Warriors 108, Cavaliers 100 (OT)
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Small forward Harrison Barnes hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to highlight a 10-0 spurt to start overtime, helping Golden State Warriors outlast the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-100 Thursday night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday night, also on the Warriors' home court.
While Golden State was holding Cleveland without a point until 8.9 seconds remained in the extra session, point guard Stephen Curry made four free throws before Barnes buried his 3-pointer off an assist by reserve swingman Andre Iguodala for a 105-98 lead with 2:02 to go.
Iguodala added one free throw 22 seconds later and power forward Draymond Green dropped in a pair with 1:16 to go, capping the Golden State scoring.
Cavaliers star forward LeBron James capped a playoff-career-best 44-point night with a layup, Cleveland's only points of the extra five minutes.
James missed a pair of 3-pointers as Cleveland went 0-for-8 with three turnovers to start the overtime.
Curry led the Warriors with 26 points. Shooting guard Klay Thompson added 21, and Iguodala contributed 15.
Kyrie Irving backed James with 23 for the Cavaliers, but the star point guard sustained an apparent left knee injury midway through the overtime. Irving left the court to be examined and did not return.
Cleveland center Timofey Mozgov added 16 points.
Both teams had shots at the win at the end of regulation. In fact, the Cavaliers had two.
After Irving brilliantly blocked a Curry layup from behind to preserve a 98-98 tie with 24.9 seconds left, the Cavaliers went to James, who misfired on a tough 20-footer.
The rebound deflected into the right corner, where Cleveland shooting guard Iman Shumpert grabbed it and quickly fired up a buzzer-beating attempt, but it bounced off the rim, producing the sixth overtime in a Game 1 in the Finals.
Neither team scored for nearly two minutes after the Cavaliers drew even at 96-all. Curry then drained a straightaway 20-footer with 53.6 seconds remaining to put Golden State up by two.
Two free throws by Mozgov produced the 98-98 tie at regulation's end.
Iguodala, whose steal and buzzer-beating dunk forged a 73-all tie at the end of the third quarter, helped Golden State go up by three early in the fourth with a 3-pointer, an assist and a blocked shot.
When backup center Marreese Speights, who hadn't played since May 9 because of a calf strain, buried in a 20-footer at the 8:33 mark of the period, the Warriors had an 80-77 advantage.
But then the Cleveland offense got on a roll. The Cavaliers made six consecutive shots, three by James, to grab a 91-87 lead with 5:05 to go.
A 3-pointer by Curry helped Golden State rally, and when Thompson hit a pair of free throws with 2:53 to go, the Warriors were back on top 96-93.
A James 3-pointer, his second of the night, created a 96-all tie with 2:38 to go and set up the tight finish.
The game was tied 73-all after three quarters.
NOTES: The Warriors are the first team since the 1996-97 Utah Jazz to appear in the NBA Finals with no player having previous experience in the Finals. ... Cleveland's David Blatt and Golden State's Steve Kerr both made the Finals as rookie coaches, the first time that occurred since the inaugural NBA season in 1946-47. ... The Cavaliers and Warriors combined to score 29.3 percent of their points in the regular season on 3-pointers, the highest percentage ever for NBA Finals participants. ... Warriors PG Stephen Curry (73) and SG Klay Thompson (45) began the Finals already having broken the record for 3-pointers made in the playoffs by a pair of teammates with 118. ... Asked before the game if the FIFA scandal in soccer could have any impact on FIBA in basketball, NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted, "I'm sure that because of the investigation that's now going on with FIFA that the other federations, not just FIBA, will all take a fresh look at how they do business."