The Warriors find yet another way to beat the Cavaliers

OAKLAND -- The two-time Most Valuable Player couldn't make a shot and the seventh man who couldn't buy a basket in the previous round suddenly couldn't miss. If that was the only strange occurrence in Game 1 of the NBA Finals then maybe we could start to figure things out. Once again we were reminded that nobody knows anything. Or maybe, we already know too much.

For the last few days all anyone talked about was how the Cavaliers were better prepared to meet Golden State's offensive firepower with some small ball force of their own. They would play faster and would be less reliant on LeBron James to carry them offensively. Naturally, they shot just 7-of-21 from behind the arc and eventually tried to force a slower pace. It almost worked, too, as evidenced by Cleveland shaking off a double-digit deficit to take the advantage late in the third quarter. That spurt was more interesting than telling because their slim lead was gone by the end of the quarter and never felt sustainable.

But really, what can you take away from a game that didn't make much sense? Perhaps you just throw out everything that happened in Game 1 and start over on Sunday. It's not like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are going to shoot 8-of-27 again, just as it's unlikely that Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa are going to go 13-of-15.

"I thought we did a good job," Cavs coach Ty Lue said. "We missed 28 shots in the paint. We didn't finish around the basket, so we've just got to keep playing the same way we were playing. I thought we were fine. I feel good about how we played. The outcome wasn't great for us, the score, but to get to the basket, missing 28 shots in the paint, that's not us. So, we'll be better next game."

That'd be one way to look at it from Cleveland's perspective. The Cavs came here to get a game and what does it matter if it takes until Sunday. Another way, a less charitable way, is to say that Golden State has now won six straight meetings dating back to Game 4 of last year's finals. The how and why don't really matter as much as the end result, a 104-89 Warriors win that felt very familiar even if their path to victory was cluttered with wild extremes.

The offensive rhythms may have been in flux, but Draymond Green neutralized the Cavs' small lineups with a low-key brilliant all-around performance. Andre Iguodala was once again a beast, defensively, and even on a night when the Warriors weren't operating at peak efficiency, they were still clearly the better team.

"When you get outscored 45-10 on the bench and give up 25 points off 17 turnovers, no matter what someone does or doesn't do, it's going to be hard to win, especially on the road," James said while rattling the numbers off like he had them committed to memory, which he probably did. "And that's what it was. Obviously the game ball goes to Shaun Livingston. Came in, gave them a huge spark. But (it) don't matter what you do with Steph and Klay. Don't matter what you do with Draymond. Give up 45 points off the bench and 25 points off turnovers on the road, it's not a good ingredient to win."

No, it's not.

Most analysts had this series going six or even seven mostly out of respect for LeBron, but that heartfelt hedge looked less secure than the logical conclusion that this will be over much sooner. That leaves us with the most disconcerting takeaway from Game 1: that the Warriors just have too many ways to win.

Having survived a conference finals that exhausted their resources and stretched them to their limits, the Warriors are now able to play free and easy against a Cavs team that doesn't offer the same kind of defensive resistance as Oklahoma City. Winning Game 1 in this manner allows them to continue doing what they do, with little deviation in lineups or responsibilities.

"We rely on a lot of people," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "We play a lot of people, and we feel like we have a lot of talent on the bench that can come in and score when we need it. So, it's a great sign, obviously, that we can win in the finals without (Curry and Thompson) having big games, but it's not really that surprising to us. This has been our team the last couple of years."

Take Livingston, for example. The invaluable reserve looked lost for most of the conference finals, but when he has his in-between game going he's almost impossible to stop and the Warriors are practically unbeatable. Livingston is a typical Warrior role player in that once upon a time he was a phenom. Now, like Andrew Bogut and Leandro Barbosa, he gets by on a combination of skill and guile. He can still get his shot off at any time, thanks to his length and his herky-jerky movements.

Livingston is the key to the Warriors' reserve-heavy unit that typically starts play in the second and fourth quarters. If he can get a few buckets and Harrison Barnes can make a few shots then the Warriors are generally able to cruise. Occasionally someone else -- a Barbosa or a Mo Speights -- will get rolling and give them a cushion. On this night it was Barbosa who made all five of his shots, but there was also a twist.

Kerr had Green start the quarters with that lineup, a tacit acknowledgement that he had gameplanned for Cleveland's deep reserve unit that has run roughshod over the East. With Green and Iguodala holding down the defensive assignments, Livingston, Barnes and Barbosa did the rest. They opened up a nice lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter and blew the game open in the fourth.

Their play was emblematic of an atypical performance with an expected outcome. The Cavs are going to have to be much better to get back in this series. The Warriors simply need to continue what they're doing, making the illogical seem inevitable.

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Nobody can stop the Warriors’ deadliest play

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