When it comes to betting on basketball, it’s tough to bet against the Golden State Warriors, whose reserves – which would be starters in any other city – can go toe to toe with Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. On a night when backup guard Shaun Livingston scored as many points as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined, the Warriors lived up to their status as favorites at SBG Global sportsbook and defeated the Cavs 104-89 to win game 1 of the NBA championship series. Additionally, Draymond Green had an on night and registered 16 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.
The Warriors bench scored a total of 45 points to Cleveland’s reserve’s 10. To make matters worse, the Cavs gave up 25 points off 17 turnovers. That’s not to say that the betting on basketball underdogs played badly – as a matter of fact, nothing could be further from the truth. James had 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists – almost a triple-double –, while Kevin Love had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Kyrie Irving had 26 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Moreover, the Cavaliers did what they had to do, defensive-wise, which was to neutralize the so-called ‘Splash Brothers.’ Curry went shot 4-15 and went 3-8 from beyond the three point line, while Thompson made 4 out of 12 field goal attempts and only one three out of 5 attempts.
However, as a certain song goes, the Golden State’s roster goes deeper than the deepest Cousteau would ever go. As mentioned elsewhere on SBG Global sportsbook, this team is much more than just coach Steve Kerr or MVP Curry. Even the King himself admitted that they won the title last year and are in the Finals again this year because of the whole team and their bench. James went on to say that if you “give up 45 points off the bench and 25 points off turnovers on the road” then it doesn’t matter what you do with Curry and Thompson.
In addition to Livingstone, Leandro Barbosa shot a perfect 5 for 5 – including a three-pointer – from the field to contribute 11 points. Furthermore, last year’s Finals MVP Andre Iguodala had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, and was basically a thorn in the side of Lebron James. The latter started his sixth consecutive NBA final series in fine form, marking his 25th postseason game in a row in which he has scored 20 or more points, besting his previous record of 24. Unfortunately, the Cavs as a whole only shot 38% from the floor. As coach Lue said, they have to go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to take out the Warriors bench in game 2 on Sunday – for which Golden State remains the favorite of fans betting on basketball.