NBA Finals: Warriors Take Game 1 in Overtime

 Game 1 of the NBA Finals ended as expected with the Golden State Warriors coming away with the win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. How they got there, however, was a bit surprising and frankly eye-opening. The underdog Cavs, led by LeBron James, came to play and put up an impressive effort. Some miscues and misunderstandings down the stretch allowed the Warriors to force the game into overtime and from there powered their way to a 124-114 victory.

James filled up the stat sheet with 51 points, eight rebound, eight assists, three triples, a steal and a blocked shot. His brilliant performance was all in vain at the end as a blunder by J.R. Smith along with an overturned call by the referees opened the gates for the Dubs to come storming back in. A free throw by George Hill tied up the game with a few seconds left. He missed the second shot and J.R. Smith grabbed the rebound. While thinking the Cavs were up, Smith dribbled away towards the midcourt instead of going for a shot, or even finding an open teammate who could go for the shot. Time expired and the game went on for an extra period. It was then that the Warriors went on a 9-0 run and sealed it up.

The game did not go without giving the Warriors their fair share of scares. Klay Thompson got hurt but managed to shake it off and eventually come away with 24 points in 45 minutes.

While the circumstances surrounding the result were disappointing for the Cavs, they showed that they had what it takes to push the Warriors to the limit and with the right environment possibly even win over the heavy favorites. It does help a lot that they have the best player in the World today. James just needs his teammates to keep their eye on the ball, and the scoreboard as well, and Cavs might just pull off an upset here and there. After that, who knows, maybe even pull off the basketball upset of the decade. But with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant dropping 29 and 26 points, respectively, the Cavaliers will have a tough challenge to overcome the defending champs in the NBA Finals.