Reigning champions Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of 2018 NBA Finals on Thursday night. For those who haven’t watched the game, this information isn’t any surprise given the fact that the Warriors entered the series as heavy favorites. But those who watched the game know that they needed a combination of luck, doubtful calls from the referees, inexplicable move from Cavs’ JR Smith and five minute overtime in order to get the 124-114 win in front of their home crowd.
To everyone’s surprise, the Golden State Warriors never managed to build a large lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers throughout the Game 1 of 2018 NBA Finals. After a tied score at the halftime, Warriors had another of their game-changing third quarters and entered the fourth quarter with six points lead. Still, LeBron James was a man on the mission and brought back the Cavs into the game but his greatness simply couldn’t overcome the mistakes of the referees and his teammates. Referees made three controversial calls against James in the fourth quarter, but the most crucial one came in the last minute of the regular time.
Cavs were up two with 40 seconds remaining on the clock, and Kevin Durant drove to the basket in an attempt to make it a tied game. He was met by LeBron James, who took the hit and Durant was charged with an offensive foul. Still, the judges decided to review the play in order to see whether James was in the restricted area, although it was obvious he was few feet outside of it. The call was then overruled, with James getting called for a foul and Durant receiving free throws.
Then, 4.7 seconds before the end of the game and with score tied, JR Smith managed to grab an offensive rebound out of George Hill’s missed free throw and instead passing the ball or calling a timeout, he let the clock run out and made a late pass to Hill, thus sending the game in overtime. Apparently, Smith thought Cavs were in the lead and are about to win the game.
Cavs couldn’t recover from all of this and Warriors seized the opportunity to take the lead in 2018 NBA Finals.
As expected, LeBron James had another exceptional game, scoring 51 points and adding eight rebounds and assists. Kevin Love also showed up, contributing with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
On the Warriors side, Kevin Durant had 26 points, nine rebounds, and six assists while Stephen Curry added 29 points, six rebounds, and nine assists.
