Warriors top Cavaliers 113-91

The problem with facing the Warriors has always been their ability to quickly turn a small lead into a large one. And that’s exactly what they did in Game 1 of the 2017 Finals – transforming a competitive contest at intermission into a second-half blowout.

The Cavaliers and Warriors went toe-to-toe through the first quarter, hinting at the heavyweight battle that was about to unfold. But Golden State opened the gap in the second period and pulled away in the third — handing the Wine & Gold their worst loss (and first road defeat) of the postseason – a 113-91 decision on Thursday night at Oracle Arena.

In their third Finals matchup with the Warriors, Cleveland has now dropped the first game in each meeting.

Tyronn Lue knew that his squad couldn’t afford to turn the ball over against the high-octane Warriors, but that was easier said than done in Game 1 – with Cleveland committing 20 miscues that led to 21 Golden State points.

”We talked about it before we come into this series, that our best defense is going to be our offense, of taking care of the basketball, not a lot of turnovers,” lamented Lue. “And tonight we had 20, and that’s way too many against this team.”

And as familiar as these two teams are with each other come June, there’s a colossal difference between this year’s Dubs and the team Cleveland’s battled against in previous seasons.

”KD” answered LeBron James, succinctly, when asked what the biggest difference between this showdown and the previous two.

Kevin Durant seemed to control the game from the opening tip and after throwing down three essentially uncontested dunks in the first half, the Cavaliers didn’t initially offer much resistance.

When the smoke cleared, the former MVP went on to lead both squads with 38 points – going 14-for-26 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from long-range and 7-of-8 from the stripe – adding eight boards and eight assists in the win.

The Cavaliers were paced by LeBron – who finished with 28 points on 9-for-20 shooting to go with 15 boards, eight assists and a pair of blocks. But James also committed eight of Cleveland’s turnovers, part of the reason Golden State was able to outscore the Cavaliers, 27-9, on the fastbreak.

Kyrie Irving followed up with 24 points, going 10-of-22 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from long-range. But both he and LeBron did most of their damage in the first half.

They weren’t alone in their second-half struggles. The Cavaliers shot just 32 percent in the decisive third quarter and had an even rougher time in the fourth, shooting 28 percent in the period.

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