Lebron’s Historic 51 Points Wasn’t Enough to Overcome the Warriors

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On Thursday May 31, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, 124-114. The game was one to remember with many lead changes and tie scores throughout the entirety of the game. Lebron James led the Cavs with an absurd 51 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Kevin Love was the only other Cavaliers player to add any significant help with 21 points and 13 rebounds. The Warriors on the other hand had all of their four all stars locked in. Steph Curry lead their team with 29 points, Kevin Durant had 26 points, Klay Thompson added 24 points and Draymond Green had a near triple double with 13 points 11 rebounds and 9 assists. In the first quarter the Warriors got a scare when their star player, Klay Thompson went to the locker with an apparent leg injury. Lucky for them he was able to return to the game in the second quarter. There was nothing special for the rest of the first three quarters besides a 30 foot three point buzzer beater from Steph Curry at the end of the first half. The Warriors proved why they’re the best third quarter team the entire season by taking a six point lead into the fourth quarter.

Then came the fourth quarter which will go down in NBA history. It started with an extremely controversial foul call on Lebron James. At first the foul was on Kevin Durant for a charge. The refs then went to the replay and changed the call to a blocking foul on Lebron. This would have completely changed the game because if it was not changed to a block, the Cavs would be up two points with 30 seconds left and possession of the ball.  Instead Kevin Durant was rewarded two free throws, he made both and tied the game at 104. Furious by what just happened, Lebron James quickly took the ball to the hoop and made a quick layup to put the Cavs up by two points. Steph Curry then did the same exact thing and got fouled while making his own layup. He then made the free throw to put the Warriors up by one point. The Cavs then had the last possession with 15 seconds left. Lebron had the ball, passed it to George Hill who then passed it back to Lebron, who found George Hill wide open under the basketball and he was then fouled. Hill made the first free throw to tie the game. Then came the moment that shocked the world. Hill missed the second free throw and J.R. Smith got the rebound. Instead of putting it right back up, he dribbled back to the three point line, held the ball and then passed it to George Hill as time expired. Lebron, and the entire Cavs team, was yelling at him to either shoot the ball or pass to Lebron for a shot to win the game. No one could believe what he had done and his initial response was that he thought they were winning and he was trying to run out the clock to win the game.

Overtime was what most would expect. The Warriors came out making almost every shot, while the Cavs were the exact opposite. The Warriors ended up out scoring the Cavs by ten points in overtime and won the game. Then as the Warriors were taking one last shot, Tristan Thompson fouled Shaun Livingston and was ejected from the game. As Thompson was walking to the locker room, Draymond Green said some words and a small scuffle happened between the two, which ended quit shortly. The Cavs were devastated by what had happened, while the Warriors celebrated going up 1-0 in the series. Game 2 is on Sunday, June 3 and we will see if the Warriors will take a 2-0 series lead, or the Cavs can recuperate and tie the series at one game a piece.