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Star duo Kevin Durant and Steph Curry led Golden State Warriors to a convincing 113-91 victory over Cleveland Cavaliers in Game I of the NBA Finals in Oakland.
Durant contributed 38 points and Curry added 28 for the game, with the Warriors having effectively confirmed the result by the end of the third quarter when they held a commanding 21-point lead.
The Warriors, who now boast an unbeaten record in this year's playoffs, will again host the Cavaliers when they meet in Game II on Monday, as the third consecutive Finals series between the two teams continues.
Durant, in his first NBA Finals for the Warriors, drove through the lane untouched for dazzling dunks time and again, while also posting eight rebounds and eight assists in addition to his points haul.
Curry landed six three-pointers and 10 assists, as this sure-to-be thrilling trilogy finally began.
LeBron James wound up with 28 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists for the Cavaliers a day after dealing with bigotry far away from basketball.
A racial slur had been painted on the gate of his Los Angeles home, leaving James to address racism rather than his seventh straight Finals appearance.
Durant punished the Cavaliers for leaving him free, taking the ball to the hoop for emphatic dunks as a man on a mission to deliver exactly what he came for, a championship.
He had six slams in the first half alone for the Warriors, who at 13-0 are already the first team to go this far in a post-season unblemished.
Kyrie Irving, who hit the deciding three-pointer last June as the Cavaliers won Cleveland's first major team title in 52 years, scored 24 points on 10-of-22 shooting.
Kevin Love grabbed 21 rebounds and scored 15 points, while Tristan Thompson was held scoreless and to four boards.
AP/ABC
Topics: basketball, sport, united-states
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