Warriors-Cavs Game One: Some Are More Equal Than Others

Next up for James: Multi-Ball

After an overly long layoff, the NBA Finals started tonight, and after a ragged start, it was some of the best hoop of the year. LeBron James had 44-8-6, and was borderline unfair inside the arc. The Warrior bench got the team back to even after a big early deficit. Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson were playing volleyball on the Dub backboard. And so on, and so on. Pace was choppy, but the teams were always in contact, and the tension was high all the way through.

Cleveland had the ball in a tie game with last shot, but James missed, and JR Smith's touch heave from the corner stayed out. Just that fast, free basketball... and when the Warriors went small late, and Cavs HC / Big Liability David Blatt not adjusting and leading to Mozgov having to take important shots late, it was a 10-2 runaway in overtime. In the midst of that, Kyrie Irving went off with a fresh injury, and it's Warriors 1, Cavs 0. If Irving can't go, this could get away in a hurry.

How clueless is Blatt? Enough to say he had no idea why his team, playing a tight rotation against a Dub team that goes ten deep, couldn't get boards late. (I'll spell it for you, sir: e-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-o-n.) We know that J.R. Smith is going to shoot, but given his historic percentages and 3-for-13 tonight, the Dubs are probably fine with that. And in a development that had to give Cavs Fan special pause that they were no longer working against dumb people, the Dubs severely pressured G Matthew Dellevedova to the point that made him look scared to be on the floor.

Game Two is Sunday, and if Irving can't get back on the floor, there's a chance that we're going to see a 50-20-10 line from James as he tries to do anything to get his franchise their first Finals win ever... but he might do that and still not get a win. So long as the game is close and fun to watch, the public will be along for the ride. Just maybe not for as many games as we might have thought.