Cleveland stuns on the road behind LeBron James, ties the NBA Finals at 1-1

It’s a make or miss league, they tell us. And if you like misses, Game 2 was your sort of scene.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers stunned just about anyone who had been paying a whiff of attention to these NBA Finals, downing the 67-win Golden State Warriors in overtime to take a 1-1 series tie back to Cleveland. These NBA Finals were expected to be a one-sided affair with Cleveland working without the injured Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, and yet the Cavs rallied behind LeBron James and the indefatigable Matthew Dellavedova in order to pull out the 95-93 win.

The Warriors had to overcome an 11-point deficit with 3:13 left in the contest in order to force that overtime, with a series of calls going their way on both ends. James wowed all onlookers with a 39-point, 16-rebound and 11-assist night, but he also missed 23 of 34 shots from the field and clanged a potential game-winner in regulation. Warriors guard and NBA MVP Stephen Curry missed 18 of 23 shots while turning the ball over six times, airballing a possible go-ahead jumper in the waning seconds of overtime.

Meanwhile, Irving’s replacement – the tireless Dellavedova – clinched the game with two clutch free throws in the final seconds after securing an offensive rebound off a James Jones miss.

Jones was the seventh in a seven-man rotation as Cleveland threw all that it competently had against Golden State in the win. The team made fewer than a third of its shots overall and shot exactly 33 1/3 percent from three-point land, but it also crashed toward the free throw line and took care of the ball – the Cavs turned the ball over just 13 times in 53 minutes.

James, Dellavedova, and forward Tristan Thompson were absolute workhorses. Thompson scored just two points (after the 64 percent free throw shooter was hacked twice intentionally, making 2-4 from the line), but he also expertly switched on several Warriors after screen and roll plays while pulling 14 rebounds – with seven coming on the offensive end. Dellavedova, only starting because of Kyrie Irving’s kneecap fracture, missed seven of ten shots and turned the ball over six times, but he also played fantastic defense on Curry while helping to clear James for endless isolation sets on the other end.

In return, the sweet-shooting Warriors just couldn’t buy one.

Credit should go to Cleveland’s active defense, but the Warriors did clang on an unending series of jump shots and made a series of poor offensive decisions from stem to bloody stern. Klay Thompson impressed by hitting four of his first five shots while working toward 34 points in 45 minutes, but the W’s turned the ball over more times than they assisted (17 to 16) and missed 27 of 35 three-pointers.

GSW coach Steve Kerr limited his bench options as well, only working seven players double-figure minutes in a 53-minute contest, waiting out Curry’s bad luck streak in dancing school from long range – the MVP missed 13 of 15 from behind the arc.

This post will be updated.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops