NBA Finals Game 1: Four takeaways
By Ian Levy
Looking back, the Cleveland Cavaliers will not be happy with how they performed in their Game 1 NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors.
If you told the Cleveland Cavaliers that they would be able to hold Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to a combined 20 points on 8-of-27 shooting in Game 1, they likely would have been thrilled. Instead of an upset win, the Cavaliers struggled themselves and dropped the first game of the NBA Finals, 104-89.
On paper, it seems like the Cavaliers did everything right. They held down Curry and Thompson. LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving combined for 66 points, 28 rebounds, and 14 assists. They grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, and limited the Warriors to just nine three-pointers. That checks off a lot of the keys for their competitiveness in this series.
Unfortunately, they also struggled to defend Golden State’s supporting cast and allowed a slew of easy baskets in transition. Most importantly, despite the scoring output of their big three, Cleveland’s offense struggled to find a rhythm, lacking ball movement and retreating into some of their worst and most stagnant isolationist tendencies.
Neither team played their best game and it’s likely that Game 2 will feature a plethora of adjustments. Still, here are few things takeaways from Game 1 that help explain what happened and what to look for when the series resumes.
Next: 4. Kevin Love's defense is what we thought it was