WHOA whoa whoa!
A “cardiac” opening game in the 2015 National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals between Golden State and Cleveland that was won in overtime by the Warriors, 108-100, on their home floor has metamorphosed into a “cardiac” Finals series when the Cavaliers, playing without two members of their Big Three (power forward Kevin Love out since the start of the second-round playoffs and All-Star playmaker Kyrie Irving sidelined for the remainder of the Finals after sustaining a fractured left kneecap in Game One that required surgery two days later), wrested homecourt advantage away from the Warriors in Game Two in another nerve-wracking overtime thriller, a 95-93 victory at the Oracle Arena that evened the best-of-seven titular showdown at 1-1.
Two five-minute extensions in the first two games of the 2015 NBA Finals are unprecedented in league history. At no time since the NBA opened shop in 1946-47 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) have the first two games of a Finals gone into overtime.
This marks the first time in 45 years that consecutive Finals games were decided after regulation time. In the 1970 Finals between the eventual champion New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, the third and fourth games at the old Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California went into OT (Knicks won Game Three despite an overtime-sending “Hail Mary” shot by “The Logo” Jerry West of the Lakers from past halfcourt that counted only a two since the three-point rule was only introduced in 1979-80 but the Lakers came back to deadlock the series at 2-2 with a Game Four triumph).
New York eventually grabbed their first of two NBA titles in franchise history with a Game Seven win at the Madison Square Garden where the Knicks’ hobbling captain Willis Reed showed up to play in the first few minutes to inspire Walt (Clyde) Frazier and the Knicks to victory.
Game Three of the 2015 NBA Finals will be held at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland tomorrow, June 10 (Manila time, 9:00 a.m.). The fourth game, to be hosted once more by the Cavaliers under the 2-2-1-1-1 Finals format), will be played on Friday, June 12 (MT, 9:00 a.m.).
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry chalked up 26 points and eight assists and and his backcourt partner Klay Thompson, who had been cleared to play after suffering a concussion in the West finals series-clinching Game Five against Houston, had 21 points though he struggled with a 5-for-14 field shooting.
It was the bench players that sparked the Warriors’ win in Game One – Andre Iguodala (15 points on a 6-of-8 field clip and playing tough defense against Cavaliers meal ticket LeBron James), Marreese Speights (eight points) and Nigerian center Festus Ezeli (five points) – along with the combined 23 markers and 12 rebounds of starting forwards Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green.
James led Cleveland with a Finals career-high 44 points, eight boards and six assists in 46 minutes. Irving logged 23 scores, seven reebies, six dimes, four steals and two blocks but suffered a knee injury midway through the bonus session.
In Game Two, Cleveland took control with 2.5 left in regulation, enjoying an 83-72 lead before Golden State gambled with a Hack-a-Tristan Thompson offensive strategy twice (TT went 2-for-4 from the foul line) and eventually tied the score, 87-all, to send the game into overtime.
The Cavaliers scored the five points in OT and hang on to victory on a pair of free throws by Irving’s substitute Matthew Dellavedova (who finished with nine points) and a charity shot by James after the Warriors grabbed the lead, 93-92, for the first time since the first quarter).
James wound up with 39 points – giving him 83 after two games for a share of second place with the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal (2000) on the all-time Finals charts behind West’s 94 in 1969 – 16 rebounds and 11 assists in a game-high 50 minutes for the fifth triple-double in his Finals career stint and 12th overall in the playoffs.
He shot just 11-for-35 from the field after going 18-for-38 in the series opener. The Cavs’ win was James’ first in six Finals games in his career. In his first tour of duty in Wine City, he powered the Cavs to the 2007 Finals where they were whitewashed, 4-0, by San Antonio.
Curry, who shot 10-for-20 from the field (including 2-for-6 from beyond the arc) in Game One, struggled mightily in the second game, going 5-for-23 from the field, including 2-for-15 from the three-ball territory for 19 points, and committed a team-high six turnovers.
Thompson offset Curry’s off night with a career playoff-high 34 points on a 14-for-28 field clip, including 4-for-12 from the three-point area. All season long, the Warriors have banked on their versatility, depth and defense. Plus they have thrived on their three-point shooting.
It’s been said “you live by the three and die by the three.” In Game Two, Golden State made a measly eight threes out of 35 attempts (an all-time Finals game record) – Cleveland was 9-for-27 – and paid dearly for ineptness from downtown.
The 2015 NBA Finals between Golden State and Cleveland marks the first time that the two teams have a rookie for a head coach – Stephen Douglas (Steve) Kerr (Warriors) and David Blatt (Cavaliers) – since the league opened shop in 1946-47 as the Basketball Association of America.
The Boston-born Blatt, who attended Princeton University but never played collegiate or pro ball, is the grand guru of European ball, having mentored clubs in Israel (Galil Elyon/Maccabi Tel Aviv), Russia (Dynamo Saint Petersburg/Dynamo Russia), Italy (Benetton Treviso), Turkey (Efes Pilsen) and Greece (Aris Thessaloniki) from 1993-94 through 2013-14) when Cleveland came-a-calling last summer (weeks ahead before LeBron James opted to return to his home state and renew ties with the Cavaliers following a four-year stay in Miami with the Heat).
Blatt won 16 championships during his Euro tour. In the final year of his second tour of duty (2010-14) with Maccabi Electra, the 56-year-old Blatt steered his underdog Tel Aviv squad past Spain’s Real Madrid, 98-86, in overtime during the 2014 EuroLeague finals held in Italy for its sixth European championship overall.
Blatt, whose family still lives in Israel, steered the Russian Olympic team to the bronze medal during the 2012 London Games.
The 49-year-old Kerr owns five NBA title rings as a player – three with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and the Chicago Bulls (1996-1997-1998) and a pair with Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs (1999 and 2003).
A 6-foot-3 guard, Kerr is one of only 11 men in NBA annals to snare four straight championships and one of only two to win in consecutive seasons with different clubs (Chicago/San Antonio), the other being Frank (Pep) Saul (1951 Rochester Royals/1952-53-54 Minneapolis Lakers).
Kerr, a product of the University of Arizona, retired in 2003. He subsequently spent time as a color commentator for NBA on Turner Network Television (TNT) that same year, left his broadcasting position to join the Phoenix Suns organization in June 2007 as their president of basketball operations and then general manager before returning to his NBA TV analyst job in June 2010 till the summer of 2014 when Golden State came-a-calling.
Kerr, an American, was born in war-torn Beirut in Lebanon (his dad was an academician who was serving as president of the American University of Beirut when he was assassinated in January 1984.
Blatt and Kerr coincidentally share the same agent, Mark Bartelstein.