If you had said to anyone before Game 1 of the Finals that the “Splash Brothers” would be held to just 20 points combined, they would have said you're crazy.

Furthermore, if you had said the backcourt duo would score just 20 points and the Golden State Warriors would  still win the game, they would have said no chance.

But the Warriors did just that on Thursday night. Despite inefficient play from their two best players, Golden State easily defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers by a score of 104-89 in Game 1. While the game was close for most of the night with the Cavaliers even taking the lead late in the third quarter, they were absolutely dominated in the fourth quarter.

The main reason why Golden State was able to pull away in the fourth was due to the superb play of their bench, most notably Shaun Livingston. Livingston scored 20 points to pace the Warriors. However, the most notable stat from Game 1 was the disparity in play between the entire bench units of each team:

 

While the Warriors' bench had a pretty good night with 45 points total, it was the complete absence of any contributions from Cleveland's bench players that caused the Cavaliers' demise. They scored a total of just 10 points.

If the Cavs' bench can't produce in this series and Cleveland is forced to rely heavily on LeBron James once again, this series will end quicker than expected.

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