NBA Finals 2016: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were miserable, and the Warriors won anyway

Curry shot just 4-of-15 on Thursday, with five turnovers to just six assists. His 11 points still topped Klay Thompson’s nine, scored on 4-of-12 shooting while playing just 24 minutes. It was Curry’s third-worst field goal percentage all season, regular season and playoffs, and the first time all season that both Curry and Thompson have both shot under 34 percent in the same game.

Yet, the Warriors won, 104-89, leading most of the way to take a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

The Brothers Splash had an even worse showing with three minutes on the clock, a 98-87 lead and three minutes left on the clock. That’s when they finished the Cavaliers off, first with a Curry triple and then Thompson following his lead. Even after struggling with their shots, they didn’t lack the confidence to fire these up. Even playing terribly, they still were the ones who finished Cleveland for good.

Curry’s still a question mark. Ever since his first-round ankle injury and subsequent knee sprain when he tried to come back a week later, the two-time MVP has been inconsistent at best. For stretches, he’s as otherworldly as ever, sinking impossible threes and dropping in sky-high layups with the softest of touch. During others, he’s just great, creating shots and nailing jumpers, just lacking the pizzazz and incredulity that typically accompanies one of his performances. On nights like Thursday, there’s still lingering doubts that this is the best he has to offer, though.

Recovery isn’t linear and it’s perfectly reasonably to say there may be times or certain moments where Curry’s first-round injury is still limiting him, even as hordes of interneters shout down that notion as an excuse. All those questions and theories pop up again in a moment like Game 1, where he struggled throughout. There’s little doubt that Thompson’s off night was merely that, but it’s not possible to examine Curry’s performance to see if there’s signs that it’s something more.

Regardless of his status, though, this should be a very worrisome situation for the Cavaliers. They couldn’t trap the Warriors when their two-best scorers combined for 20. Even if Curry’s situation is more long-term than he’s letting on, there’s still precedent from these playoffs that he’ll bounce back in Game 2. That’s terrifying, because there’s already water pouring into the good ship Cleveland that the coaches will be desperately trying to patch in the two days before Game 2. Incorporating more difficulties into that assignment only makes this worse.

Even the best players in the world have bad nights, but rarely do the best players in the world have bad nights and still watch their team win. That’s how good the Warriors are. Curry and Thompson’s teammates set the stage, and those two each buried a triple to finish it off. You can’t ask for better teamwork.

It was sad watching Oklahoma City’s stars, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, play the Warriors. They’d explode off the dribble, see the double teams, make the right reads to an open shooter and then watch as their teammate bricked the shot, often not even coming close. There’s a sound argument to be made that the Thunder actually outplayed Golden State if you were to grade the Western Conference finals from Games 1 to 7 combined. They did outscore them for the series, after all. But that’s not how basketball works, and here we are with Golden State deservedly in the Finals.

There was a thought that those same open three-pointers that killed the Thunder would devastate Cleveland in this series. The Cavaliers, after all, might be the best team in the league at taking a plethora of jumpers with blinding results. They roasted the Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals that way, and had blistering moments against the Pistons and Raptors, too.

Instead, Golden State shut them down, running the shooters off the line as often as possible. J.R. Smith hit just one three, and it basically came in garbage time. Channing Frye was a non-factor, playing just seven minutes after torching teams all playoffs. Cleveland’s 7-of-21 didn’t compared too poorly with Golden State’s 9-of-27, but as we talked about with their top scorers, we know this won’t last. The shots will begin to rain down for the Warriors, and Cleveland better be ready with all it has to answer back.

Accidental groin punch! Welcome back to the wonderful land of dick punches. In other news, Draymond nearly kicked someone after he blatantly flopped, so there’s that, too.

Steve “Hulk” Kerr smashes whiteboard.

Ref tripped over a Warrior who nailed a three anyway.

MEAN TWEETS.

Warriors 104, Cavaliers 89 (Golden State of Mind recap | Fear the Sword recap)

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