Durant, Curry Help Warriors Gain 2–0 Advantage in NBA Finals

Photo via Medina Gazette

LeBron James scored 51 points in Game 1, but his teammates only scored 63, and the Golden State Warriors prevailed in overtime, giving them a 1–0 lead in the NBA Finals. Game 2 took place at Golden State on Sunday night, and the team gave the fans what they like to see: lights-out shot-making from the entire rotation.

Once again, Andre Iguodala was inactive with a leg injury. However, Klay Thompson, who suffered a high ankle sprain in Game 1 and was ruled questionable to play, did suit up for Golden State.

On the other side, the Cavaliers were at full strength. While no one was injured, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love were at the mercy of the league, after taking part in a late-game mini-brawl in the opener on Thursday.

The Warriors dominated early in the first quarter. JaVale McGee, who started for the second time since the first round, scored on the team's first two possessions. Klay Thompson made his first two shots, including a transition three-pointer. Just 3:46 into the game, Cleveland head coach Tyrone Lue was forced to take a timeout, with his team trailing 15–6.

Things improved for the Cavs after getting a chance to regroup. George Hill, who missed a free throw in the waning seconds of regulation on Thursday, was aggressive, scoring five quick points. After taking six shots in Game 1, he had made two of four attempts in just over four minutes of play. JR Smith made his first shot of the game and got fouled. However, he did miss the ensuing free throw amidst MVP chants from the crowd, in the wake of his late-game blunder in the opener. The starting guards each had five points by the middle of the quarter.

Through the first 12 minutes, Golden State was shooting north of 65 percent from the field, but held a relatively narrow 32–28 lead. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, who played the first ten minutes despite his injury, had seven points apiece on 13 total shots, while the rest of the supporting cast had converted on nine out of ten.

After his amazing performance to start the series, LeBron James led Cleveland in points (ten), rebounds (four), and assists (five) in the first quarter.

Kevin Durant scored Golden State's first five points of the second quarter, as he made his first five shots of the night. Shaun Livingston also had a starring role. The backup point guard made his first two shots off the bench during the first quarter, and he put his next two through the net in the second period, before Curry checked back in.

JaVale McGee returned to the floor mid-quarter and scored twice in the span of a minute, improving to 4–4 himself, despite playing just over 20 minutes in the team's previous 13 games.

By halftime, the Warriors had a commanding 59–46 advantage, and the offense was flowing seamlessly, which (outside of during the third quarter of games) hadn't been the case for much of the postseason.

James had 15 points at the intermission, putting him well shy of the practically requisite 50-point pace. Outside of George Hill, who chipped in 12, the Cleveland offense struggled mightily. The two primary ball-handlers made nine of their 19 first half shots, but the rest of the unit converted on an abysmal 26 percent. In fact, Hill was the only player to shoot 50 percent in the first 24 minutes.

Ironically, the Cavaliers were the ones to strike out of the gate in the third quarter. Cleveland started the period on a 10–4 run, highlighted by two three-pointers from Kevin Love, who only made two of his ten field goal attempts in the first half. Tristan Thompson also became increasingly active, helping the team cut the margin to 72–66 at the 6:27 mark.

For as terribly as Kevin Love played in the first half, he had 13 points (on only four shots) in an eight-minute stretch during the third quarter and, quite frankly, was the man who kept Cleveland afloat.

The Golden State lead dipped to five points on a couple of occasions, but the Warriors consistently had an answer. They held true to form offensively. Even David West joined the three-point shooting clinic, and they were on top by ten points at the end of the period, 90–80.

LeBron scored from distance to start the fourth, but the chief Splash Brother, the lone player with efficiency struggles up to that point, returned the favor and raised him by one. That was effectively the dagger. Once he got hot, the Cavaliers weren't stopping him. Curry scored 16 of his 33 points in (the first nine minutes of) the fourth, and Golden State won going away, 122–103, to take a 2–0 series lead.

Shocker, LeBron James led the way for the Cavs. He topped the team in points, with 29, and assists, and fell one rebound shy of a triple-double. Love also added 22 and ten boards, although most of the damage came in a short burst.

McGee and Livingston's impacts cannot be understated. The Shaqtin' a Fool legend was six-for-six with five dunks, while the savvy Livingston knocked down all five of his attempts. Thompson scoring 20 points on a bad ankle also deserves recognition.

With that said, Kevin Durant deserves major credit. At least for one night, he destroyed two narratives. In his prior five games, he had made 40 percent of his shot attempts in only one of them, and he was 5–19 in the fourth quarter and overtime over that same span. In this contest, he made ten of his 14 shots, and his lone two fourth quarter looks. He also was less isolation-dependant, although he still took advantage of his un-guardable length. Durant also added nine rebounds and seven assists.

Somehow Curry didn't already have the record for most threes made in a Finals game, but he claimed that tonight, with nine.

LeBron received some help tonight, but the Warriors did him no favors, as they never trailed, and they could be getting reinforcements in the form of Iguodala. Back in Cleveland, the Cavaliers will need repeat performances from Love and a couple of role players, not just George Hill, if they want a puncher's chance.