Game 1 NBA Finals Betting Odds Cleveland Cavaliers at Golden State Warriors

“They played a great series, they made us work for everything. I think they’re still proud of the work we did, but at the same time, it hurts”.

“So if you are to have any chance of beating them at all, you have to make sure that defensively you’re one accord”. We got our bumps throughout the season. “And with our team, there’s just so much firepower, we’re going to get going”.

Though the team did ultimately finish out the 2017-2018 National Basketball Association season with the best record in the league, securing the top seed in the Western Conference typically held by the Warriors, the Rockets’ Conference Finals failure should serve as a cautionary tale as to why a team has to stay committed to playing their style regardless of their opponent, and making the appropriate adjustments mid-series. Golden State outscored the Rockets by 68 points in its Western Conference finals win and beat them by an average of almost 10 points in the first quarter out of halftime. Coach Tyronn Lue said Wednesday he was hopeful Love could be cleared, but that he needed to successfully leap a few hurdles ahead of the series-opening 9 p.m. ET tip. “We’ve got three of the best shot-makers in the league. we stayed with it”.

If the now injured Andre Iguodala returns to play at some point in this series, he’ll be one of just eight players to have played in all four Cavaliers-Warriors Finals (Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Shaun Livingston, JR Smith, Tristan Thompson and James are the others).

“I didnt think we were very good against him last night, ” Kerr said. The Rockets was without their star point guard, Chris Paul, who missed the contest with a right hamstring strain.

Then the game really went off the rails when Hill got fouled with 4.6 seconds left and the Cavs trailing by one. The Rockets, thanks to some stifling Warriors defense as well as sloppy ballhandling, scored just 25 points in the second half on Saturday.

In 2015, when the Golden State beat the Cavs to capture the franchise’s first title in 40 years, the first two games of the series went to OT – Golden State winning the opener and Cleveland Game 2. And I dealt with that last night, ” he said. ESPN asked 24 analysts for their prediction on the series, and all 24 picked the Warriors to prevail, and just two of them projected the series to even make it to seven games.

“I can not do that next series, and that’s a big no-no”, he said. “Pressure both ways because of how big the moment is, and you’ve got to want it”. “I thought he was spectacular, but I didnt think we made it that hard for him. Will questions return about the health of Stephen Curry’s knee?

“They were devastated. we thought we were so close”, D’Antoni said. On multiple occasions, Cleveland’s Finals streak appeared to be in doubt, only to be saved by the heroics of some likely – and not so likely – Cavs players.