Difficult day for Djokovic
— From a tiff with the chair umpire to the big deficit he created and then needed to overcome in a steady rain, Novak Djokovic had an all-around difficult day at the French Open.
Rafael Nadal’s journey to the fourth round, in contrast, could hardly have been easier. Indeed, his 100th best-of-five-set match on clay was also the most lopsided.
The stark numbers on the scoreboards at Court Philippe Chatrier revealed plenty about how differently things went in the back-to-back contests Friday for defending champion Djokovic and nine-time champion Nadal.
First up in the main stadium at Roland Garros was Nadal, who won 82 points and conceded merely 36 in a 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 victory over 63rd-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili.
“The score is quite embarrassing, you know,” Basilashvili acknowledged, “but I have to accept it.”
Djokovic followed in the main stadium and found himself in quite a bit of trouble right away against 41st-ranked Diego Schwartzman before emerging to win 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
While it took Basilashvili 12 games and 49 minutes just to claim a single game — which spectators greeted with a roar as he stood motionless and straight-faced — Schwartzman not only took the second game of his match against Djokovic, he grabbed the opening set, too. And then the third, to go up by two sets to one.
Schwartzman played well during that stretch, to be sure, but the No. 2-seeded Djokovic’s biggest problem was himself. He wound up with 55 unforced errors to 43 winners, and all sorts of issues on his backhand wing, which produced 33 of those miscues, all under the watchful eye of new coach Andre Agassi.
Djokovic, who completed a career Grand Slam a year ago in Paris, eventually managed to figure out how to steady his game, if not his demeanor.
As Schwartzman became less proficient and complained about issues in his right hip area — a trainer came out and gave him a massage during a changeover late in the final set — Djokovic became more assertive and more accurate.
— Stephen Curry spoke up, just in case his Golden State Warriors needed another reminder from their MVP and leader. His message as the NBA Finals began: be yourselves.
Forget the juicy story lines, or avenging something that happened last June, that championship that got away. Set aside the hyped-up Cavs-Dubs rivalry, constant talk of the trilogy, Part III.
Just go play. And it worked splendidly for the two-time reigning MVP and Kevin Durant in their first Finals together.
Durant was utterly dominant 11 months after leaving Oklahoma City last July to join the Warriors, while Curry found a groove once he removed the black sleeve from his shooting arm protecting his tender right elbow. It just didn’t feel right.
They combined for 66 points and 18 assists in a 113-91 Game 1 thumping Thursday night against LeBron James and the defending champion Cavaliers, who must find a way to defend the high-flying Durant when the best-ofseven series resumes Sunday at Oracle Arena.
“We were really, really good in that department at just being ourselves, playing Warriors basketball, knowing that there’s a lot of talent out on the floor,” said Curry, who had 28 points and 10 assists. “And that’s our best effort to win this championship, is just be ourselves.”
Cleveland might be thinking the same thing a day after that startling Game 1 defeat that featured 20 turnovers and Durant driving to the basket at will with nobody even close as he dunked again and again — six times in the first half alone. When the Cavs left him unguarded on the perimeter, Durant hit 3-pointers.
The Cavs watched film and vowed to get back to basics and the solid fundamentals that carried them this far, especially on the defensive end.
“We have to stop the ball first and foremost,” said Cleveland’s Kevin Love, whose 21 rebounds in Game 1 were a franchise postseason record. “That’s very apparent when you look at the film.”
Not only did the Warriors match a Finals low with just four turnovers, they took Tristan Thompson out of the equation by holding him scoreless. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue changed his rotation as he searched for someone who could make a scoring impact in the middle, saying that led to his decision to only play Thompson 22 minutes.
James and Kyrie Irving shot 19 for 42 between them but the sloppy ball handling allowed the Warriors to take nearly as many shots — 106 — as they had points, and 20 more attempts than the Cavs’ 86.