Forget the Warriors' big three: Game 1 was about their big bench
You read your box score right. The Golden State Warriors put seven players in double figures, and Klay Thompson was not among them. Stephen Curry barely was.
The Warriors won Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they won it handily (104-89) despite their big three being outscored 66-36 by the Cavs’ big three. Curry and Thompson combined for only 20 points, their fewest combined total in any game over the past two seasons. The third member of the big three, Draymond Green, collected 16 points to go with his 11 rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
The Cavs’ big three? Kyrie Irving scored 26, LeBron James had 23 and Kevin Love chipped in 17.
The history
The Warriors are 6-2 in NBA Finals openers, with three straight wins (they won a championship the previous two).
Teams that won at least 65 games during the regular season are 13-2 in Finals openers. Teams with the MVP are 19-7 in Finals openers.
James’ teams are now 0-5 in Game 1 of the Finals when playing on the road, 1-6 in Game 1s overall.
Difference-maker: Golden State’s bench
The Warriors’ bench outscored the Cavaliers’ bench 45-10. It was the biggest point differential for the Warriors’ bench in a game this season. Their previous best differential was 17 points in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Trail Blazers.
In fact, Elias Sports Bureau research shows that the plus-35 differential was the largest in a Finals game in the past 50 years.
Shaun Livingston scored a playoff career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He was 13-of-36 from the field (36 percent) in the Western Conference finals against the Thunder.
Leandro Barbosa scored 11 points in 11 minutes on 5-of-5 shooting. The Warriors outscored the Cavaliers by 14 points with Barbosa on the floor. Barbosa totaled 14 points in the Western Conference finals against the Thunder.
The Iguodala impact
Andre Iguodala guarded LeBron James on 22 plays. James totaled two points on 1-of-2 shooting. It was Iguodala and Green who combined to shut down James in the second quarter, holding him to 0-of-4 shooting. James didn’t take a shot the last 9:17 of the half.
James drove to the basket five times in the first quarter (shooting 4-of-5). He drove to the basket six times the rest of the game (1-of-3 from the field).
Looking ahead
When the home team wins Game 1 of the NBA Finals, it wins the series 79 percent of the time.
