NBA Finals Game One: The Cleveland Cavaliers vs. The Golden State Warriors
By Zackary Goldstein
Oh, the matchup.
This is the fourth year in a row the Cavaliers have played the Warriors setting the record for the most times two teams have consecutively played each other in the NBA finals. Going into the finals the Warriors have had a better regular season record in the past four years. Game one of the 2017-2018 NBA finals was unpredictable.
The game was madness.
With under five seconds left in regulation time with the Warriors winning 107-106 on their home court, Oracle Arena in Oakland, California George Hill of the Cavaliers got fouled. He made the first free throw tying the game but on the second something absurd happened.
J.R. Smith.
On George Hill’s second free throw he missed but his teammate J.R. Smith got the rebound. J.R. could have made an easy layup up to take the lead by two and hopefully score the winning shot but he didn’t. He dribbled passed the three point line not knowing what to do while his amazing teammate Lebron James (who would end up scoring 51 points which is a career high in a playoff game for him) yelled at him telling him to shoot. Again, he didn’t. He threw the ball to George Hill who with time running out in regulation shot the ball. He was in an awkward position so he missed. It was later seen that Lebron was trying to call a timeout but there wasn’t enough time to. J.R. claims that he thought the Cavs were going to call a timeout which is why he didn’t try to make the layup.
Ejections.
With under five seconds left in overtime and the Warriors winning, Tristan Thompson of the Cavaliers committed a debatable flagrant foul resulting in him getting ejected. While leaving the court he went up to Draymond Green of the Warriors and shoved the ball in his face. This then started to turn into a fight with Lebron James and Stephen Curry of the Warriors saying some words and there was also some real fighting. While this was happening Kevin Love of the Cavs possibly walked on to the court which could result in him getting suspended because that is illegal.
All in all, this game was totally amazing. The Warriors ended up winning the game 124-114. They are predicted to win in 4-6 games but most people are predicting 5 games.