Oakland, CA — Lebron James’ 51 points, eight assists and eight rebounds weren’t enough.
Tied at 56 a piece at the half, the Cavs made it through the Warriors famous and explosive third quarter scoring (they opened the third quarter with a 10-3 run) only down by six points.
The Cavs were able to level the score in the fourth, but when the refs reversed a blocking call to send Kevin Durant to the foul line instead of Lebron James — the entire game turned upside down.
“It’s never been done, ever in the history of the game,” said Tyronn Lue, head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. “It was great, it was epic and [James] did enough to carry this team to a victory … To do what he did tonight and to come up robbed, it’s just not right.”
But even after the controversy of the refereeing, the Cavs still fought. George Hill missed a foul shot with seconds left that would have put Cleveland up and J.R. Smith failed to take the buzzer beating shot because it appeared he thought the team was up and the game was over — but at the end of regulation, it was tied and the Cavs would get dominated in the OT.
Postgame, Smith denied thinking they were up, Lebron James walked off the stage and Lue came right out and said what everyone at home was thinking: “He thought we were up one,” he confirmed. But it shouldn’t have even come to that: Smith once shot 30 percent from the floor and missed all six of his shot attempts in the fourth quarter.
But for a split second, fans at home thought that the Cavs could actually steal a game in Oakland against the defending champs — and when I say Cavs, I really only mean Lebron James (because let’s remember, they were up by 11 points in the first half!).
It’s been the story of the postseason this year for Cleveland, Lebron shows up to each and every game and unfortunately his supporting cast has taken away games off. Thursday night was no different.
Kevin Love ended the game with 21 points and 13 rebounds (a much needed performance for a player who was questionable if he was going to be able to play after taking a hit to the head earlier in the playoffs), but everyone else as almost non-existent: Tristan Thompson had just two points and five rebounds (and a last second fight that could end up hurting the team in Game 2), Smith added ten points and six rebounds, George Hill and Jeff Green both finished with seven points and no one else couldn’t muster-up double digit scoring.
