News / Sports
LeBron James Shut Down as Spurs Handle Cavaliers in Game One of NBA Finals
Tony Parker scored 27 points and dished out 7 assists, Tim Duncan added 24 points, 13 rebounds and 5 blocks and Manu Ginobili finished with 16 points and 8 boards as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 85-76 to take game one of the NBA Finals.
While it was the big three for the Spurs who provided the offensive spark it was the veteran Bruce Bowen who kept LeBron James from ever igniting. LeBron was held to 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting and had six turnovers in his NBA Finals debut. So tough was it for James that he didn’t even hit his first field-goal until five minutes had past in the third quarter.
Despite the awful game from James the Cavaliers hung tough through the first half and actually held a 25-22 lead in the second quarter. San Antonio then went on a 9-0 run to grab a 31-25 advantage with just under five minutes left in the half but the Cavaliers pulled to within two after Donyell Marshall hit a three-pointer with 1:09 left on the clock. San Antonio got a little more breathing room just before the break when Manu Ginobili buried a long three-pointer of his own with one tick left on the clock and the Spurs went up 40-35 at halftime.
Cleveland hung around in the third quarter and after Drew Gooden sank a pair of free-throws with 5:26 left in the period the Cavaliers were still within seven points but then the Spurs closed out the frame on a 13-4 run that put the Cavs in a 64-49 hole heading into the fourth.
Robert Horry then started the final period with a three-pointer to push the advantage to 18 points and the Cavaliers could do little offensively to break the Spurs stifling defense. LeBron started a 13-4 run for the Cavs with back-to-back three-pointers but they still trailed by nine with just over two minutes left in the game. Daniel Gibson brought Cleveland to within eight but Tim Duncan took an Horry feed and dunked to push the lead back to ten, 82-72 with under a minute left in the game.
Both teams will meet again in San Antonio on Sunday for game two of their best of seven series.
