PAOerfulone said:
My takeaways from Game 1 are this.
Cavaliers:
- LeBron had his usual stats and performance, 28-15-8. But those 8 turnovers are a big no-no when playing against this team, especially in their house, that has to change come Game 2.
- Kyrie was good, but not quite at the level we know he can be.
- Kevin Love, those 21 rebounds were great, everything else, not so much. I think that has more to do with Draymond Green's defense than Kevin Love suddenly getting cold, because 1) Draymond Green is the Defensive Player of the Year, most likely. 2) He just seems to have gotten in Love's head. Kevin Love, was a total non-factor in last year's Finals, and he wasn't much better here. It's something about the Warriors, Draymond especially that just seems to throw off Kevin Love. So, Kevin Love has got to do something in that regard because Draymond just seems to have his number.
- Everyone else did jack shit. Tristan Thompson - Only 4 rebounds? Really? Come on, dude, you're way better than THAT. JR Smith, just 3 points on 4 shot attempts? Where the hell was the bench outside of Richard Jefferson?
Warriors:
- The Warriors Defense was very impressive. Those 20 turnovers weren't just the Cavs being sloppy. They made every possession tough, they made the Cavs work for every bucket they got, they disrupted a lot of passing lanes, and forced LeBron and Kyrie into some very uncomfortable spots where they turned the ball over. If this keeps up, this series ain't lasting very long.
- Kevin Durant IS NOT Harrison Barnes. He was dominant. That guy just had his way with Cleveland in the 1st half. Dunk, after dunk, after dunk, after dunk. At some point it's like, "Where the hell is the defense?!" the defense was running to the 3 point line trying to stop Steph from going off, speaking of Steph...
- A healthy Stephen Curry = Very Bad News for Cleveland. HE. IS. BACK. Before the series even started, I was saying to my friends, the most important player in this series, meaning how he plays will determine the outcome of this series, will be Steph. LeBron is going to be LeBron. Durant will be Durant. Draymond will give Love all he can handle. Klay will try his damnest to make it as hard as possible for Kyrie, who will do his thing. Those 6 players will cancel each other out, the one guy to look out for is Curry. He is the most important player in this series. If he plays like garbage, Cavs win. If he plays average, this series goes 7 games with Game 7 going either way, like it did last year. If he plays like the Unanimous MVP, the Cavs don't stand a chance. If he's playing like the Stephen Curry we saw all of last season, it's over. Because, after the 1st half, even with all the turnovers the Cavs committed, all the points in the paint they gave up, and Durant going off the way he did, they were still only down by 8, they still had a chance. But than Steph got in that zone, that Steph Zone where when he's playing like THAT, nobody can touch him, and that was all she wrote.
So after Game 1, it's looking a little hopeless for Cavs, but that's how it looked LAST year, and then look what happened... All we can do is wait until Sunday for Game 2.
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