OAKLAND: Just over three minutes into the third quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, Tyronn Lue called a timeout and strolled out onto the court at Oracle Arena.
Stephen Curry had just sank a 19-footer — accounting for two of his 14 points in the quarter — and the Cavs coach was trying to push pause on a game that was spiraling fast on his squad.
Curry’s jumper had given the Warriors a 15-point lead at 67-52, and Lue — and his team — needed time. The strategy didn’t work. In the series opener between the Cavs and the Warriors, the Cavs were provided with a rude reminder about just how ruthless the Warriors can be during the third quarter.
The 133-91 defeat dropped the Cavs into a 1-0 hole in the Finals and made the Warriors the first team in NBA history to begin the postseason 13-0.
“They’re the best I ever seen,” Lue declared after the loss.
Asked to elaborate, Lue doubled down.
“They’re the best I ever seen,” he reiterated.
“I mean, no other team has done this, right?” Lue said. “So 13-0, and they constantly break records every year, last year being 73-9, this year starting the playoffs 13-0. So they’re playing good basketball. But we can play better.”
After the Cavs started the second half with a manageable eight-point deficit, the Warriors went off in the third quarter, outscoring the Cavs 33-20 to command a 93-72 lead to begin the fourth.
“The shift came in the first about two minutes and 30 seconds after halftime,” Cavs guard Kyrie Irving explained. “That’s something that we have to limit going forward, especially when it’s an eight-point game.”
“They just jump[ed] on us,” Irving said. “Great teams do that.”
On a night when Oracle Arena was fully gilded — the sellout crowd all wore shirts that read: “All Gold Everything – Finals 2017” — LeBron James did everything he could to rein in the Western Conference champions.
Playing a game-high 40 minutes, the three-time Finals MVP poured in 28 points, recorded 15 rebounds and dished out eight assists. Irving tallied 24 points, but Kevin Love was the only other Cav to score in double figures with 15. Love also had a game-high 21 rebounds.
As has been the case throughout the regular season and the playoffs, the Warriors opened up second quarter with both MVPs on the bench.
Even with Durant and Curry on the sidelines to begin the quarter, the Cavs were unable to take advantage of the Warriors second unit, watching the deficit grow to seven points (41-34) by the time the Warriors superstars returned at the 7:26 mark.
In Durant’s first Finals game since 2012 — when he was a member of the Thunder team that lost to James’ Heat — the Warriors small forward was relentless, going for a first-half high 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting, with four rebounds and six assists.
The two Warriors superstars finished with a combined 66 points — Durant accounting for a game-high 38 (shooting 14-for-26 from the field), while Curry rained in 28.
“KD,” James said when asked for his top takeaway from the Game 1 rout.
“I mean, you take one of the best teams that we had ever assembled last year, that we saw in the regular season and in the postseason, and then in the offseason you add a high-powered offensive talent like that and a great basketball IQ like that, that’s what stands out,” James said.
James also produced a monster first half, delivering 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, but received precious little support from his supporting cast other than Irving.
The Cavs guard produced a four-point play just inside the five-minute mark, sinking a fadeaway 3-pointer as Klay Thompson fouled him, knocking him to the ground. Irving was 2-for-3 from deep in the opening two quarters, finishing with 17 points.
While Love recorded a first-half high 12 rebounds, Tristan Thompson was nowhere to be found on the offensive or defensive glass, grabbing just one rebounds. In 22 minutes of action overall, Thompson managed just four rebounds and didn’t score a point, missing all three of his field goals.
As a group, the Cavs still won the battle of the boards 59-50.
The lone blemish on James’ first-half ledger was that he committed seven of the Cavs’ 12 turnovers. The Warriors, meanwhile, only turned the ball over once on the way to securing a 60-52 lead at the break.
The Cavs ended up losing the turnover battle in a big way, totaling 20 turnovers compared to just four for the Warriors.
“[We] had a few too many turnovers tonight,” Irving said. “Twenty in the Finals, definitely not going to get it done.”
After the defeat, Irving appeared entirely unflappable as he fielded questions at the podium.
“There’s no time to be disappointed,” Irving said. “I think that just thinking about the next game, things that we can correct going forward. They capitalized a lot on our mistakes, a lot of transition, easy baskets that we can’t allow going into Game 2.
“So definitely a lot of things we can correct and get better at,” Irving added. “[We’ll] watch film tomorrow, and go from there.”