Durant explains why a slumping Klay Thompson is still key for Warriors

Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue dubbed the Warriors “the best I ever seen”, but added: “They’re playing good basketball, but we can play better”.

“[LeBron], I mean, he’s at the forefront of that”. It is what it is. How do we get there? No team has ever swept the National Basketball Association postseason, but these Warriors have a real shot. Instead, this game felt like the start of a coronation for this reloaded superteam in Oakland.

Cleveland might be thinking the same thing a day after that startling Game 1 defeat that featured 20 turnovers and Durant driving to the basket at will with nobody even close as he dunked again and again – six times in the first half alone.

All that hype, all those insane Vine videos that helped create the NBA’s newest superstar, and then he largely bombs for a second straight Finals. He got a lot of help from Stephen Curry, who finished with 28 points (11-22 FG, 6-11 3-PT FG), six rebounds, and 10 assists.

And after a team has been blown out in the playoffs, history shows that team typically tries to make a statement in Game 2 that things will be different. And while Steph Curry chipped in 28, it was clear that this performance is what Durant leaving Oklahoma City was all about. In last year’s Finals, that would have been Harrison Barnes on Irving. The Warriors were just 3 of 13 (23.1 percent) on 3-pointers in the first half, not the sort of output that made this team popular.

The Grammy Award-winner is a LeBron James superfan, so she was in attendance for Game 1 to support King James. This year will settle the argument about which team is greater.

This year, the showdown seemed inevitable.

LeBron James had a simple explanation for what stood out in Game 1 of the NBA Finals: KD. The Warriors downed the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs in that order.

The Cavaliers dusted their opponents as well. “It’s just us focusing that much more on the game plan and knowing how we have to play”. But James had problems containing Durant outside of transition as well.

But all is not bad for the Warriors they can surely take this series but the question is, can they win when Durant doesn’t score or assist on 55 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.

The Warriors used the situational scoring and 23 points from Durant to build a 60-52 lead over the Cavaliers at halftime. They led Cleveland in second-chance points, too, 12-5.

His symbolic moment was near the end of the second quarter, when he got an isolation at the top of the key with Kevin Love and assassinated the forward’s balance to get an open lay-up.

“He can just go get a bucket”, Green said.