Good morning! The Golden State Warriors won Game 1 of the NBA Finals, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-89. Here are the plays everybody will be talking about Friday.
LeBron's turnover sealed the game for the Warriors. The Cavs had already erased one 14-point deficit when they took a short-lived 3-point lead in the third quarter. But then the Warriors went on a 15-0 run with bench scoring 13 of the points and eventually stretched the lead back to 20 with under six minutes to play. But back came the Cavs, cutting the lead to 11 with more than three minutes to go, which is an eternity in the NBA. That's when Kyrie Irving stole the ball and LeBron James started a fastbreak that looked like it would cut the lead to single digits. Instead, Draymond Green caught James from behind, knocked the ball loose, and at the other end Stephen Curry nailed a 3-pointer and it was game over.
Draymond Green's leg was out of control again. This would never get mentioned except it is Draymond Green and because of what happened between his foot and Steven Adams' groin in the Western Conference Finals it is hard not to notice when his legs go flying. This time it happened when he was fouled by Kyrie Irving and then sold the foul with a little bit of flopping. As he fell backwards, it appears that Draymond's foot hits Irving in the upper-chest area. Nothing is going to happen to Green and nothing should happen. But geez, it's like Green has no control over his right leg, at all .
Matthew Dellavedova accidentally punched Andre Iguodala in the groin. In a move that is going to have some screaming double-standard, Dellavedova was playing defense from behind on Iguodala, Delly swung wildly at the ball, and accidentally punched Iguodala in the groin. The officials reviewed the play and only a common foul was called. This has some wondering how this was different than Draymond Green accidentally kicking Steven Adams in the groin in the Western Conference Finals, a move that led to the NBA giving Green a flagrant-2 foul. The defense of Dellavedova is that this is more of a "basketball play." But it can also be argued that the swing was nowhere near the ball and it was just as reckless as what Green did (via The Cauldron).
Bonus Kerr Smash. As happy-go-lucky as Steve Kerr can seem most of the time, he does have a temper that occasionally flares up, especially during timeouts. Early in the second half, as the Warriors' 14-point lead was evaporating, Kerr called timeout and then promptly destroyed his white board.