SPURS WIN GAME 1

 

(Image taken from NBA.com)

So this is it, the NBA Finals. One team has is looking to win four title in ten years, the other has made history just by getting this far. The Sours in the West vs the Cavs in the East. San Antonio buzzing and the only occassion that matches Game 1 in terms of pre-game hype is the Allstar Game. The tension oozes through TV screens and the Spurs in particular know that if they lose Game 1, they might as well let the Cavs take the trophy now.

Well the Cavs kept pace for the early part of the 1st quarter and the game was tied at 6 a couple of minutes in but if your main man is off the pace then the opposition is sure to take over. Tim Duncan quickly started to run things. Credit to the Cavs though, despite focussed defence from the Spurs, the visiting side never looked like getting blown out early on, relying instead on their own defence for damage limitation. Spurs still led 20-15 at the end of one though.

Early in the second quarter, well maybe the Cavs learned too many tricks from the Pistons as their defence smothered both the Spurs and the game. From their point of view it did the trick though, it gave them the lead for the first time in the game and they led 25-22 mid-quarter. Tony Parker replied with play that was compared to Steve Nash and the Spurs surged ahead again, and though the Cavs partially cut the resulting deficit, the Spurs still led 40-35 at the half.

Once again, there wasn't much scoring in the early part of the 3rd quarter but the Spurs weren't too badly damaged this time out. The Cavs maintain the five point deficit to start with but never looked like touching the Spursand with Manu Ginobli now having fully joined the party, the lead hit double digits and the Cavs certainly weren't able to do much about it, they didn't score at all in the last three minutes! The Spurs ended the quarter on a 6-0 run and were up 64-49 at the buzzer.

Early in the fourth and the Cavs attempted a comeback and to start with the Spurs were comfortably prepared to retain their large lead both sides matching each other shot for shot. However mid quarter the Cavs started to nibble into the Spurs lead and eventually with less than three minutes on the clock they got it down to single digits. With Robert Horry helping the Spurs to tick over though, the game never got closer than eight points. The Spurs took Game 1 85-76.

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