I'm going to pretend TheColi's most splenetic LeBron stan didn't just accuse me of always being "so deep" in my emotions when it concerns a team/player. Especially since I was actually the first one to accuse you of that very thing in the past, and all you're doing is trying to deflect by turning it onto me. There's a reason why the majority of our arguments center around LeBron, and not the Warriors.
I. Here's your first mistake - you're taking the free throw disparity after they went up by double digits in a vacuum, failing to realize that the Cavs were allowed to be physical from the onset. Meaning there were fouls that were NOT called during the process of building that 15-point lead. The refs didn't just heavily favor the Cavs after they built that lead (by sending them to the line), they were favoring them from the very start.
Examples of fouls not called when they built said margin:
- shot clock doesn't reset, forcing Durant to put up a 3-pt which he was fouled on
- blocking foul on TT goes uncalled
- TT over the back goes uncalled
And there were a # of times that Cavs got away with bearhugging both Curry and Klay off the ball.
II.
The lead didn't get any bigger when the fouls started getting called? You do realize that adds weight to my argument right? If the lead didn't get any bigger when the Cavs were getting all those foul calls, that means the Warriors would've eaten into the margin had they not been called for ticky tack fouls. What makes it worse is that, the Warriors would've not only cut into the margin if they don't get called for those fouls, but if the refs began favoring them instead they would've most probably taken the lead in the first quarter.
And you had instances like this where the Warriors were not only battling the refs on defense, they also weren't getting shooting fouls of their own -
- Curry clearly fouled on the arm on a layup
III. The rest of the game doesn't really matter, because the refs decided the result/tone in the first quarter. They not only gave the Cavs that margin, they not only allowed the Cavs to keep that margin, but they took the sting out of the Warriors defense - which then led to them being passive on defense for the rest of the game, fearing another period where the refs would call them for ticky tack fouls. If a team is awarded 22 FTs in one quarter, it's gonna affect how aggressive the defense is for the rest of the game.
Funny how if you take away that ref-affected first quarter, there was basically nothing between the two teams:
35-37
28-29
20-22
Even despite the Warriors dialing down their defensive intensity, they still went bucket for bucket with the Cavs.
