After a long rest, NBA action finally returned, as Game 1 of the Finals took place at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. As always, a sea full of gold filled the Oracle seats, and the house was roaring right from tipoff.

But it was LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers who got off to a quick start to the game and quieted the crowd early on. They snatched a commanding 14-point lead early in the first and were looking stellar early on.

Marreese Speights, who hadn’t played since the first round of the playoffs, made an enormous contribution in his return. In just minutes, Speights hit a couple of jumpers to ignite the crowd and sparked a 24-7 run along with the rest of the bench mob.

“When we went down 14, we didn’t panic,” Klay Thompson said. “We came to the huddle, and we understood it’s going to be a long game, we’ve just got to take it a possession at a time.”

Panic, they did not. The Warriors tied the game at 48-all late in the first half and went to intermission down three only because of a tough J.R. Smith long ball.

The two teams exchanged blows like heavyweight fighters in the third period. On one end, LeBron James was shouldering the weight, while on the end, the Warriors were working hard as a team to score against the suffocating Cleveland defense.

James played plenty of isolation ball tonight, posting up every chance he got. He was aggressively looking to score in this game, as he racked up a game-high 44 points to go along with six assists and eight rebounds. Throughout the contest, he saw multiple defenders, including Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Though, towards the end of the game, Iguodala was the primary defender on LeBron, and he did a solid job.

“He’s one of the smartest defenders in the league, and he’s stronger or is very strong,” coach Steve Kerr said of Iguodala. “He’s not stronger than LeBron, but he is very strong. He may not have the same weight. You know, he’s giving up 50 points or so. But Andre knows what he’s doing.”

The Warriors were playing single coverage on LeBron the entire game, forcing him to carry most, if not all, of the scoring load. However, his partner Kyrie Irving was having himself a terrific game as well, scoring 23 points, dishing out six assists, and collecting seven rebounds despite playing through a knee tendinitis.

Unfortunately, Irving’s knee issue haunted him late in the game. He was unable to finish the final two minutes of the contest after he re-injured his knee on a drive against Klay Thompson. The Cavaliers do not know the extent of his injury, but Irving left the locker room with crutches and will receive an MRI tomorrow.

The game’s intensity rose to a whole another level down the stretch. With the game tied at 98, Stephen Curry made a drive to the basket but missed on a well-defended layup attempt.

After a timeout, the Cavaliers killed off most of the clock on the other end, as LeBron James chucked up a jumper that hit the side of the rim and into the hands of his teammate, Iman Shumpert, who tossed up a desperation shot that just barely missed at the buzzer. Overtime!

In the extra session, it was all Golden State. They held the Cavaliers to two points and scored 10 of their own to squeeze out a 108-100 Game 1 victory.

“We couldn’t get nothing to drop [in overtime], including myself,” James said. “J.R. had a really good look on the three at one point, but they just ramped it up a little bit. They got to the free-throw line, and we didn’t get it.

We really only had zero points, and I got the layup at the end, but that didn’t mean much because they did a good job closing in overtime.”

The Warriors’ bench was phenomenal, outscoring Cleveland’s bench, 34-9, led by Andre Iguodala’s 15 points. Aside from his defense on James, Iguodala knocked down two crucial threes in the fourth.

“He got going,” Kerr said of Iguodala’s offensive contributions. “He made a big three in the corner late in the game. I think it was mid fourth quarter or so. But Andre has been fantastic all year. The numbers don’t always show it, but he’s a great player for us.”

J.R. Smith was the only player who scored off Cleveland’s bench.

“I think [bench play] was a pretty significant factor, obviously,” Blatt said. “In terms of numbers and in terms of the lift that they got. But our bench has been good throughout the playoffs, as you know and as you stated, tonight less so. We missed their contribution.”

Stephen Curry led the way for the Warriors with 26 points and eight assists. He was faced with Shumpert’s tough defense all night long but found ways to be effective. Klay Thompson, who got off to a slow start, finished with 21 points and six boards.

With the win, the Warriors take a 1-0 series lead and Steve Kerr becomes the first coach to win Game 1 of the NBA Finals in his first season as a head coach since Mike Dunleavy did it in 1991. Also, the team that wins Game 1 of the Finals, wins the series 71 percent of the time, which sits pretty for Golden State.

Game 2 will take place on Sunday, June 7th, at 8 pm EST in Oakland.