S2* The Plain Dealer | cleveland.com MN Friday, June 5, 2015

Warriors 108, Cavaliers 100 (OT) NBA FINALS Game One slips away in OT Great effort by LeBron James not enough as Cavs squander late-game opportunities

LeBron James Chris Haynes [email protected] 42 points Oakland, Calif. — History shows that the winner of Game 1 of the NBA Finals goes on to win in 4 quarters the championship 71 percent of the time. That’s why it was imperative just shy of Thursday for the Cavaliers to start the series with a business- like approach. They did for much a Game 1 win of the game, but a woeful over- time performance after four riv- Joe Vardon eting quarters allowed Golden [email protected] State to grab Game 1, 108-100, at Oracle Arena. Oakland, Calif. — LeBron LeBron James had a chance to James scored 42 magical points win the game with an isolation in four quarters. of Andre Iguodala, but he missed A 43rd, and the NBA Finals badly. gathered would look a whole lot different. the loose ball and clanked a James and the Cavaliers fell 21-footer, sending the game to apart in overtime and lost Game an extra five-minute period. 1 to the , Coach thought the 108-100. Cavs gave themselves a chance to Cleveland’s lone points in the pull the upset. extra period came from James “At the end of the day, it was with the game long lost. He fin- a one shot game,’’ Blatt said. “Re- ished with 44 points — an NBA alistically, we put ourselves in Finals-high for him with eight re- position to win the game.” bounds and six assists. The Cavaliers started strong, James, who is playing in his sixth holding the Warriors to 29 per- Finals, now has an NBA-best 55 cent from the field in the open- playoff games of at least 30 points, ing quarter to go up 14 points. five rebounds, and five assists. James did his part, bringing Here is an instant, quarter-by- it from the jump ball. He wasn’t quarter briefing on James’ Game 1 looking to set guys up or inter- performance against the Warriors. ested in letting the game come to First quarter him. He was taking it. He wore Stats: 12 points, three rebounds, down the Warriors in the low one , 4-9 FG, 3-4 FT post. They couldn’t stop him as Highlight: Struggling to shoot he torched them for 44 points, threes this entire postseason, eight rebounds and six assists. James connected on his first of The Warriors fans drenched in the Finals at 1:42. yellow attire were on the edge of Briefing: James opened with their seats all night waiting and 12 points and a jumper un- waiting for their opportunity to affected by nerves. Harrison fully let out a gigantic outburst, Barnes and Andre Iguodala but for much of the game the primarily defended James. Cavaliers prevented the War- Second quarter riors from making momentum- Stats: Seven points, zero re- shifting plays. bounds, two assists, 3-7 FG, 1-2 FT It wasn’t until overtime that Highlight: James inbounded the Warriors were able to build to J.R. Smith, who turned and their largest lead of 10 points heaved a three with .7 seconds and take control of the game. left for a 51-48 lead at halftime. For three quarters Cleve- Briefing: It was Draymond land played some smothering Green’s turn to guard James and defense on and Curry’s turn to impact the game. . A body rarely James started to settle for jumpers. GUS CHAN / THE PLAIN DEALER left their presence, limiting the Third quarter The Cavs’ Timofey Mozgov, left, and Golden State’s chase a loose ball Thursday during Game 1 of the NBA Finals. amount of quality looks they had Stats: 12 points, zero rebounds, at the basket. zero assists, 5-9 FG, 2-4 FT Curry, the league MVP, saw up Highlight: James lifted a short to six different defenders on him jumper off the run with 1:38 to at times during the game. Be- go, the second of three buckets off fore he could get a feel for how the same move. one individual was playing him, Briefing: James kicked his post another player was assigned to game in gear, not quite getting him. to the rim but close enough to But it was only a matter of be effective. Barnes, Iguodala, time before they both got going. and Green all had a crack at him. Curry provided 26 points and Fourth quarter Thompson added 21. Stats: 11 points, two rebounds, began the game three assists, 5-9 FG, 0-0 FT maneuvering his way to the Highlight: Trailing by three with paint numerous times with his 2:38 to go, James knocked down a crafty dribbling. The limited trey from the top of the key. practice sessions throughout the Briefing: So much for boxing in week must have helped. James as a scorer. He looked for However, it appeared Irving Mozgov and Irving, and both de- aggravated his bothersome left livered. Mozgov’s two free throws knee midway through overtime inside of one minute when he was as he tried to accelerate, but fell fouled after a pass from James to the floor. He removed him- send this game to overtime. self from the contest and was Overtime escorted limping to the locker Stats: Two points, three rebounds, room. zero assists, 1-4 FG, 0-0 FT He would not return, finish- Highlight: A meaningless layup ing the evening with 23 points, with 8.9 seconds from James was seven rebounds and six assists. all the Cavs got in the extra pe- The Warriors’ bench was re- riod. sponsible for keeping them in Briefing: Total, utter disaster. the game by outscoring their After his 43 minutes, Irving counterparts, 34-9. hobbled off the floor and to the contin- locker room. James missed his ued to be an unstoppable force first three shots, including two on the glass by pulling down three-pointers, and committed a a game-high 15 boards, six of turnover with 40.2 seconds left. It which were on the offensive end. was already over by then. The goal for every road team Totals: 44 points, eight rebounds, THOMAS ONDREY / THE PLAIN DEALER is to leave with a split. They’ll six assists, 18-38 FG, 6-10 FT, 46 The Cavaliers’ LeBron James leans hard into Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green while driving to the basket in have another chance. Game 2 is minutes Game 1 of the NBA Finals Thursday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Sunday.

Cavaliers 100 Warriors 108 Warriors 1, Cavs 0 SCORING REBOUNDS SCORING REBOUNDS Game 1 at Golden State POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A +/- OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST TO BS BA PTS POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A +/- OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST TO BS BA PTS Warriors 108, Cavs 100 (OT) L. James F 45:46 18-38 2-8 6-10 -3 0 8 8 6 2 0 4 0 1 44 H. Barnes F 39:15 4-9 3-5 0-0 +11 2 4 6 1 2 1 0 0 1 11 T. Thompson F 47:09 1-4 0-0 0-0 -6 6 9 15 1 3 1 2 1 0 2 D. Green F 38:55 4-13 0-3 4-4 +3 2 4 6 3 5 2 1 0 0 12 Game 2 at Golden State T. Mozgov C 33:12 5-10 0-0 6-8 +3 3 4 7 2 1 0 1 1 1 16 A. Bogut C 28:28 2-5 0-0 0-0 -6 3 4 7 3 2 1 1 2 1 4 Sunday, 8 p.m. WEWS-Ch. 5 I. Shumpert G 34:27 2-6 2-4 0-0 -7 1 1 2 0 2 4 2 1 0 6 K. Thompson G 38:46 5-14 3-9 8-8 +5 1 5 6 1 1 1 1 2 0 21 Game 3 at Cleveland K. Irving G 43:37 10-22 2-8 1-1 +5 2 5 7 6 5 4 1 2 2 23 S. Curry G 42:39 10-20 2-6 4-4 +4 0 4 4 8 1 2 4 0 2 26 Tuesday, 9 p.m. WEWS-Ch. 5 J.R. Smith 34:21 3-13 3-10 0-0 -8 0 4 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 9 A. Iguodala 31:39 6-8 2-3 1-2 +8 0 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 0 15 Game 4 at Cleveland J. Jones 17:05 0-1 0-1 0-0 -11 0 1 1 1 4 1 1 0 0 0 S. Livingston 15:33 2-6 0-0 0-0 +2 1 4 5 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 June 11, 9 p.m. WEWS-Ch. 5 M. Dellavedova 09:23 0-0 0-0 0-0 -13 1 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 F. Ezeli 12:11 1-1 0-0 3-4 +3 0 5 5 1 1 0 1 0 0 5 J. Harris DNP - COACH’S DECISION L. Barbosa 09:02 1-4 0-1 0-0 +5 0 3 3 1 0 0 2 0 0 2 Game 5* at Golden State June 14, 8 p.m. WEWS-Ch. 5 B. Haywood DNP - COACH’S DECISION M. Speights 08:32 4-8 0-0 0-0 +5 2 1 3 1 2 0 1 0 0 8 S. Marion DNP - COACH’S DECISION J. Holiday DNP - COACH’S DECISION Game 6* at Cleveland M. Miller DNP - COACH’S DECISION D. Lee DNP - COACH’S DECISION June 16, 9 p.m. WEWS-Ch. 5 K. Perkins DNP - COACH’S DECISION J. McAdoo DNP - COACH’S DECISION Game 7* at Golden State Total 265 39-94 9-31 13-19 13 32 45 19 20 10 11 5 5 100 Total 265 39-88 10-27 20-22 11 37 48 24 16 8 12 5 5 108 June 19, 9 p.m. WEWS-Ch. 5 41.5% 29.0% 68.4% TEAM REBS: 11 TOTAL TO: 12 44.3% 37.0% 90.9% TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 12 * if necessary