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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
DJ Gallo

Golden State Warriors v Cleveland Cavaliers: NBA finals 2015 Game 1 – as it happened

LeBron James
LeBron James drives against Andre Iguodala. Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Thanks for following the liveblog.

We’ll also have Game 2 for you here, Sunday night.

Yes, only two days between games this time, instead of seven. Pretty great!

Final Score: Warriors 108, Cavaliers 100 (OT)

LeBron played a HUGE game (at least in regulation). Curry didn’t have his A-game.

And Cleveland still lost.

And Kyrie Irving is hurt.

That was a great game, but this won’t be a great series if/when it only goes 4 or 5 games.

Kyrie Irving has women’s World Cup fever!

Warriors 108, Cavaliers 98. 1:16 left in the game.

The Cavs have missed their last 12 shots. It’s hard to have an overtime game be a blowout, but this game might do it.

Kyrie Irving is heading to the locker room with a limp. And there’s a turnover by Cleveland, down 7 with 1:50 left. Things have gotten real bad, real fast for them.

Can Atlanta play the rest of the series? Wait, no. That’s a terrible idea.

Updated

Agreed. It also helps that Steve Kerr’s small lineup doesn’t include J.R. Smith.

Cavaliers 98-105 Warriors 2:02 left in OT

Harrison Barnes hits a corner three to put Golden State up 105-98 with 2:02 left.

People are going crazy in Oakland. And not in the typical Raiders fan way.

Updated

Warriors 100, Cavaliers 98. 2:30 left in OT.

Curry about to take two FTs after drawing a foul.

You know who also probably likes to draw? RILEY CURRY! (omg so adorbs)

First five possessions of OT have come and gone without a point. Someone will have to score to win the game. It’s in the rules.

End of regulation: Cavaliers 98, Warriors 98

A LeBron jumper from the wing with 3 seconds left was long. This great game will continue. This is good news.

Updated

Huuuuuuge recovery and block by Kyrie Irving on Steph Curry after Curry dribble by him.

I wonder who Duke grad Seth Curry is cheering for on that play.

Warriors 98, Cavaliers 98. 0:31 left

Mozgov hits two FTs to tie it at 98 with 31 seconds left.

Still not his greatest game:

Updated

Warriors up 98-96. 45 seconds left.

Steph Curry hits a jumper to give Golden State the lead. This is entertaining. Other networks should probably not be bothering airing stuff.

Tied at 96 with 2 minutes left ... annnnnnnd still tied at 1:44 after Thompson airballs a horrible 3 out of bounds. Okay, enough of that. Everyone go back to doing awesome basketball stuff.

Updated

Great name, not the greatest player.

Warriors 94, Cavaliers 93. 3:25 left.

Curry hits a jumper to give Golden State the lead. It’s starting to look like the Warriors team can beat the Cavaliers team of just one guy.

Cavs 91, Warriors 90. 4:43 left in the 4th

LeBron scores again, Klay Thompson immediately answers with a 3. These guys are scoring so fast, it’s hard to liveblog. NOT POLITE!

Updated

Andre Iguodala hits a three with one shoe off.

This game was good already but now they’re showing off.

LeBron scores his 36th and 37th points on a turnaround jumper in the lane to put the Cavs up by 4 points and convincing Steve Kerr to call a timeout. This game is a reminder that while LeBron may not be the MVP this year, he’s still the best basketball player.

Hey, here’s an idea: maybe there should be an award for that.

Cavaliers 84, Warriors 82. 6:45 left in the 4th.

Andrew Bogut scores his first points on a big dunk, then Mozgov answers. Big people doing big things.

LeBron. Speights. Back and forth. It’s the NBA Finals we always dreamed of.

If Matthew Dellavedova is going to make an impact on this game by snapping someone’s arm or leg, now’s the time.

LeBron is back in the game. Cavaliers coach LeBron James probably shouldn’t take LeBron James out of the game again.

Warriors 78, Cavaliers 77. 9:28 left in the 4th.

LeBron is taking a breather. You may be surprised to know that Cleveland looks much worse with him out of the game.

In case you missed it:

LeBron has 31 points. Curry and Klay Thompson have 32 combined.

Kendrick Perkins? Still 0.

End of the 3rd: Cavaliers 73, Warriors 73.

LeBron had the ball in his hands at the top of the key with 5 seconds left, but was stripped by Iguodala who went the distance for a game-tying dunk.

If this happened at the end of the 4th quarter, the Internet and First Take producers would catch on fire.

Cleveland 73, Warriors 70. LeBron now has 31 points in 31 minutes. If this game goes multiple OTs and LeBron plays 101 minutes, we could see some history.

Cavaliers 69, Warriors 66. 2:59 left in the 3rd.

Draymond Green gets called for his 4th foul even though it looked like LeBron shoved him going to the hoop. LeBron is a much bigger star than Green. The NBA is the same as it ever was. (See Michael Jordan/Bryon Russell.)

Certain players can push off, certain players can’t.

Updated

Curry with the turnover with the Warriors down 67-64. That’s now 9 turnovers for Golden State. Three more and they’ve gone full Harden.

Cavaliers 63, Warriors 59. 6:03 left in the 3rd.

Mozgov hits two free throws to extend Cleveland’s lead. Timofey > Tina Fey.

Updated

Marshawn Lynch is at the game.

Looks like he’s not doing anything, just like at the end of the Super Bowl.

The NBA Finals record for attempted 3s in a game is 32. The Cavs are currently on pace for 34.

That record could be broken a few times this series.

Cavaliers 59, Warriors 52. 9:15 left in the 3rd

Mozgov with another huge dunk. He seems like someone you’d want to get away from when he’s dunking so you don’t have all of your bones broken.

Updated

The second half is underway.

The first half will be hard to top. Hopefully the second half will have lots of J.R. Smith, as well.

Some modern stats are great. Some are crap. But I fully approve of this new DGaD analytic.

Both teams were 19-for-44 from the floor in the first half.

I’m going to guess this is the first time in NBA Finals history that both teams shot 19-for-44 from the floor in the first half of Game 1. #history

Here’s J.R. Smith’s three:

If Cleveland has joy, Knicks fans must have sadness. It’s the Circle of Sports Fan Misery.

Halftime: Cavaliers 51, Warriors 48

J.R. Smith hits a deep 3 with 0.7 seconds left in the half to give Cleveland back the lead. Smith has 9 point at the half. All of this is hilarious.

Idea: the Cavaliers should just have a big guy stand in the left corner and never leave.

Iman Shumpert with another 3 to keep the Warriors from pulling ahead even more. What a day for former Knicks.

Warriors up 43-39 with 2:20 left in the 1st half.

Cavs coach LeBron James better call timeout to stop the run.

Updated

Hey, let’s use this stoppage in play to check in with what some NBA players who didn’t make the Finals are up to ...

Tie game! 36-36 with 4:20 left in the half.

Steph Curry corner three ties it up.

Hey, perhaps the Cavs won’t win the Series in a sweep.

Speights again! Cleveland 36, Warriors 31. Now he gets an assist to Draymond Green to make it 36-33.

Uhhh ... I forgot to write this earlier: my late pick for an NBA Finals X-Factor is Speights.

Steve Kerr calls a timeout trailing 34-27 with 6:26 left in the 1st quarters. I assume he called time to give J.R. Smith a rest so Cleveland keeps him in the game to keep throwing the ball up every chance he gets.

Cleveland 31, Warriors 27. 7:40 left in the 1st quarter.

Back-to-back buckets by Marresse Speights, playing his first game in a while.

I had to double-check that spelling several times. Still not sure if it’s right.

It’s his gift. Shock and awe.

Cavaliers 29, Warriors 23 - 9:35 left in 1st

Warriors cut it to 6 on an Iguodala jumper. Only one Warriors starter, Harrison Barnes, has been in during the run. I guess Steve Kerr figured backups could handle an Eastern Conference team.

LeBron is on pace to take 36 shots. He’s only put up that many once so far in the playoffs this year.

Prepare for people complaining that LeBron is selfish and doesn’t pass enough.

Cavs 29, Warriors 19. End of the first quarter.

James has 12 points. Curry has 4 points on 2-of-6 shooting.

Kendrick Perkins has 0 points and 0 minutes.

Cleveland 29, Golden State 15 - 58 seconds left in the 1st

Cavs take their biggest lead on a 3-pointer by J.R. Smith. Go Knicks!

Matthew Dellavedova has entered the game.

LET THE DESTRUCTION BEGIN!

Good think Kyrie Irving is hurt or Steph Curry really could have been embarrassed here:

Cavs 19, Warriors 13 - 2:55 left in the 1st quarter

We finally have a stoppage in play and a commercial break. It’s been mostly non-stop action since the tip. Yes, this matchup will do nicely for 4-7 games.

Speaking of Mozgov, Van Gundy says: “This was an incredible trade by Cavaliers GM David Griffin.”

Oh, man. No one told Van Gundy that LeBron is actually Cleveland’s GM.

Updated

Huge dunk by Mozgov gives the Cavs a 13-11 lead with 5 minutes left in the 1st.

Mozgov. Bogut. It’s the new age of the NBA big man.

Wow! Double the amount of people think the Warriors will win.

Or, you know ... double-ish.

LeBron has 7 of the game’s first 17 points, with Cleveland up 9-8 with 6:48 left in the first quarter. How the Warriors would defend LeBron was a big pre-Series storyline.

So far they’re choosing to not do it at all. Interesting approach.

LeBron hits his second jumper of the game to give Cleveland a 7-6 lead with 8:10 left in the 1st. Someone is trying to become a honorary Splash Brother.

Now Bogut blocks Mozgov. We have an earlier favorite for NBA Finals MVP.

Andrew Bogut with a nice block on LeBron. The Milwaukee Bucks must be very proud.

Play is a little sloppy through the first 90 seconds. Looks like nerves and adrenaline. Or the Knicks and Sixers.

Cavs get the tip and quickly score to go up 2-0.

So if they lose now, Skip Bayless can accuse LeBron of choking.

LeBron is averaging 27, 10 and 8. It’s amusing to hear people debate if he’s playing his best.

He’s playing pretty good, I think.

We have a Riley Curry sighting already.

For many, the night can only go downhill from here. (Until the postgame press conference.)

I guess it’s official: Phil Jackson didn’t get the Knicks to the Finals in his first year on the job.

Exciting! We’re only a few minutes from the tip.

(Note: This fact is exciting for everyone except Mark Jackson.)

So I linked to my article earlier in the liveblog about which underdog team/city you should be rooting for in this Series.

New information has come to light:

That’s right. Guy Fieri is a Warriors fan.

Cleveland just got a whole lot of new supporters.

The ABC pregame show is doing a piece on how LeBron James and Steph Curry were born at the same hospital in Akron, Ohio.

If you or your significant other is pregnant, you may want to take them to Akron General. It may be your kid’s best chance to be a superstar basketball player and multimillionaire. Go now or you don’t love your child.

Another worthwhile pregame read: “Matthew Dellavedova isn’t dirty, America; he’s just Australian.”

When Matthew Dellavedova crashes into opponents’ knees, leaves a hand or a leg in a little too long as he’s trailing on the edge of a scuffle below the basket, then feigns indignation and plays the innocent, wide-eyed victim at the retaliation that inevitably results, he’s not playing dirty. He’s playing mental disintegration, at once a variant, a subset and a parent of niggle – a sport in which Australia has sometimes been matched, but never beaten. The irony is that when viewed against niggle’s rich history, Dellavedova – whose sole real offence has been to grow a stupid beard and put his buttocks in the way of people trying to achieve things in life – doesn’t even make the middle rank of its great proponents. Obstructionism by bum – bumstructionism, if you like – makes the Australian point guard no more than a journeyman in the history of niggle;

There has been so much time off between the Conference Finals and the NBA Finals that it almost feels like the gap between the end of the college football regular season and the National Championship Game.

Maybe the NBA should consider doing some bowl games during the down time. I’d love to see the No. 2 team in the East play the No. 9 team in the West in the Unfortunate Geography Bowl.

Before Game 1 has even started the NBA Finals has a clear loser: Charles Barkley.

Uhhhhhhh, Charles ... LeBron (‘s team) has lost the NBA Finals three times in his career already.

If Barkley is this far off on basketball issues, I’m terrified of his opinions on social issues.

The Cavaliers have never won an NBA title. The City of Cleveland is titleless since 1964.

The Warriors haven’t won an NBA title since 1975. The City of Oakland doesn’t have a title since 1989.

If you want to kill some time before the tip, read my column on which of these fairytale underdog teams you should root for, if you’re an unaffiliated fan.

Hello! Welcome to The Guardian liveblog of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. We are all witnessing history: this is the first-ever liveblog of a Golden State Warriors appearance in the NBA Finals. Pretty special.

DJ will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a great piece about Jimmy Patsos, the coach who held Steph Curry scoreless:

What the criticism fails to recognize is the real genius of Patsos’ plan – a scheme that might just have worked against anyone but Curry. Great scorers are equipped with a selfishness that demands they must put the ball in the basket. This is what makes them great scorers. Held too long without a point, they become impatient. They fight the defense. They force their shots through double teams. They try to make baskets that aren’t there.

This is the calculation Patsos made before daring Curry’s teammates to score in his place: he expected Curry to want his points. Only Curry refused the temptation.

“At the time I didn’t know he was that smart,” Patsos told the Guardian. “He has great composure. Would JR Smith be able to do that? Would Kobe [Bryant] or Michael Jordan?”

Ultimately, Patsos might have taught the NBA more about Curry than any of the guard’s 40-point games in college ever could.

More in Les Carpenter’s article here.

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