaliers on the other hand and despite of being the defending champions, tallied 51-31 and couple of games behind then Eastern Conference leaders Boston Celtics at the season standings. Cavs also lost 1 of its 12 games in the playoffs under the Isaiah Thomas-less Celtics in game 3.
The boxing legend and ring announcer Michael Buffer echoed his famous “Let’s get ready to rumble” line as the Warriors and Cavs opened their “Finals Trilogy” in front of thousands of spectators inside the Oracle Arena and millions of fans around the globe.
As expected, both teams squared-up in the first couple of minutes with tight defensive stops until JR Smith officially opened the books from the corner with a trey. Zaza Pachulia and Kevin Durant quickly retaliated with 2 points apiece for the 4-3 lead.
The Cavs drained 3 triples for the lead while Draymond Green unfortunately committed 2 early fouls that prompted Interim Coach Mike Brown to bring his back-up forward Andre Iguodala who emphasized the depth of the Warriors’ bench by slamming the ball home on his first few seconds on the floor.
Lebron James got good shots from the inside and getting the right foul calls. Shooting free throws however, became James’ waterloo in the first at least.
Golden State shot 0 for 4 from the outside for more than 10 minutes until Stephen Curry made back-to-back threes to regain the lead.
At the end of the first 12 minutes, the Warriors found themselves ahead by 5 points. 35-30 with Andre Iguodala’s buzzer beating three pointer.
The Cavs gave too many easy shots to the Warriors that included multiple breakaway dunks courtesy of Iguodala, Mcgee and Durant. The luxury of open and almost defense-less shots continued in favor of Golden State as Coach Ty Lue let his 2nd unit play to give his starters a breather. But the gamble fired back at Coach Lue as the Warriors posted their biggest lead of 9, 43-34 in the first quarter.
Not only Cavs struggled at the defensive department, their three point shooting had gone ice cold as well. Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving however made points from the outside to stop the bleeding. Irving also converted a rare 4-point play.
Lebron James who silently jotted down 19 points committed 7 turnovers in the first half in contrast to his counterpart, Kevin Durant who already made 7 dunks out of his 23 points. 60-52 with Golden State taking the 8-point advantage marching onto the 2nd half.
The start of the 2nd half didn’t look good for the Cavs as the Warriors extended their lead to 13 and turnovers kept on piling up for Coach Lue and his boys.
Cavs took a much-needed time out to talk things out but as they all went back on court, Stephen Curry dropped more long bombs to even widen the gap. It was 13-0 scoring run for the Dubs.
Halfway of the third, the Warriors were still up by 16 points and for the Cleveland Cavaliers, bad luck continued to hound them offensively combined with lost rebound opportunities.
Cleveland managed to trim the lead to just a dozen but out of nowhere and in just a blink of an eye, the lead ballooned to 22 with Stephen Curry’s sniping prowess.
93-72 with one more full quarter to go in favor of Golden State.
Downed by 20 plus point lead and 10 more minutes to go, it seemed that Ty Lue had already waived the white flag as he opted to sit 3 of his starters except for Lebron James and Kevin Love.
The Cavs looked so tired and gassed out at the start of the final period. Shots weren’t getting in, passes weren’t caught and players kept on fouling. This was the Cavaliers story in last quarter of game number 1. On the other side of the floor, Warriors kept on shooting hoops and grabbing boards. Just totally the exact opposite of the Cavs.
At the 4-minute mark of the fourth, Coach Lue fielded in his reserves and conceded to Coach Mike Brown and the Warriors. The Warriors closed out The Cavs 113-90.
Game 2 will once again be held at the Oracle Arena on Monday, 9 am (Manila Time) live on ABS-CBN Channel 2.
--Joey Boy Capos, The Summit Express
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| Kevin Durant made 9 slam dunks a total of 38 points for Game 1 win versus Lebron james and the Cavs. |
The boxing legend and ring announcer Michael Buffer echoed his famous “Let’s get ready to rumble” line as the Warriors and Cavs opened their “Finals Trilogy” in front of thousands of spectators inside the Oracle Arena and millions of fans around the globe.
As expected, both teams squared-up in the first couple of minutes with tight defensive stops until JR Smith officially opened the books from the corner with a trey. Zaza Pachulia and Kevin Durant quickly retaliated with 2 points apiece for the 4-3 lead.
The Cavs drained 3 triples for the lead while Draymond Green unfortunately committed 2 early fouls that prompted Interim Coach Mike Brown to bring his back-up forward Andre Iguodala who emphasized the depth of the Warriors’ bench by slamming the ball home on his first few seconds on the floor.
Lebron James got good shots from the inside and getting the right foul calls. Shooting free throws however, became James’ waterloo in the first at least.
Golden State shot 0 for 4 from the outside for more than 10 minutes until Stephen Curry made back-to-back threes to regain the lead.
At the end of the first 12 minutes, the Warriors found themselves ahead by 5 points. 35-30 with Andre Iguodala’s buzzer beating three pointer.
The Cavs gave too many easy shots to the Warriors that included multiple breakaway dunks courtesy of Iguodala, Mcgee and Durant. The luxury of open and almost defense-less shots continued in favor of Golden State as Coach Ty Lue let his 2nd unit play to give his starters a breather. But the gamble fired back at Coach Lue as the Warriors posted their biggest lead of 9, 43-34 in the first quarter.
Not only Cavs struggled at the defensive department, their three point shooting had gone ice cold as well. Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving however made points from the outside to stop the bleeding. Irving also converted a rare 4-point play.
Lebron James who silently jotted down 19 points committed 7 turnovers in the first half in contrast to his counterpart, Kevin Durant who already made 7 dunks out of his 23 points. 60-52 with Golden State taking the 8-point advantage marching onto the 2nd half.
The start of the 2nd half didn’t look good for the Cavs as the Warriors extended their lead to 13 and turnovers kept on piling up for Coach Lue and his boys.
Cavs took a much-needed time out to talk things out but as they all went back on court, Stephen Curry dropped more long bombs to even widen the gap. It was 13-0 scoring run for the Dubs.
Halfway of the third, the Warriors were still up by 16 points and for the Cleveland Cavaliers, bad luck continued to hound them offensively combined with lost rebound opportunities.
Cleveland managed to trim the lead to just a dozen but out of nowhere and in just a blink of an eye, the lead ballooned to 22 with Stephen Curry’s sniping prowess.
93-72 with one more full quarter to go in favor of Golden State.
Downed by 20 plus point lead and 10 more minutes to go, it seemed that Ty Lue had already waived the white flag as he opted to sit 3 of his starters except for Lebron James and Kevin Love.
The Cavs looked so tired and gassed out at the start of the final period. Shots weren’t getting in, passes weren’t caught and players kept on fouling. This was the Cavaliers story in last quarter of game number 1. On the other side of the floor, Warriors kept on shooting hoops and grabbing boards. Just totally the exact opposite of the Cavs.
At the 4-minute mark of the fourth, Coach Lue fielded in his reserves and conceded to Coach Mike Brown and the Warriors. The Warriors closed out The Cavs 113-90.
Game 2 will once again be held at the Oracle Arena on Monday, 9 am (Manila Time) live on ABS-CBN Channel 2.
--Joey Boy Capos, The Summit Express
