Cavaliers unravel, waste golden opportunity against Warriors

What were the odds? On a night Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson barely make a splash, the Golden State Warriors are supposed to go down, not crush the opponent with a fourth-quarter tidal wave.

It’s hard to imagine we waited a year for this.

Instead of a classic NBA Finals opener, the Cavaliers turned in a performance that was a colossal disappointment. Cleveland wasted a golden opportunity to steal a game in which Curry and Thompson did the unthinkable. The “Splash Brothers” disappeared Thursday.

“It’s the matchup everybody wanted to see,” Sunset Station sports book director Chuck Esposito said.

But we never expected to see this: Shaun Livingston scored 20 points, equaling the scoring total of Curry and Thompson, and the Warriors still won in a 104-89 runaway. The final margin of the bludgeoning was not as surprising as the way it happened.

It all unraveled in an instant on the Cavaliers, who surged ahead 68-67 on LeBron James’ layup with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

It was at that point that Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue made a loser move, subbing in Matthew Dellavedova and bringing point guard Kyrie Irving to the bench for an ill-timed rest. Dellavedova missed an open jumper, Dellavedova lost his dribble on a turnover, and Dellavedova slapped the Warriors’ Andre Iguodala below the belt.

Iguodala counterpunched by hitting a 3-pointer, and Golden State took a 74-68 lead into the fourth. It was 84-70 before the Cavaliers knew what hit them.

“The Warriors are so good at home, it’s hard to go against them,” Esposito said. “Maybe they were a little underrated because they didn’t come into the finals on such a high.”

Golden State came in with a hangover, needing three consecutive victories to eliminate Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, but Curry and Thompson were the only players to show signs of exhaustion. Curry, the league’s scoring leader, finished with 11 points, and Thompson, who hit 11 3-pointers in Game 6 against the Thunder, scored nine.

As it stands today, Livingston is the Most Valuable Player of the series. He shot 8-for-10 from the field, with Curry and Thompson combining to shoot 8-for-27. But things will change.

And the change in the Cavaliers had better be dramatic. Cleveland looked lost on the defensive end at times, and the impressive 3-point shooting it had displayed in the postseason was not on display in Game 1.

James compiled 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists — just over his proposition total of 43½ combined points, rebounds and assists posted by William Hill oddsmakers — but he was mostly ineffective when it counted. He was bottled up too many times by defenders Iguodala and Draymond Green.

Golden State, which closed as a 6-point favorite, won and covered with defense and the scoring of its reserves. The 3-point shootout that was anticipated never materialized. The prop total for made 3s closed at 24½, and the teams combined to hit 16 of 48.

The sharp bettors who played it under the total of 211 were on the money, but the ’dog turned into dead money.

The only good news for Cleveland is it’s only one loss. But sometime before Sunday, James and the Cavaliers need to find a defibrillator and shock their hearts back to life.

“It’s a perfect spot for Cleveland in Game 2,” said Micah Roberts, a handicapper for “The Linemakers” on SportingNews.com and VegasInsider.com. “LeBron will take over like last year for his legacy.”

It’s not that Irving and Kevin Love — both injured and missing in action at this time last year — played poorly in the opener, but they need to play better. And James needs to start producing when it counts, because he’s out of excuses.

“There’s no question it’s a better Cleveland team than it was last year,” Esposito said. “I can’t think of a more motivated superstar in any sport than LeBron. He’s got to be the most motivated guy to go out there and win a championship.

“There were so many naysayers last year when Golden State won it. Some people said a 3-point shooting team would never be able to win a championship, and they were a flash in the pan and the league would catch up to them.”

The Thunder almost caught up to the Warriors. The Cavaliers still have a long way to go and short time to get there.

“I think it’s going to be one of those series that goes six or seven games,” Esposito said. “There is some action on the Cavaliers. People feel like they can be competitive and they can win it. I think they can, too.”

Overreactions are common after one game of a series. Still, the Cavaliers need to react with a strong statement Sunday.

If not, it could be a short series. The positive would be that we see fewer of those annoying “Ghostbusters” commercials with Kobe Bryant.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports betting columnist Matt Youmans can be reached at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts “The Las Vegas Sportsline” weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM). Follow on Twitter: @mattyoumans247