A bench-mark win
Warriors ride subs to Game 1 triumph
OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry’s “Strength In Numbers” 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, 10489, last night to move three wins away from a repeat title.
Curry, the MVP, and Splash Brother Klay Thompson? They totaled — gasp! — 20 points between them on 8-for-27 shooting, each knocking down a late 3-pointer.
“We’ve talked about our depth for the last two years. We rely on a lot of people. 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. “So it’s a great sign, obviously, that we can win in the finals without those two guys having big games, but it’s not really that surprising to us. This has been our team the last couple of years.”
An off night by Curry didn’t matter this time. 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.
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 for 11 points, while 2015 finals MVP Iguodala had 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and some stingy defense on James.
“I thought our guys did a great job of locking into those guys,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said of the Splash Brothers. “Their bench played well. So we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how to take those guys out of the game.”
It made for a strong start while surrounded by the yellow “Strength in Numbers” T-shirts worn by the raucous fans throughout soldout Oracle Arena.
“That’s our motto. That’s what we believe in,” Livingston said. “We pick each other up. We believe in each other and we just fight.”
James kicked off his sixth straight finals with 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, but coldshooting 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.
Iguodala showed he can handle any role — if Kerr decides to start him or bring him off the bench. Iguodala didn’t let an aggravating, hard hit to the groin by Matthew Dellavedova derail his focus for the final quarter.