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Bench fires Warriors in Game 1
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STEPHEN Curry realizes every last man on the bench can mean so much to winning a championship.
As he and Klay Thompson endured rare off nights that even featured Curry tossing his mouthpiece in frustration, the NBA Most Valuable Player’s supporting cast made all the timely shots and all the difference for the defending champions in Game 1 of the NBA finals.
Draymond Green had 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Shaun Livingston scored a personal postseason best of 20 and Golden State’s bench came up big as the Warriors beat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-89 in Oakland, California, on Thursday night to move three wins from a repeat title.
Curry and Thompson? They totaled 20 points between them on 8-for-27 shooting, each pouring a late 3-pointer.
“You don’t win championships without the entire squad coming in and making an impact on games,” Curry said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Golden State’s bench outscored the Cavs’ reserves 45-10 in the opener of this finals rematch, which the Warriors reached even with Curry missing six games with injuries in the postseason.
Game 2 is back at Oracle Arena, and James knows Cleveland must adjust immediately. “When you get outscored 45-10 on the bench and give up 25 points off 17 turnovers, no matter what someone does or doesn’t do, it’s going to be hard to win, especially on the road. Don’t matter what you do with Steph and Klay, don’t matter what you do with Draymond.”
In a series with so much star power on both sides, this was a night for Livingston and fellow reserves Leandro Barbosa and Andre Iguodala. Barbosa returned from a minor back injury to shoot 5 for 5, while 2015 finals MVP Iguodala had 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and some stingy defense on James.
“We play a lot of people, and we feel like we have a lot of talent on the bench that can come in and score when we need it,” coach Steve Kerr said.
James kicked off his sixth straight finals with 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, but cold-shooting Cleveland went 38.1 percent from the floor. Kyrie Irving, lost to a knee injury in Game 1 last year, scored 26 points, 11 on free throws.
Kerr karate-chopped his white clipboard in half in the third quarter, frustrated how his team came out of the break as the Cavs grabbed some momentum.
He felt better afterward.
“Destruction tends to ease some of the anger,” the NBA Coach of the Year said. “So I try to take it out on a clipboard instead of a player. So it’s better that way.”
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