By Felicia D. Purcell

The Antioch Herald

The wait is over and the Golden State Warriors can officially put a “W” in the win column for Game 1 of the NBA Finals winning in OT over the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-100. Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 22 points and Klay Thompson wasn’t far behind with 21. LeBron James carried his Cleveland Cavaliers team on his back scoring 44 points.

“It was a slow start for all of us,” said Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr at the post game press conference. “You know, I just felt like the quarter we looked nervous.”

With the two rookie head coaches in Dave Blatt and Kerr, making their debuts they coached their teams in a duel of the ages and Cleveland jumped off to a head start in the first quarter 29-19. The Cavs led by as much as 14 points, during the game, but it would be the depth of the Warriors bench and the lack of a strong supporting cast that would hurt James’ team in the end.

“It’s great, it’s so much fun,” said Kerr following the 132nd consecutive sell-out crowd of 19,596 at ORACLE. “This is what we all dream of in the NBA, to play in The Finals, to coach in The Finals, to be a part of all of this, two great teams.”

The victory extended the Warriors winning record at home to 47-3 for the season.

Golden State‘s bench has been one of the deepest in the league all year with, everyone scoring baskets combining for 34 points led by veteran Andre Iguodala who led the bench in scoring with 15 points and 2-of-3 from the three-point line, versus the Cavs’ nine points from the bench.

“Andre has been huge this whole playoffs,” said Warriors center Andrew Bogut. “People just noticed it tonight because he scored. But he does a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. His defense on LeBron at the end of regulation was huge. But he was scoring tonight, he was aggressive, he had a couple of dunks, he hit some three’s. He looked like the Andre from Philly.”

In his sixth straight Finals game, James gave ORACLE fans a sigh of relief when his jumper hit the rim to send the game into overtime. Fans know all too well of his game ending shockers as recently as last February while, as a member of the Miami Heat, he sank a 3-pointer to win the game with 0.1 seconds left on the shot clock.

“We were lucky to get overtime,” said Kerr, “It’s always a game of runs. Our team, we like to play fast. We try to rely on our defense to get stops so we can get out and run.”

The Warriors did just that going on a run in the second half 24-7 eventually sending the game into overtime, knocking down shots, and outscoring the Cavs 10 to 2. Cleveland lost their rhythm when their second best player, Kyrie Irving, left the game with a left knee injury with two-minutes left in overtime. The Cavs would get their only basket in OT with a lay-up by James with 9.5 seconds left.

“I’ve been in the league 11-years and it’s always something interesting,” said Iguodala of the anticipation and excitement of going up against James. “My years in Philly, I always had to guard the best players and then I had to try to create on offense as well.”

Game 2 will be held at ORACLE on Sunday, June 7th at 5 p.m. and televised on ABC.

SIDE NOTES:

• Warriors head coach Steve Kerr became the first rookie head coach to win Game 1 of an NBA Finals since Mike Dunleavy, and Kerr along with Cavaliers head coach David Blatt became the second pair of NBA rookie coaches to meet in The Finals. The first duo dates back to the league’s first year in 1947.

• Warriors’ Klay Thompson joined his dad, two-time NBA champion Mychal Thompson as the seventh father/son combo to appear in The NBA Finals according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

• Former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, now doing color commentary for ESPN/ABC, called the game.

• Cleveland’s two points in OT tied all-time Finals low for an overtime period in the shot clock era (since 1954-55).

• An MRI was done Friday on Cavs guard Kyrie Irving to see if there’s a tear in his left knee. He left the ORACLE Arena on crutches. Another news report stated he will undergo season ending surgery.

Follow Felicia on Twitter @sportsinthebay_

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