Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James scored 44 points in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough to deny the Golden State Warriors a win.
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James enjoyed a spectacular game as he added seven rebounds and six assists to his haul, but the Cavaliers went cold in overtime as the Warriors came out with a 108-100 win.
LeBron with a TOUGH shot on ABC…he's got 39 points! #NBARapidReplay http://t.co/PG4J3ecCbz
— NBA (@NBA) June 5, 2015
However, it shouldn’t take anything away from James dominating proceedings through regulation, while Kyrie Irving seemed to have shaken off his injury woes to put 23 points, six assists, seven rebounds and four steals.
The Cavs point guard produced a huge block in the closing seconds of the game to deny Stephen Curry, but Cleveland suffered a huge blow though as he was forced to leave the game in overtime after re-injuring his left knee.
Irving was seen walking down the tunnel in real pain as he limped badly back to the locker room as his teammates struggled to close out the game.
It remains to be seen how bad that setback is, but it shouldn’t overshadow what was a thrilling start to the NBA Finals with Curry finishing with 26 points while Klay Thompson added 21.
Andre Iguodala had a huge impact off the bench to add 15 points, but the second unit as a whole for Golden State played a pivotal role in keeping them in the game early on as they struggled offensively before turning the game around and dominating in overtime.
Game 2 is at the Oracle Arena on Sunday night.
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