Golden State Warriors’ bench overpowers Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1, 104-89

By Neal Nachman
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Updated: June 2, 2016

The rematch of all rematches finally took place Thursday evening at Oracle Arena, but it produced the same results.

In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 104-89 in large part because of the Warriors’ bench production. The defending champions’ reserves outscored the Cavaliers’, 45-10.

It is now the sixth consecutive time the Warriors have beaten the Cavaliers, dating back to last June.

The point of emphasis for the Cavaliers was containing Stephen Curry.

“Everyone’s going to have a role trying to guard Curry. He’s a tough player and we know he makes this team go,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Everybody has to be locked in and focused on Steph.”

They executed that plan and then some. Curry and Klay Thompson struggled mightily, going a combined 8-of-27. Curry ended the night with 11 points and Thompson only scored nine. But they had lots of help.

Shaun Livingston went for 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, Andre Iguodala registered 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Leandro Barbosa tallied 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 mark from the field. All three players came off the bench.

Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 26 points on 7-of-22 shooting, LeBron was an assist short of a triple-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds and Kevin Love recorded 17 points and 13 boards. But the offense was isolation-heavy and very slow to find shots. There were repeated 24-second violations in the first half and lots of turnovers (15 total) as the Warriors collapsed on James and Love in the lane.

Unlike last year’s Finals, Cleveland is healthy. The Cavaliers went an entire year wondering what they could have done to the Warriors had they possessed a full, hearty roster.

“This team is prepared for this,” Lue stated confidently before the game. “I think they’re eager for it. Kevin and Kyrie not being a part of The Finals last year and they’re excited and anxious. So now that we’re here, we’re ready to perform.”

The question mark was how would Love match up with the versatile Draymond Green. We still don’t know. Lue shuffled his defensive assignments around. Love started out guarding center Andrew Bogut and Tristan Thompson took Green. But the Cavs’ constant switching on pick-and-rolls left plenty of open space.

The atmosphere was electric and deafening. The Cavaliers had problems communicating, with one of the 24-second violations coming when they were unable to hear their bench yelling to shoot the ball.

Golden State’s bench supplied a boost in the second quarter with Curry and Thompson resting. Livingston and Barbosa led the charge, giving the Warriors an 11-point advantage. The Warriors couldn’t bust the game open, though. Curry, Barnes and Iguodala missed threes that would have given them a sizable lead.

Cleveland did a good job of weathering the storm by slowing the pace down and working inside-out with James. Golden State was forced to send doubles and that opened up three balls for Irving and Love. What once was a 14-point margin, shrunk to a nine-point deficit at intermission.

The Cavaliers had to feel good about where they stood considering they shot 36 percent in the first half, but the Warriors probably felt the same way with Thompson only playing 12 minutes due to foul trouble.

It didn’t start off well in the third quarter. Early on Green faked a screen, sliced to the basket and Curry found him for an easy layup. Lue called a timeout. James was irate and Thompson was yelling for someone to help on the play. The lead was back up to 11. Cleveland came out of that timeout determined and poised, rallying to take a one-point lead several times before Golden State began its winning push.

Leading by six entering the fourth, the Warriors reserves did it again. Livingston knocked down a couple of midrange pull-ups and Barbosa added a jumper and a floater off the glass as a 27-6 run eventually pushed the lead to 20.

Cleveland’s iso ball didn’t work. Golden State was quicker and easily stifled a Cavs team that showed none of the ball movement that marked their run to the East title. Lue finally conceded with 2:30 left by emptying his bench.

Cleveland shot 38 percent for the game. They did a phenomenal job on the Splash Brothers, but were burned by the Warriors’ much-touted “strength in numbers.”

They’ll have another shot at it on Sunday for Game 2 at 8 p.m.