NBA Finals: Curry Dismisses Chatter With LeBron James As 'Bunch Of Nonsense'

The NBA Finals got off to an explosive start Thursday night as the Golden State Warriors picked up the win in Game 1 with an overtime 124-114 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers despite LeBron James scoring 51 points on the night.

The Cavaliers almost had a perfect start to the 2018 NBA Finals after many had written off their chances of beating the reigning champions. With the game tied at 106, James’ side had the chance to win as J.R. Smith collected the rebound after George Hill missed his second free throw.

They had 4.6 seconds left in regulation time to make another shot, but Smith decided against the shot and ran to the perimeter thinking they were ahead when the game was actually tied. This took the game into overtime where the Warriors blitzed the Cavaliers outscoring them 17-7 to take Game 1 of the best of seven series.

It was in overtime that Stephen Curry and James had a coming together after the Warriors’ point guard had his shot blocked by the Cavaliers forward. They shared some words between them before Klay Thompson stepped in and separated the two.

Curry and James share a long-standing rivalry and are pretty familiar with each other having come against the other in the finals for the last three years. The Warriors point guard brushed off the exchange and admitted it was just a bit of “trash talking.”

“I was just trying to finish the game out, he made a great block and started talking some trash and so I talked some trash back,” Curry told ESPN after the win on Thursday night. “After that it was just a bunch of nonsense, it had nothing to do with the game. We wanted to keep our composure, stay focused on the goal of winning the championship and this is what went down.”

“A great effort all the way through and we are standing in an amazing performance from ‘Bron tonight,” the two-time MVP added.

Meanwhile, despite the Cavaliers’ loss and lot of talk about Smith’s decision not to take the shot, James’ performance was something to behold. The forward was again at his best as he scored 51 points with eight rebounds and assists.

It was the Cavaliers star’s 109th 30+ point game and he was now tied in first place with the legendary Michael Jordan. And Warriors’ Kevin Durant admitted it was tough to stop him when he was playing the way he did in Game 1.

“I mean it’s all him, it’s tough to stop him. Especially you know he’s getting a lot of screens and Steph on him a lot and you know that’s what the mismatch is. So we got to do a better job of helping him out,” Durant said after the win. “And then the transition and we have to be aware of his catches as he wasn’t catching and going to the rim. But you know this is what he does and he’s been doing the same thing for so long.”

“We just got to try and make it tougher on him but you know he got the ball in his hands all game. He played 42 minutes in regulation time got the ball a lot and orchestrated their offense,” he added. “We just got to be patient and not get discouraged when he makes shots and just keep playing hard.”

Game 2 of the NBA Finals will tip off Sunday night at the Oracle Center in Oakland with live TV coverage available on ABC.