LeBron says stopping Warriors’ Durant will be tough

Kevin Love finished with a perfectly impressive 15 points and 21 rebounds but he really failed to put his stamp on the game when he had the chance. In Game 1, Stephen Curry was that other guy with 28 points. And there is no doubt he would have been eager to go against the team that jettisoned him to the Mavericks to make room for Durant.

But with Durant added to a mix that includes fellow All-Stars Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, this year’s Warriors proved to be too tough for James and Cleveland to handle in Game 1.

Cleveland’s comeback previous year was keyed by James and Kyrie Irving and both were on point again – through three quarters James had 26 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists on his way to 28 for the game, and Irving had 22 of his 24 through 36 minutes as the Cavs waved the white flag early.

Meeting in the NBA Finals for an unprecedented third straight trip, the Cavs and Warriors seek to settle the rivalry.

Thompson still struggled with this shot, which has been a confounding mystery in the postseason.

Just how do you play as fast and free as the Warriors and manage to commit just four turnovers the entire game? 2016’s Game 1 initially opened to a 6.0 and 15.6 million viewers, but eventually adjusted up to to a 7.3 rating and 19.2 million viewers. It’s kind of like a football team with a great running game that’s going up against Tom Brady: the goal should be to control the time of possession and limit his opportunities.

The Cavaliers managed to hang within 60-52 at halftime despite committing 12 turnovers and letting the Warriors grab 11 offensive rebounds.

“Yeah, I won’t get into that“, Durant laughed.

Before the game, I’d ranked the 30 players in the finals.

The bright spot for ABC is that all three of the Cavs-Warriors Finals openers have registered over a 12.0 overnight. Instead, they now feel like a group equipped to try to take down the Warriors in a shootout, rather than knock them out in a slugfest.

The Warriors’ comprehensive Game One victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers was notable for two things; Durant’s show-stopping performance, and what seemed to be a running battle with LeBron James-fan Rihanna, sat courtside.

Back in 2015, when LeBron James’s Cavs were playing against the Warriors in the Finals, Rihanna reportedly was a very loud fan of James. Sure, Durant scored 38 points, shot 14 of 26 and his six dunks reminded us all just how bad the Cavaliers’ defense was late in the season, but this is why the Warriors will be so hard to beat.

By the eight-minute mark of the third quarter, Golden State had a commanding 73-52 lead. Golden State was simply too much offensively for Cleveland.

This game, the site of the Warriors’ Game 7 humiliation to the Cavaliers previous year, was supposed to be the first time the Warriors felt any real resistance this postseason. And he can still hit those shots. James and Cleveland have overcome multi-game deficits in the past, they did it last season.

“He’s guarded some tremendous, tremendous point guards”, Brown continued. Because you’re not going to fight fire with fire against Tom Brady and come out on top.

“So just trying to do my best to be there for my teammates and to play up to my standards as an individual as well”. He’d go on to score Golden State’s next nine points, the last of which gave the Dubs their first double-digit lead of the contest at 49-39 with 4:52 remaining in the second quarter.

It was a valiant effort in defence of a key member of his club but it’s unlikely anything but a breakout night shooting will stop the negative attention Thompson is bound to get.