Final thoughts
Email from Farrell Wills
I’m a warriors’ fan, too, and this is just painful. Your last comment, “Stop, stop...” brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know how I’d handle this, if I were Kerr, or Green, or Steph.
It’s not surprising that the Warriors won, but I was expecting there to at least be a competitive fourth quarter this time around. The Golden State Warriors looked like… well what they’ve looked like at home for most of the year. At the very least, this makes you appreciate the job that the Oklahoma City Thunder did on the Warriors during the last series.
But, the series is heading to Cleveland now, which should give the Cavaliers their best opportunity to show they can beat the Warriors. Wednesday’s Game 3 is very much going to have an elimination game atmosphere. We’ll be covering it here at the Guardian, hopefully you’ll be joining us. That’s the end of our live NBA coverage for today, however, thanks to everybody who read along, and especially those who contributed over the last few hours. Ciao!
The Golden State Warriors have taken a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals! We’ll be back with some final thoughts to wrap things up.
Warriors win!
Cavaliers 77-110 Warriors, FINAL
@HunterFelt didn't expect OKC to defeat Spurs,run GSW so close and expected a close match up btn Cavs and GSW but looks like 4 1 to GSW
— Mr J (@jnr_jinx) June 6, 2016
We’ll see what happens in Game 3. But certainly it’s difficult to predict a long series here based on how the Cavs have played.
Mozgov makes one of two free throws. Clark makes the last field goal of the game, a jump shot that adds to the Warriors’ margin of victory. Jones hits one of two free throws and that’s gonna do it. The Warriors win!
Cavaliers 75-108 Warriors, 1:24, 4th quarter
James “The Luckiest Teammate In NBA History” Jones makes a layup here. Ezeli gets to the line to make two free throws. Speights and Clark both hit three-pointers and, okay, now they’re just being kinda cruel. We’re in “stop, stop they’re already dead” territory.
Cavaliers 73-100 Warriors, 4:22, 4th quarter
Dellavedova hits two free throws, plus a three-pointer here. This is all just stat-padding here. Speights makes his first appearance on the night for the Warriors.
"Dellavedova finally scores for the Cavaliers here with a fade way."
— Roscommon, Outraged (@blueshiftbeeble) June 6, 2016
Apt, @HunterFelt, apt.
Sometimes the typos end up working better than what you meant to type.
Cavaliers 68-100 Warriors, 5:23, 4th quarter
Joshua Murray:
Lebron needs to step up and put the team on his back if he wants to win this game... (But I’m a Warriors fan!!)
Well, this game is out of reach. But substitute “this series” for “this game,” and you might be right.
Mozgov knocks down two free throws. Livingston gets fouled on the way to the basket, scored and the foul.
Cavaliers 66-97 Warriors, 6:07, 4th quarter
Curry and Thompson look like they’re done for this game. Barnes hits a turnaround jump shot. Ian Clark lays in a Barnes’ miss.
Dellavedova finally scores for the Cavaliers here with a fade way.
Cavaliers 64-93 Warriors, 7:19, 4th quarter
Livingston with a jumper. Man this is looking a lot like Game 1, isn’t it?
@HunterFelt If Cleveland could just lose Love and Irving the #Cavs could actually make a series of it.
— David Lengel (@LengelDavid) June 6, 2016
Well they’re down one of those, so we’ll see...
Cavaliers 64-91 Warriors, 8:28, 4th quarter
Barbosa with a layup… and, well at least the Mozgov move plays dividends here as he manages to dunk.
Oh and Love is out for the game after going through the concussion protocols.
Cavaliers 62-89 Warriors, 10:22, 4th quarter
Oh hey, look it’s Timofey Mozgov making a rare appearance. It doesn’t help them as the Warriors go on a run. Curry hits a three and Barbosa makes two straight shots.
The Cavaliers have to call a timeout.
Email from Will Miner:
You referred to LeBron in the 1st quarter as just facilitating. What’s keeping his role so limited?
(Can’t watch the game so trying to follow.)
Well he’s scored 19 points in the last two quarters, so things have changed a bit but Golden State’s defense has definitely been in “we’ll let Tristan Thompson and Richard Jefferson hurt us” mode and not letting LeBron have his way.
Cavaliers 62-82 Warriors, end of the 3rd quarter
James hits a 3 pointer, man did the Cavaliers need that.
But Klay Thompson responds with a three-pointer of his own. James’s next three point attempt is a no go and that’s how the third quarter will end.
Cleveland is down by 20 heading into the fourth. This is dire.
Cavaliers 59-79 Warriors, :58, 3rd quarter
The red-hot Green adds to his scorecard with a 15-foot shot. Klay Thompson gets fouled on the way to the basket, making the layup and the free throw and the Warriors are on the precipice of running away with this one.
Cavaliers 59-74 Warriors, 2:17, 3rd quarter
Andre Iguodala is the latest Warrior to get to the free throw line, and he makes one of two.
Draymond with his 5th three-pointer, he’s looking better here than he did at almost any point during the Western Conference Finals.
Oh hey, there’s Kyrie Irving with a three-pointer. The Cavs desperately, desperately needed that.
Cavaliers 57-70 Warriors, 3:33, 3rd quarter
Foul on Irving puts Barnes on the line, where he hits the first free throw but not the second. irving makes a three-point attempt that doesn’t go, but Jefferson tips it in.
Cavaliers 55-69 Warriors, 4:03, 3rd quarter
JR Smith knocks the ball away from Harrison Barnes and then wisely calls for a 20 second timeout. And out of that timeout… LeBron gets called for traveling. Okay, that can’t be what they drew up.
Klay’s jumper is no good for the Warriors, LeBron swipes the rebound and hammers it home on the other end.
Cavaliers 53-69 Warriors, 5:20, 3rd quarter
Love is back in the Cavaliers locker room. I can’t help but wonder if they think he might be concussed.
Out of the timeout, Shumpert misses a three. Green gets the rebound and lays it in on the other end.
Cavaliers 53-67 Warriors, 5:33, 3rd quarter
And, of course, now it’s turning into Leandro Barbosa vs Richard Jefferson, just like all the NBA Finals previews predicted. Barbosa with a layup. Jefferson with a dunk…
Okay, okay, there’s Klay Thompson to make a three-pointer, it’s not just the supporting cast this game.
After yet another Barbosa layup it’s time for Lue to call a timeout, presumably to go “we can’t let freaking Barbosa kill us two games in a row.”
Cavaliers 51-60 Warriors, 7:43, 3rd quarter
JR Smith with a layup, Draymond Green with a three pointer. The Warriors will take that exchange every single time.
At least Irving makes an impact here, a layup that cuts the Warriors lead back to single-digits.
Cavaliers 47-57 Warriors, 8:41, 3rd quarter
And a Cavaliers possession ends in a shot clock violation.
@hunterfelt cars are pulling all stops to keep up with an average warriors 2nd half
— Move On (@jmigueltavares) June 6, 2016
That’s a bit how it feels like here, although it still feels like Irving or Love should have a second gear available. Jefferson gets on the line here, and makes one of two free throws.
Cavaliers 46-57 Warriors, 9:42, 3rd quarter
Jefferson comes back in to the game already, all “What Did I Miss.” He almost immediately gets called for a foul.
Green misses a jumper, but Iguodala puts his miss back in to increase the Warriors lead.
Cavaliers 46-55 Warriors, 10:04, 3rd quarter
Tristan Thompson picks up his fourth foul, that’s really not good for Cleveland considering how crucial his role has been in this game.
Irving with a floater for the first scoring on the second half, and then Curry shoots down a three-pointer. Kevin Love’s pass is picked off by Andrew Bogut and the Warriors call an early timeout.
Second half begins!
Cavaliers 44-52 Warriors, 11:37, 3rd quarter
Klay Thompson gets called for traveling. That’s probably not the ideal start for the Warriors there.
@HunterFelt Will the real LeBron,Love and Irving pls stand up.??
— Mr J (@jnr_jinx) June 6, 2016
Or maybe Jefferson.
I have a feeling that the LeBron we saw towards the end of the first quarter is going to be the one we see for most of the second half.
Halftime thoughts
@HunterFelt Does Cleveland superstar Richard Jefferson have to raise his level of play even more for the Cavaliers to win?
— DJ Gallo (@DJGalloEtc) June 6, 2016
Strange game, even with LeBron’s 14 points in the 2nd quarter, he’s been more of a facilitator here. The Warriors, one would think, would be happy if this continued.
Updated
Halftime!
Cavaliers 44-52 Warriors, end of the first half
LeBron James hits two straight shots to cut into the Cavaliers lead, and Jefferson gets to the line, where he makes one out of two free throws. That’s a 7-0 Cleveland run to finish the first half, which they really needed to keep this a game.
Cavaliers 39-52 Warriors, 1:47, 2nd quarter
Iguodala with a layup. Strong end to the second quarter here from Golden State.
It’s Richard Jefferson who manages to get the Cavaliers scoring actual field goals again, this time a diving layup assisted by LeBron.
Cavaliers 37-50 Warriors, 2:25, 2nd quarter
Curry gets called for a foul on LeBron. That’s the third on Curry, which could end up being significant. Certainly significant: LeBron Makes both free throws, although Curry scores mere seconds later to nullify any ground the Cavs have made up.
Cavaliers 35-48 Warriors, 3:08, 2nd quarter
Out of a Warriors timeout, Steph Curry hits a huge momentum-dampening three-pointer. Love’s three on the other end is no good. Livingston with the rebound, which he gets to Curry, which he gets to Klay Thompson who NAILS another triple.
Cavaliers 35-42 Warriors, 3:35, 2nd quarter
LeBron James with a layup, this is right about when Cleveland needs to go on a run if they want to stay in the game.
Cavaliers 33-42 Warriors, 4:35, 2nd quarter
Looks like Love got elbowed on the head. He’s remaining in the ballgame it looks like. Green makes his free throw.
Well, Love looked okay there, he hits a three-pointer to cut into that Warriors lead.
Cavaliers 30-41 Warriors, 5:09, 2nd quarter
Draymond Green makes a layup, and get fouled on the play. Meanwhile, Kevin Love is apparently hurt. Everything unraveling for Cleveland here.
Cavaliers 30-39 Warriors, 5:52, 2nd quarter
Tristan Thompson gets called for a foul during a jumped ball… which is something you don’t see often. Somethin you do see often? Curry hitting a shot to increase a Warriors’ lead.
Cavaliers 30-37 Warriors, 6:24, 2nd quarter
So, just when the Cavs think they’re figuring things out, Draymond Green hits two straight three-pointers against them.
You’d think that maybe this would be a good time for a Cavaliers timeout, but Lue lets them play on.
Cavaliers 30-31 Warriors, 8:07, 2nd quarter
Green collects a rebound and gets the ball to Klay Thompson who makes a basket to increase the Golden State lead.
Livingston, however, fouls LeBron, putting him on the line with a chance of cutting the Golden State lead to one.
Which he does, two free throws later.
Cavaliers 28-29 Warriors, 9:00, 2nd quarter
Matthew Dellavedova misses a jumper, Green gets the rebound and Draymond Green dunks to give the Warriors the lead.
Cavaliers 28-27 Warriors, 9:37, 2nd quarter
Green then steals a LeBron pass, gets the ball to Klay Thompson, who gets it to Shaun Livingston who makes a shot that cuts the Cleveland lead down to one. It’s Tyronn Lue’s time to call a timeout.
Cavaliers 28-25 Warriors, 9:56, 2nd quarter
Barnes attempts a jumper out of the Golden State timeout, but Jefferson blocks it. Lot of good shot contesting this game so far. On the other ed, LeBron James with a tomahawk dunk! Okay, yeah I think he’s quiet.
AND KLAY THOMPSON HAS WOKEN UP! He hits a three pointer that the Warriors desperately needed.
Cavaliers 26-22 Warriors, 10:37, 2nd quarter
Iman Shumpert or possibly the bass player for the Time hits a three pointer to give the Cavaliers a lead back. (This is LeBron’s sixth assist.)
And then, FINALLY, LeBron scores his first points of the game, driving to the basket with a layup that forces Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to take a timeout..
Cavaliers 21-22 Warriors, 11:42, 2nd quarter
Of course, this just means that either Klay or LeBron are going to have like a 40 point second half. Just watch.
In any case, Draymond Green gives the Warriors the lead once more by hitting a three pointer to start the second.
Just as everyone predicted beforehand, LeBron James and Klay Thompson have combined for a full ZERO points in the first quarter of Game 2. To be fair, James does have 5 assists, so he’s at least contributing.
Cavaliers 21-19 Warriors, end of the 1st quarter
LeBron passes the ball to Tristan Thompson, because he’s been a more reliable shooter this game. And he rewards James’s decision making by untying the game.
And that’s the last scoring of the first quarter. What an…. odd start here.
Cavaliers 19-19 Warriors, 1:00, 1st quarter
Richard Jefferson with a driving layup, hey the Cavaliers will get offense from whoever they can. Thompson then steals a Harrison Barnes pass and gets on the line where he makes both. Tied game.
Cavaliers 15-19 Warriors, 2:21, 1st quarter
And an Ezeli dunk. What did I tell you?
Cavaliers 15-17 Warriors, 2:40, 1st quarter
Oh hey there’s Richard Jefferson. I keep forgetting he’s not retired, he draws a foul on Steph Curry and heads to the line. He makes both. It’s a two-point game again.
Cavaliers 13-17 Warriors, 2:57, 1st quarter
And Ezeli immediately scores. Smith attempts a three… that he probably would like back. It’s a no-go. Curry scores on the other end to give the Warriors their biggest lead of the game and, yep, the Cavaliers take a time out here.
Cavaliers 13-13 Warriors, 3:24, 1st quarter
And Draymond Green ties things up. Bogut steps out of the game, replaced by Festus Ezeli, always good for at least one dunk per game.
Cavaliers 13-11 Warriors, 4:24, 1st quarter
Andrew Bogut is everywhere this game early on, just swarming. He blocks a Kevin Love layup and then fouls LeBron James, but it’s not a shooting foul.
Shaun Livingston is in the game, and gets the cheers you’d expect after his Game 1 performance. That applause is short lived, as Jr. Smith hits a three-pointer that gives the Cavaliers the lead once more.
Cavaliers 10-11 Warriors, 5:28, 1st quarter
And hey, look at that, Curry hits his first three-pointer of the game. And the Warriors have the lead.
Email from Raymond Reardon:
On the weekend of the passing of the Louisville Lip at the age of 73, the first PGA career win of 36 year old Bill McGirt at Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament and the playing of the Star Spangled Banner by 69 year old Carlos Santana, surely it is time for a memorable game by 31 year old Le Bron James. For Old Times Sakes.
You’d think. He’s been quiet so far, but don’t think that will last.
Cavaliers 10-8 Warriors, 5:54, 1st quarter
Draymond Green drives to the basket and lays one in. Andrew Bogut with a block and then a key defensive rebound and the Warriors have the ball, down by just 2 points. They take an early timeout.
Cavaliers 10-6 Warriors, 7:05, 1st quarter
J.R. Smith gets fouled and goes to the line… and misses both. Andre Iguodala, already on the floor, then dunks to cut the Cavs lead to 2.
Except Tristan Thompson immediately answers. He’s clearly the best Thompson on the floor so far this game.
Updated
Cavaliers 8-4 Warriors, 8:30, 1st quarter
Kevin Love makes a layup to increase the Cavaliers lead, but Bogut responds and then blocks a second Love layup.
Tristan Thompson then dunks. We’re starting to see the offensive game that we were all expecting.
Cavaliers 4-2 Warriors, 9:22, 1st quarter
The Warriors having trouble getting anything. Curry misses two three-pointers. Luckily for them, the Cavs are struggling to score a bit as well.
Finally, nearly three minutes into the game, Green hits the first shot for the Warriors.
Cavaliers 4-0 Warriors, 10:41, 1st quarter
And Irving makes the second shot as well, assisted by LeBron.
Opening tip
Cavaliers 2-0 Warriors, 11:45, 1st quarter
Tristan Thompson wins the tip. Kyrie Irving hits the first shot of the game for the Cavaliers.
A moment of silence for THE CHAMP! https://t.co/GoSMAhqj5Z
— NBA (@NBA) June 6, 2016
Every year Santana does the national anthem before a Warriors game is a year I will tweet that it should have been Rancid
— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) June 6, 2016
We’re getting close to opening tip here. Or... we’re about to wade through another 10 minutes of introductions, ceremonies and advertisements. I’m never really good at predicting this kind of thing.
No Rob Thomas! And no singing, period. That’s exactly how the Star Spangled Banner should be handled every game.
Coming up, Carlos Santana will be doing a rendition of the national anthem. If it’s anything like the instrumental version he performed at Oracle last year it will be great. (If Rob Thomas makes a cameo, it will be uh, not as much.)
And meanwhile the strategy among the fans at Oracle is to... convince the Cavaliers that they dosed the Gatorade with acid?
— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) June 5, 2016
Cleveland Cavaliers starters
Kyrie Irving, G
J.R. Smith, G
LeBron James, F
Kevin Love, F
Tristan Thompson, C
Golden State Warriors starters
Harrison Barnes, F
Draymond Green, F
Andrew Bogut, C
Klay Thompson, G
Stephen Curry, G
Barnes starting and not Iguodala this time around.
And, of course, the argument against the Warriors winning Game 2:
LeBron James: won last 9 Game 2s following a Game 1 loss
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 5, 2016
While most of these postseason stats like this suffer from “small sample size” issues, it’s hard to just dismiss this once we’re talking nine straight games. Maybe it’s nothing more than “good teams makes adjustments follow losses.” Maybe it says something about LeBron’s competitive nature. But, well, that certainly doesn’t hurt the theory that LeBron’s going to have a monster game tonight.
If Golden State goes on to lose to the Cavaliers, this will be the audiophile equivalent of a Mission Accomplished banner.
Warriors coaches received these custom 'Championship Ready' Beats By Dre headphones in comically large briefcases... pic.twitter.com/Gg0mBYUGC2
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) June 5, 2016
Predictions
Hey, this is going to totally shock everybody but I think that the Warriors are going to win tonight. Yes, I know, this is pretty much always my prediction, but it’s usually a pretty safe one, especially since they’re playing at Oracle.
With the extremely notable exception of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, possibly one of the bigger single game upsets in recent playoff memory, the Warriors just win at home. There’s nothing that Cleveland did in game 1 that convinced me that they’ll win today.
The only exception is if LeBron James has one of those games he played in last year’s Finals where he basically single-handedly carried his team to victory. If that happens today, I’ll gladly take being wrong in my prediction. What’s your take? Shoot off your predictions here via email (to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) or Twitter (@HunterFelt) and we’ll use them here.
With no Russell Westbrook in the NBA Finals, somebody else had to step up to become the frontrunner for the Fashion MVP. Ladies and gentlemen we have Iman Shumpert, walking tribute to Ready For The World.
Iman Shumpert & JR Smith of the @cavs arrive for tonight's #NBAFinals Game 2. https://t.co/2Ago1tWizR
— NBA (@NBA) June 5, 2016
Preamble
Wow, it feels like it’s been awhile since the last time we had live basketball, almost three whole days, I’d say.
So, yeah, there hasn’t been any NBA action since Thursday’s Game 1. While normally I would use this space to argue that the games in the NBA Finals are spread out far too thin, this time the delay ended up being for the best, considering that the sports world needed that time to adjust to the loss of Muhammad Ali.
Still, it’s nice to be reporting on an actual sporting event now, especially when we’re at the highly pivotal Game 2. Granted, now that we’re in the NBA Finals, pretty much every single game we have left is pivotal, but today’s outcome will go a long way in determining how the rest of this series will play out. Depending on who wins, this game might be the sign we’re in for an epic series, or a warning that this whole thing will be over in a blink.
Right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers need to be hoping for a long series. When we last saw the Cavs, they were getting their butts handed to them by the likes of Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson both had off-nights, but the Golden State Warriors bench was able to have their way with the Cavaliers. Thanks primarily to its efforts, the Warriors won 104-89 and took a 1-0 NBA Finals lead.
All of the pressure now is on the Cavaliers. Today they have to either beat the Warriors and tie up the series or, at the very least, put up an impressive enough fight that they can at least hope to beat them once the series heads to Cleveland. The Warriors? The Warriors just have to keep on doing what they’ve been doing, although fans will obviously be a bit relieved if Curry and Thompson look a little bit more like their regular season selves.
A win tonight for the Warriors would be their 87th of the season, tying the 95-96 Bulls. Would also improve home record to 50-3 on the year.
— Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) June 5, 2016
As always, you could take part in our liveblog! Send us your thoughts, comments, questions, jokes etc. either via Twitter (to @HunterFelt) or email (Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) and we’ll include them throughout tonight’s game. It’s the Cleveland Cavaliers vs the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena! Opening tip should be sometime after 8:00pm EST, but we’ll be back well before then.
Hunter will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s a recap of Game 1:
The teams on the marquee and the end result might have been the same, but Game 1 of the 2016 NBA finals wasn’t much like its predecessor. In 2015, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors traded heavy body blows en route to a nail-biting overtime victory for the eventual champions. This year’s Game 1 never even felt close, even with the Warriors’ superstars playing more like mere mortals. A thorough demolition of the turnover-happy Cavs was only threatened by a brief Cleveland spurt squashed after yet another controversial foul from their backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova.
Shaun Livingston came off the bench to lead the Warriors with 20 points, one of three Golden State substitutes to finish in double digits as they won 104-89. On a night when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were both distinctly subpar, that production from the bench was crucial. The impact from the opposite bench was non-existent. Channing Frye, who was looked at as a potential game-changing force for Cleveland, was held to two points in just seven minutes of action. The best efforts of LeBron James (a near triple-double of 23 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists) and Kyrie Irving (26 points, four assists) were wasted when the rest of the team couldn’t get going.
