The first-half list of baskets for Golden State's Kevin Durant in Game 1 of the NBA Finals went like this: layup, dunk, jumper, dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk, layup, dunk, layup.
Most were easy.
And easy isn't supposed to happen, especially not at the rim in the NBA Finals.
Forget all the things Cleveland did wrong offensively in Game 1 -- the poor shooting, the 20 turnovers and how the bench basically contributed nothing.
The issue is this: If the reigning NBA champions don't show some toughness in Game 2 on Sunday night -- especially at the rim -- they won't be reigning NBA champions much longer.
"I think that's how Cleveland is going to approach it, make it a physical game," Michael Cooper, now the coach of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream who went through some Lakers-Celtics battles as a player in the 1980s, said before the series began. "Golden State wants a finesse game."
Finesse won Game 1.
And after a team has been blown out in the playoffs, history shows that team typically tries to make a statement in Game 2 that things will be different.
The Cavs had the enforcer they needed just three months ago in Andrew Bogut. Problem is, they had him for only 58 seconds.
Golden State's biggest undoing on the way to blowing a 3-1 lead in last season's NBA Finals is often credited to Draymond Green's Game 5 suspension for connecting with LeBron James' midsection, but the Warriors also lost Bogut -- their best rim protector -- in Game 5 to injury.
This year, it was Cleveland's turn to lose Bogut.
He started the year in Dallas, got traded to and waived by Philadelphia, and signed with Cleveland because the Cavs knew they needed -- and wanted -- another tough guy who could clog the lane and had playoff experience. And there is no doubt he would have been eager to go against the team that jettisoned him to the Mavericks to make room for Durant.
But Bogut checked into a game against Miami for his Cavs debut, collided with Heat rookie Okaro White and broke his left leg. Season over.
So while he was tweeting Thursday about Santa Claus and Australian Rules Football, Durant was dunking on the sort of nonexistent defense typically seen at an All-Star Game.
Durant had six dunks, all in the first half:
• The first came off a great cut to beat James.
• The second, James got no help after he swiped unsuccessfully at the ball.
• The third, James slipped and again no help came.
• The fourth, Kyrie Irving didn't stop the ball as Durant sailed past.
• The fifth, Shaun Livingston faked the Cavs out and Durant was left all alone.
• The sixth, Durant drove the lane and Smith ran away to cover Stephen Curry.
"We made a lot of mistakes. They capitalized," James said. "And we get an opportunity to get a couple days to see what they did and see what we did wrong and how we can be better in Game 2."
Playing the Warriors is a slew of pick-your-poison decisions. Overcommit to the lane, and their shooters will tee off from three-point range. Overplay the perimeter, and the rim is undefended.
They've won 28 of their past 29 games. They're 80-15 this season. They could post the second-best record in NBA history when counting the regular season and playoffs, behind only the 1995-1996 Bulls.
Today's NBA isn't the sort of league where someone is going to clothesline Durant or any other Warrior to send some sort of overly physical message. Kevin McHale's aggressive at-the-rim takedown of Kurt Rambis in the 1984 title matchup remains a quintessential moment in postseason lore (and swung that Celtics-Lakers series Boston's way).
And this series is a long way from over. James has been on the losing end of Game 1 of the Finals seven times in eight tries. He was down 1-0 in all three of the series where he went on to win a ring. Not even a 3-1 deficit last year was enough to bother him.
But Cleveland must find a way to prevent the easy baskets.
NBA Finals
All times Central Best-of-7
THURSDAY’S GAME
Golden State 113, Cleveland 91
Golden State leads series 1-0.
SUNDAY’S GAME
Cleveland at Golden State, 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Golden State at Cleveland, 8 p.m.
Sports on 06/03/2017