Stephen Curry realizes every last man on the bench can mean so much to winning a championship. As he and Klay Thompson endured rare off nights that even featured Curry tossing his mouthpiece in frustration, the NBA Most Valuable Player's supporting cast made all the timely shots and all the difference for the defending champions in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Draymond Green had 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Shaun Livingston scored a personal postseason best of 20 and Golden State's bench came up big as the Warriors beat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-89 Thursday night to move three wins from a repeat title. Curry and Thompson? They totaled — gasp! — 20 points between them on 8-for-27 shooting, each knocking down a late 3-pointer. "You don't win championships without the entire squad coming in and making an impact on games," Curry said. "That's why we're here." Golden State's bench outscored the Cavs' reserves 45-10 in the opener of this finals rematch, which the Warriors reached even with Curry missing six games with injuries in the postseason. Game 2 is Sunday night back at Oracle Arena, and James knows Cleveland must adjust immediately. "When you get outscored 45-10 on the bench and give up 25 points off 17 turnovers, no matter what someone does or doesn't do, it's going to be hard to win, especially on the road," James said. "Don't matter what you do with Steph and Klay, don't matter what you do with Draymond." In a series with so much star power on both sides, this was a night for Livingston and fellow reserves Leandro Barbosa and Andre Iguodala. Barbosa returned from a minor back injury to shoot 5 for 5, while 2015 Finals Most Valuable Player Iguodala had 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and some stingy defense on James. "We play a lot of people, and we feel like we have a lot of talent on the bench that can come in and score when we need it," coach Steve Kerr said. James kicked off his sixth straight finals with 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, but cold-shooting Cleveland went 38.1 percent from the floor. Kyrie Irving, lost to a knee injury in Game 1 last year, scored 26 points, 11 on free throws. Iguodala showed he can handle any role — if Kerr decides to start him or bring him off the bench. Iguodala didn't let an aggravating, hard hit to the groin by Matthew Dellavedova derail his focus for the final quarter. Kerr stuck with regular starter Harrison Barnes, and he delivered 13 points. Curry had 11 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Thompson scored nine points. "I thought our guys did a great job of locking into those guys," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. "Their bench played well. So we've got to go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how to take those guys out of the game." Kevin Love made an impressive finals debut with 17 points and 13 rebounds after missing last year's run with a dislocated shoulder that required surgery. His basket with 3:57 left in the third put the Cavs ahead before Green's dunk moments later. With 34.1 seconds left in the third, Iguodala took issue with Dellavedova's swat into his groin that after review was ruled a personal foul and no flagrant. Iguodala knocked down a 3-pointer less than 8 seconds later and Golden State took a 74-68 lead into the final 12 minutes. — AP
