A fight broke out in Oakland Thursday night, reckless and wild but without a single punch thrown. It was an NBA brand of violence, christening the start of the Finals, and the Warriors won a clear-cut decision.
Inanimate objects were in danger, not to mention the occasional private body part, as Golden State outclassed the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-89 before Oracle Arena’s roaring sea of yellow-clad faithful. In the end, it felt very much like the defending champs, turning anxiety into comfort with a withering fourth-quarter run — but with an entirely new twist. It had little to do with the Splash Brothers.
Until three minutes remained, neither Stephen Curry nor Klay Thompson had scored in double figures. Six teammates had more points, some of them by plenty. Finally, and with a flourish, Curry and Thompson nailed three-point shots to make everyone feel good — about Game 2 (Sunday night at Oracle), about the series, about life.
This was mostly a night about Shaun Livingston, with 20 points off the bench; about a revitalized and hard-charging Harrison Barnes with 13; and about reputations. Andre Iguodala’s very in-character performance and the ageless Leandro Barbosa — 33, going on 18 — hitting all five of his shots.
At any level, anywhere in the world, basketball is about reputations. It’s an urban street corner or a military installation or maybe little kids (and they’re everywhere) trying to dribble two basketballs at once, just like Curry. Make yourself known, whether it’s substance or style.

WORLDWIDE FOCUS
The theater of reputation unfolds nightly during an NBA season, but it peaks in the Finals, when the audience truly goes global. They’re watching in Mumbai and Jerusalem, in Senegal and Lithuania. And those Bay Area parties, the ones that raged through a season of impossibly good times, only grow in number — invariably with a cluster of folks who know nothing about the game. Even neighbourhood gossip sounds better with the Warriors on.
As the national media descended upon the Bay Area this week, an incredulous Curry found himself answering questions about his image. It’s absolutely flawless most anywhere in the world, but there will always be critics — “haters,” as Curry calls them.

HARD TO DISLIKE
Can you imagine hating Stephen Curry? That’s like hating ice cream or being deeply resentful of the sunrise. Mostly it comes down to jealousy, if not pure disbelief of his magical feats, and Thursday’s Game 1 revealed an influential Curry even at his worst.
Looking noticeably off, shooting 4-for-15 for the night with five turnovers, Curry nevertheless injected a dose of finality into the Cavaliers’ demise, throwing a beautiful no-look pass to Iguodala to officially make this game a rout (96-76) and hitting only his third three-pointer of the night with 2:54 remaining.
Curry always seems to find centre stage on the highlight reel, but there was so much more to the reputation game. Take Steve Kerr and Matthew Dellavedova, for instance.
Kerr is the Warriors coach with the fruitful plan, the quick-witted retort, the sensible answer in a crisis. He can’t stand it when the team gets sloppy — such as the third quarter, when the Cavaliers briefly held the lead — and his plastic clipboard is suddenly in grave danger. This time he pounded it hard, with a closed fist, and it shattered into pieces.
“Destruction tends to ease some of the anger,” Kerr said afterward. “So I try to take it out on a clipboard instead of a player. It’s better that way.”

SCRAPPY GUARD
Dellavedova is the Cavaliers’ scrappy guard from Down Under, where he played Australian Rules football and continues to crash into opponents without any hint of body control. If he’s not a dirty player, he’s familiar with the dust, and there was an awkward moment in the third quarter when he chased down Iguodala, reached around to snatch the ball — and clubbed the Warriors’ forward in a, shall we say, vulnerable spot.
What is it about these playoffs? There were similar incidents in the Western Conference finals, with Draymond Green delivering and Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams recoiling in pain. As CSN Bay Area’s acerbic Ray Ratto cracked on Twitter Thursday night, “You know what they say: A series doesn’t really start until someone is bent over grabbing his heritage factory.”

RESULTS OF SKIRMISH
It looked as if both men were ready to brawl, but teammates intervened. And as Dellavedova regressed into irrelevance, Iguodala stayed in character with clutch shots (12 points) and his trademark defense against LeBron James, who scored 23 points but never took charge of the game.
“Andre is always the guy who settles us down, who knows exactly what’s happening out there,” Kerr said. “He’s the adult in the room.”
So concluded the stormy Round One. Forecasting the future of this series is risky business. It would be unwise, however, to turn away.