On Thursday night the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers squared off for the fourth consecutive year in the NBA Finals. What ensued was the best Game 1 in NBA Finals history. It wasn't just a game filled with drama, it was filled with a series worth of storylines. The Cavs entered game 1 the greatest underdogs (according to Vegas) in 16 years and no pundits gave them much of a chance to win the series, let alone Game 1 in Oakland. Yet from the tip-off LeBron James reminded the world how much he'd been underestimated. The Warriors were not shooting themselves in the foot with turnovers, they're shooting was far from spectacular, but they actually had a higher FG%, 3PT%, and FT% in Game 1 than they had in the regular season. Yes, the Warriors missed some open shots and they definitely could have performed better, but the Cavaliers were not in the game because of Warriors mistakes. They were in it because of LeBron James' greatness.
James suffered a cut to his eye early in the game after it was poked by Warriors Forward Draymond Green. His eye was visibly bleeding throughout the game and afterwords said his vision was blurred and got progressively worse as the game went on... and James still set a career playoff career high in points scored with 51 on an amazingly efficient 19-32 shooting. Yet somehow, James was still better than his numbers suggested. The Cavs opened up a double-digit, but a late 2nd quarter run sent the teams into the locker rooms tied at the half. Cavs fans braced themselves for the 3rd quarter, where the Warriors have put up historic production. The 3rd quarter began and Kevin Durant hit a turnaround jumper, Green scored after an offensive rebound, Warriors' sparkplug Javale McGee made a dunk, a layup, and Klay Thompson added a basket of his own and less than 3 minutes into the second half the Warriors were up 7. Plenty of teams had disintegrated after these Warriors spurts, but the Cavs rolled with the punches. James continued driving and getting whatever he wanted inside and then took a three-pointer that no one watching a young LeBron James could have imagined. It wasn't just a pull-up three, it was from a distance that before the emergence of Stephen Curry was not even in the realm of basketball thought. That's what was hidden in Game 1. Behind the charge/block reversal, the George Hill free-throw, the J.R Smith blunder, and the scuffle was the game that put the evolution of LeBron James on display. James played nearly 48 awe-inspiring minutes and incredibly that will be forgotten with time because J.R. Smith forgot the score. Yes, with the game tied and 4.2 seconds left in regulation George Hill was at the free-throw line with the chance to put the Cavaliers in the driver-seat. The 81% career free-throw shooter clearly pressed and added some unneeded arc and it bounced squarely off the front of the rim. Kevin Durant put little effort into boxing out J.R. Smith and Smith jumped and grabbed the rebound with full extension. He had the opportunity to go straight up with a shot at the basket, although he would have gotten a strong contest from Kevin Durant. Standing wide-open at the top of the key was LeBron James, Smith dribbled out to the three-point line where everyone was waiting for the pass to James (Warriors included). Once both Klay Thompson and Durant ran to cover James they had left Smith wide-open on the wing. Had Smith squared up he would have had the chance to take the shot he has always dreamed of. But, Smith wasn't looking for an open shot, he thought the Warriors were running frantically trying to foul him to stop the clock, he thought the Cavs already were ahead. Smith claimed in his post-game interview that he knew the score, but the video cameras clearly show Smith saying "I thought we were ahead" to James immediately after the play and even his own Head Coach Tyronn Lue said "He [Smith] thought it was over... He thought we were ahead." This wasn't the first time Smith has forgotten the score in a crucial moment and it may not even be the most empty headed moment of his Cavs career, but never on this stage. Smith cost the Cavs the game. And I understand there is no guarantee that even if Smith knew the score and tried to score, passed to LeBron, or called a timeout (oh yeah the Cavs had a timeout remaining too) the Cavs would have converted. But, I don't believe blame has to be that absolute. George Hill missing his free-throw cost the Cavs the game as much as Smith's gaffe, but missing free-throws in clutch situations isn't something out of the basketball realm. Forgetting the score in these moments is. Even though it has happened before, Magic Johnson did the same thing in Game 2 of the 1984 Finals, this moment fit into so many long running basketball narratives it's too amazingly perfect. LeBron was dragging an incredibly thin Cleveland Cavaliers team against the Goliath of the Golden State Warriors too the brink of an incredible Game 1 upset and yet he loses his opportunity to win the game because two of his teammates fail in the one moment he needs so little: a made free-throw and knowledge of the score. James and the Cavs roster will try to make this loss about the refereeing. A series of questionable calls did favor the Warriors late, but I saw nothing past the normal bad calls that frankly, are a normal part of watching basketball. The biggest controversy revolves around a charge called on Kevin Durant with less than 40 seconds to go with the Warriors down 2. Had it stuck the Cavs would have gotten the ball with the lead and could have likely clinched victory with a basket. Instead, the play was reviewed to check if James was in the restricted area and while James was clearly outside of the restricted area, the review cued another rule which allowed them to see if he was square, he wasn't. It was called a block, Durant tied the game with two free-throws and the rest is history. While most people agree James did commit a block many argue that the referees manipulated the rules to review James in the restricted area when he was clearly outside. I agree that replay shows James was clearly out, Jeff Green's foot was on the line and referees don't get replay to know for certain. I do not think the referees knew James was clearly outside of the restricted area. I do, however, hope this leads the league to make the decision on replay that no sport has done yet: all or nothing. Everything should be reviewable and if that's the case you avoid these controversies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About MeI have been a die-hard fan of the San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Golden State Warriors my entire life. Following them (and the surrounding leagues) have given me a lot of strong opinions on sports. Links to some of Marc's Articles around the Web:
Articles for GSC Articles for ATF Ramos & Allen Selloff Series: Giants Giants Trade Deadline Kenyon Baseball Preview Archives
August 2019
Categories
All
|