It was a relatively comfortable night for Golden State as they held Luka Doncic to a 2022 post-season low of 20 points. Doncic's floater two minutes into the first quarter gave Dallas their first and last lead of the game, going into the half down nine despite zero points from Klay Thompson in the opening 24 minutes.
An 11-1 run in the second gave the Mavericks some hope as Doncic finished the half with 18 points. However, Jordan Poole was dancing and making some huge buckets, Andrew Wiggins was on fire, and Draymond Green set the tone with a huge block in the corner.
Thompson got his first basket in the third quarter and had a very efficient second period. The Splash Brothers had a superb third and the Warriors' lead continued to grow with the win all but wrapped up with plenty of time to spare.
Doncic could only score two points in the second half and the only positive highlight from a Dallas point of view was Dorian Finney-Smith's monstrous putback dunk.
Golden State's pace and ball movement was too much for the Mavericks - who held the Phoenix Suns to 27 points in the first half of their West semi-finals. Curry's excellent floater resulting in an and-one opportunity was typical of the two-time MVP with everything going right for the Warriors in the second half.
Doncic's 20 points was the most by a Maverick, meanwhile, the Warriors had seven players drop 10+ points with all of their starters scoring double digits. Poole had 19 from the bench, Otto Porter Jr, Kevon Looney and Green all had 10, while Curry finished with 21, Thompson 15 and Wiggins 19.
Dallas only made 23.4 per cent (11/48) of their three-pointers and Golden State took advantage of the Mavs' small lineup by going 36-of-53 inside the arc.
Game 2 will take place on Friday night with the Chase Center expected to be rocking once again.
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