When Stephen Curry flew to Hamptons by himself to meet with the rest of the quintet, there must have been some doubt in his mind. The Golden State Warriors are his team. The Bay Area belonged to him. And with his value higher than ever, and a team that’s won it all with him spearheading the charge before, what’s the upside with Kevin Durant? During Game 1’s demolition in the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, it finally showed. After an entire regular season taking turns back and forth, shifting through injuries, and a postseason of starts and stops, the Warriors have discovered what is becoming the most unstoppable combo in the NBA today and perhaps ever: the chemistry of Curry and Durant.

The 113-91 score perfectly exemplified the type of focused and thrilling the beatdown Warriors fans are used to, just not against LeBron James and not on the biggest stage. Even last season’s Games 1 and 2 wins were mostly due to a strong team effort with a struggling Steph and Klay Thompson at the helm.

To go down the list for what went wrong for Cleveland, Kevin Love couldn’t handle Klay Thompson in the post, Zaza Pachulia made spinning acrobat layups, Steph didn’t make his first 3 until 10 minutes into the game, James Michael McAdoo and Patrick McCaw played non-losing minutes, Kyrie Irving couldn’t handle double teams and ended up forcing bad shots and awry turnovers, and LeBron James got outplayed on offense and defense by Kevin Durant.

Durant played his best game as a Warrior, combining his length, quickness, isolation ability, and DPOY potential to give James fits at the rim and annihilate the Cavs’ transition defense. But we’ve seen that before. It was the seamless transition with Steph on offense that made the Warriors look as impossible as ever. It started with the two MVPs then the three anchors on the defensive end next.

The transition flips from Steph to KD, and KD to Steph. Then in the halfcourt, Steph coming from an offball screen to set KD an onball screen to get him the ball deep in the post against Kyrie Irving. Then late in the third, KD even set a screen for Steph without slipping, forcing the Cavs defense into something they’ve never seen before in the Eastern Conference, and their entire NBA careers. When Cleveland couldn’t guard KD anymore and pushed their focus onto him, Steph stepped up into a screen and drained 30-ft 3s after 30-ft 3s. It was something unlike any basketball fan has ever witnessed, two immeasurably gifted offensive stars able to dribble drive, shoot, pass, screen, and finish, working in unison for the single goal of pure and mass destruction. In total, Steph finished with 28/10/6 and Durant 38/8/8.

Then on the defensive end, the other stars picked up the slack. Klay Thompson stunted Love repeatedly in the post and as Dieter Kurtenbach stated, Cavs went 1-12 against him as the primary defender. Draymond Green protected the rim against LeBron and Kyrie in the third quarter that left Cleveland in the dust. And Andre Iguodala switched between Kyrie and LeBron because KD was able to take LeBron. That allows the Warriors a comfortable margin of error as defenders able to shut off the two playmakers on the Cleveland side. Given Ty Lue’s isolation offense, if the Warriors can stifle LeBron and Kyrie enough, there’s nothing that Love, Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson and Deron Williams can do to make a difference. And the Warriors even made the adjustment to trap Kyrie, something he’s never dealt with, and forced him into turnovers and askew shots at the rim.

This leads up to what has been the obvious secret evident before the series started: The Cleveland Cavaliers is not ready for the length, talent, size, and basketball IQ the Golden State Warriors provide. The Cavs’ optimal style consists of playing fast, shooting 3s, and running up and down the court. Unfortunately, that’s where the Warriors grew up, and they combine the insanity with a locked-down defense that had the Cavs’ role players, including Kevin Love, scrambling just to get a shot up.

Stephen Curry was stomping, Kevin Durant was dunking, Draymond Green was scoring over LeBron James, Andre Iguodala was hitting 3s, and the Warriors didn’t play close to their best game. The third chapter of this rivalry promised us an exciting narrative for years to come. After one game, we might have the story written for us for a long time.

And as Ty Lue said, perhaps sarcastically and in denial postgame, “They’re the best I’ve ever seen.”