It’s tough enough to swallow an NBA Finals defeat when All-Stars like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson or Draymond Green have done the damage. It’s downright painful when it comes from Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa.
The Warriors second unit outscored the Wine and Gold’s reserves, 45-10, to help snuff a Cavaliers’ third-quarter rally and propel Golden State to the 104-89 win on Thursday night at Oracle Arena.
But putting all the focus on Cleveland’s bench doesn’t fully explain the Game 1 loss. The Cavaliers committed 17 turnovers that led to 25 Warriors’ points, shot just 38 percent from the floor and handed out only 17 assists to Golden State’s 29.
Still, Tyron Lue’s squad put themselves in excellent position to make a fourth-quarter run – rallying from an 11-point deficit to take a one-point edge with just over two minutes to play in the third period.
But an aggressive foul by Matthew Dellavedova against last year’s Finals MVP, Andre Iguodala, seemed to ignite the Warriors – and their rapid crowd. Golden State then proceeded to score the final seven points of the third quarter and the first eight of the fourth, eventually extending their lead to 20 points before holding off the Cavaliers down the stretch.
“Obviously, when playing a great team like that, they can make some incredible runs – and they did starting in the fourth quarter, where they went up by 10,” lamented Kyrie Irving. “We kind of never recovered from that.”.
Livingston – who played 49 games with the Wine and Gold in 2012-13 – has been murder against his former squad this season, and that trend continued on Thursday night. In Golden State’s Game 1 win, the 11-year vet led the squad with 20 points off the bench – going 8-for-10 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the stripe.
In three games against Cleveland, regular and postseason, Livingston has gone 18-of-21 from the floor, averaging 13.3 points per.
”Being 6-7, no matter who you try to put in front of him, he’s always going to be bigger at the point guard position,” explained Coach Tyronn Lue. “So we try to keep a bigger defender on him. But he got to the spots, to the free-throw line, 12-feet in on the baseline and got to his shot, and he hurt us with that tonight.”
The Warriors needed all the help they could get from their second unit as the Splash Brothers struggling from the floor, going a combined 8-for-27 on the night. Draymond Green doubled-up with 16 points and 11 boards, but even he wasn’t as big a factor as Golden State’s reserves.
Aside from Livingston’s outburst, Iguodala excelled on both ends – finishing with 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting to go with seven boards and six assists. Leandro Barbosa finished with 11 points in 11 minutes of work – going 5-for-5 from the floor off the bench.
Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 26 points – going 7-for-22 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the stripe, adding four helpers and a team-high three steals.
LeBron James nearly notched his second triple-double of the postseason – finishing with 23 points, 12 boards and nine assists – adding two steals and a block shot.
Kevin Love tallied his 10th double-double of the 2016 Playoffs with 17 points and 13 boards.
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