OAKLAND, Calif. _ Klay Thompson's shooting woes worsened, Draymond Green didn't score until late in the third quarter, Zaza Pachulia led a brigade of first-half missed layups, but the Warriors, while not perfect, were still dominant in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, blasting the Cavaliers 113-91 on Thursday night in Oracle.
How? They transformed their two typical flaws into major advantages and rode their two MVPs to a 13th straight playoff win, the 11th by double-digits.
To beat the Warriors this season, and it's only been done 17 times in 95 games, you need to turn them over and beat them up on the glass. The Cavaliers did that on Christmas, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds and forcing 19 turnovers, which helped them edge the Warriors by one.
But in Game 1, the Warriors had more second-chance points _ 18 to 13 _ and won the turnover battle by a 20-4 margin. Those four turnovers were the fewest the Warriors have committed all season. Their previous low was seven.
And that monster advantage in both categories gave the Warriors 20 more shot attempts than the Cavaliers (106 to 86). And when you give the Warriors' historically efficient offense, even when all parts are not operating optimally, that many more chances, the mountain is too steep to climb. Especially when Kevin Durant and Steph Curry are standing at the top, kicking you off.
Durant served as the night's star in his loud return to the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers' defense, bottom-10 in the league this season and not that much better in the playoffs, parted the seas for Durant on a pair of first-half transition dunks.
Durant galloped up the floor with those long limbs, looked toward a flanking Curry and both Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith fled the lane, giving Durant two soaring slams. But those were only two of his seven first-half dunks, the most he's ever had in a playoff game.
Durant shook LeBron James to the ground for a slam, powered through Irving for another layup _ his first eight makes were all at the rim _ and then forced his way to the free-throw line a few times late in the first half, putting up 23 points in the first 24 minutes. He finished with a game-high 38 _ finally busting out his 3-point shot late to cap the huge night.
But Curry never had to get hot from 3 because he just stayed hot, carrying over his scorching stroke from the last round to plant six of his 11 3-point tries on Thursday, giving him an NBA-high 59 made 3s in 13 playoff games. Kevin Love is the next closest shooter, with 41 makes in 14 games.
Curry finished with 28 points, giving him 66 combined with Durant, as the two catapulted some of their struggling teammates to the rout.
James paced the Cavs with 28 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. Kyrie Irving contributed 24 points while Love added 15 points and 21 rebounds.
