The Cavs showed why they're underdogs in the NBA finals, losing to the Golden State Warriors 113-91 in the first game last night. Our WKSU sports commentator, Terry Pluto, says defeat was in the air from the very beginning of the game.
鈥淵ou could sense the Cavs were in huge trouble,鈥� Pluto says. 鈥淭he Warriors just attacked them.鈥�
The Cavs seemed to play like it was the regular season, when the team was marked by lackluster defense. Last night's scaled-back, almost nonexistent defense struck Pluto as 鈥渧ery odd.鈥� For one thing, it requires that "you just try to out-score them. Well, you鈥檙e not going to be able to do that with Golden State.鈥�
Pluto says in general, Golden State is a terrific team. So he expected more out of LeBron and the Cavs.
鈥淟eBron James had a really rough night. [He] would miss a shot, then he鈥檚 arguing with the officials down on one end of the floor. And meanwhile, that ball鈥檚 going down to the other end,鈥� Pluto says. 鈥淭his is not how you beat them.鈥�
Still, fans don鈥檛 necessarily have a reason to worry. At least not yet.
鈥淸LeBron] always loses Game One in the finals,鈥� Pluto says.
The one exception was in 2011, when James scored a first-game win for Miami. The Heat ended up losing the championship to the Mavericks.
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