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Golden State Warriors 10 best moments from Game 1

By Carlos Murillo

Jun 1, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) in the second half of the 2017 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 1, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) in the second half of the 2017 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jun 1, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) dunks against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first half of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

The King Bows to KD

Kevin Durant and LeBron James have been the premier matchup in the league for years. When they met in the NBA Finals years ago, everyone expected that we would see it a lot. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.

Now before Stephen Curry’s rise disrupted the balance of power in the league, James was the only person in the way of Durant owning the NBA. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t take that top spot from James. Durant is trying to change that.

Winning a title would absolutely help his case. Durant outplayed James in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The defending champ had no answer for him. KD was faster, stronger, more efficient, and just better.

The play of the game happened in the first quarter.

https://twitter.com/Finals2017/status/870667312893919232

There’s a lot to break down on this play. It was exciting and fun. It was also probably blown a little out of proportion, but these are the NBA Finals and the Internet so there’s no room for reason.

Steph Curry’s pass was pretty spectacular, but it shouldn’t have happened. It looked like it was supposed to go to Klay Thompson, but instead of cutting to the basket he popped out. Durant wasn’t even expecting the pass, but the ball managed to sneak past James to KD.

Durant faked and James bit on it. Then the Warriors’ star made his move towards the basket. When James tried to recover, he lost his footing and fell and he had a front row seat to the KD show. Durant rose up and slammed it down hard.

Next: Top 25 Warriors of All-Time

Now, Durant didn’t actually break his ankles. It looks like James slipped on a wet spot. Still, he tricked James into falling for his fake and taking himself out of the play. Whether or not he fell, that play probably still results in a dunk.

Still, he fell. You can’t fall at all, under any circumstances. Regardless of context, falling in this day and age is the worst thing you can do, especially if the guy finishes off the play.

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