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Game 1 of the NBA Finals had everything a fan could want out of two teams taking on each other in hopes of a title.
Rivalry — check.
Drama — check.
Buzzer beater — check.
Down-to-the-wire action — check.
Controversial calls — check.
Bizarre moments — check.
Overtime — check.
Yet it was one particular moment Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry felt took away from an otherwise beautiful game of basketball. Curry and LeBron James were seen exchanging taunts toward the end of the overtime period, a back-and-forth that was met with a violent reaction from Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson, who was then tossed out of the game.
“It was a bunch of nothing,” Curry said of the sequence, according to Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports. “The very last possession of the game, of overtime. (James) said something. I said something, and then Tristan lost his mind for a second, and that became a distraction from the fact that we were closing out an overtime game. Emotions kind of flaring at the end, and it could have gone either way.”
Thompson was reportedly upset that Livingston was shooting a jumper before the Warriors' shot clock expired, taking it up with Draymond Green, who took no bull from him during the exchange.
Yet Curry is right in a way. The Warriors scored 17 points in overtime while limiting the Cavs to seven, including holding James to 0-for-4 from the field during the extra period.
Golden State assisted on all five of their made field goals, shooting a perfecr 5-of-5 directly off passes, including 3-of-3 on 3-pointers. The Warriors also shot 4-of-4 on uncontested shots while contesting all nine of Cleveland's shot attempts (2-of-9 from the field).
The Warriors won the game after a wild sequence of events, but the score was tied at the end of regulation and the Cavs had the same chance the Warriors had to take control of the game (including the first possession of the extra period), yet they fell short of completing the job, now taking a 1-0 deficit in the NBA Finals.
