Looking ahead to Game 2: Golden State vs. Cleveland
Previously, on Warriors vs. Cavaliers …
Game 1 of the NBA Finals was a dead set classic, until just about every conceivable part of it fell apart.
[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
Tied after three quarters, tied after four quarters, both squads pitched a thrilling back and forth throughout the second half after either side took turns dominating the first and second quarters. Cleveland’s minimalist approach broke even against Golden State’s five-man attack prior to a devastating final few minutes for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland missed 12 shots over the last two minutes of regulation and then overtime prior to a harmless LeBron James lay-in in the final seconds of the contest, turning the ball over four times along the way. More deadening was the loss of Kyrie Irving to a fractured kneecap in what was just a two-point game midway through overtime, knocking the All-Star out for the series.
Prior to that, Irving and James combined to form a killer duo. James went off for 44 points, the most he’s ever scored in 28 career Finals games. Irving added a gutty 23 points before bowing out, as the rest of the Cavaliers managed just 33 points in the loss. Timofey Mozgov contributed nearly half of that with 16 points, as the active big man routinely made his hay driving toward the front of the rim as the defense focused on the two All-Stars he shared the court with.
Golden State survived yet another maddening slow start. The team doesn’t seem to work its best until a little sweat forms on its collective brow, and it had to weather a series of clanged perimeter jumpers, needless overpassing, and a season-long record-setting low of two assists in the first quarter. The W’s were down 14 at one point before recovering to take a three-point lead after a furious second quarter rush.
Cleveland relied on bread and butter for a smile in the near win. James shot the ball 38 times and acted as the go-to force throughout. He posted up whichever defender Golden State threw his way, oftentimes relying on triple-threat positioning to suss out whether or not GSW would toss a second defender into his line of vision.
For the majority of the game, the Warriors declined that option, preferring to let Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, or Andre Iguodala take James on individually. When Iguodala took his licks, however, James struggled badly – he needed 13 shots to score seven points against Dre, and LeBron missed a potential game-winner in the closing seconds after Iguodala forced him into a tough 21-footer.
The loss of Irving looms large. Reserve point man Matthew Dellavedova was a -13 in just nine minutes of play in Game 1, numbers that can’t all be pinned on his scoreless, assist-less turn in the final two minutes of overtime. Irving held Curry (who shot 10-20 on the game) to 1-5 shooting when guarding him individually, and he blocked what could have been a game-winning layup from the NBA MVP prior to LeBron James’ last-second miss.
Cleveland somehow overcame what could have been a rust-encouraging eight-day layoff to act the aggressor in Game 1. The team did well to slow the pace and focus on exactly what it needed to do to survive – pitch the ball LeBron’s way and let him dictate nearly every possession possible. The game was got out of Cleveland’s hands long before Irving’s injury, however, even with Golden State failing to take advantage in a scoreless first few minutes of overtime. That singular focus, even with LeBron James in the frame, tends to blur after a while.
Three Things to Look Out For in Game 2
Golden State’s stylistic turns
Not since the days of the back-it-down, two-man approach of the mid-1990s Houston Rockets does game tape come this easily to break down.
With James palming the ball on seemingly every Cleveland possession, the Cavs worried a Warriors squad that was expecting as much, and encouraging as much. The early returns on that encouragement were not, um, encouraging as James’ isolation-heavy approach nudged the Cavaliers to a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter of Game 1, with LeBron well on his way toward willing the road team to victory.
Oddly, the Warriors will certainly take 44 points on 38 shots from James again. They’ll take 54 points on 38 shots, even, just as long as it means Timofey Mozgov doesn’t stuff his way toward 16 points, and J.R. Smith isn’t gifted with a wide-open corner three-pointer early in overtime.
This starts by minding the cutters. Not only is James a pinpoint passer, he owns the fastest canon in the NBA, and Golden State can’t afford to give up either corner threes or feints to the front of the rim from big men. Part of this starts with paying better attention to the limited-yet-mindful Cleveland action away from the ball as James peers over the top of the defense.
Cutting down the James-less options also means closing out on the offensive glass, as there is nothing tougher to cover than a no-no-no-no-YES! three-pointer from Smith or Iman Shumpert (2-4 from long range in Game 1) off of a loose balls-turned-possessions from Cleveland. The Cavs managed 13 offensive boards in the loss in Game 1, with Tristan Thompson accounting for six of those caroms.
How Golden State surveys the floor defensively, from the start of the possession to the securing of a defensive rebound, will define Game 2. The Cavaliers may be playing the part of the Black Knight at this point, but when your lone remaining limb wears No. 23, you’ve still got to be fearful of that sword.
Cleveland’s screen and roll runs
Mindful of James’ propensity to break down after playing around 100 games a year for nearly an NBA decade, the Cavaliers went to a dignified screen and roll attack down the stretch during Game 1 in order to force either Klay Thompson or Stephen Curry to switch over toward defending LeBron. Seemingly, this plan wouldn’t have nearly as much propensity for panic with Matthew Dellavedova working in Kyrie Irving’s slot, but don’t let looks deceive you.
Just because Dellavedova isn’t the same penetration or three-point shooting threat that Irving is hardly means that even the league’s top ranked defense can’t stumble its way into a fearsome mismatch (and, yes, even an expert defender like Thompson, on James, counts as a mismatch). Golden State can plan on laying off Dellavedova as either he or James initiates the screen and roll, but that’s what screen and rolls are designed for – at some point, it still comes down to one person getting in another person’s way, and that can still result in another person being forced to load up on James.
Golden State will add wrinkles, but the approach will still be the same in Game 2. They want to force James into topping them with isolation plays. The only way for Cleveland to win is if a cast of other Cavalier helpers toss in a few needed nine or 12-point games, and briefly freaking out the Golden State defense with a terrorizing one and a half seconds of “who has ball?” The options that emanate from that second and a half can go a long way toward filling up that box score.
Butterfingers
Another way for Cleveland to fill it up is by getting theirs in transition.
Cleveland wants to walk it up, as they should, in order to let James survey the defense. Endless Cavalier sets in Game 1 started with half the shot clock having already expired, as James ticked off his options. Usually you’d like to see a team work through its possessions with alacrity, but the only way the Cavaliers can survive is with James acting as Magic Johnson did following Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s retirement.
Of course, Magic never won a title without Kareem, only taking one game in the 1991 Finals before Michael Jordan’s Bulls tightened the screws. Those Bulls ranked third in the NBA in turnover percentage that season, and it rarely allowed Magic’s teammates to get their own in transition. Golden State somehow managed to work up the NBA’s second-best offense despite ranking 18th in turnover rate this season, and it cannot afford to give the ball and game away and send this series back to Cleveland all tied up.
The W’s only turned the ball over 12 times in 53 minutes of action in Game 1, with Curry accounting for four of those miscues, and this is a mark that has to sustain. James, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and even Timofey Mozgov have proven to be expert fast break finishers, and because James can’t score 109 points on his own (we’re guessing, at least) each will have to leak their way toward approaching double figures, potentially with transition buckets.
Golden State knows this, it’s been beat over their collective heads since it started November with an atrocious, league-worst, turnover rate. How the NBA’s best team manages to balance its inspired risk-taking with sensible play will dictate just how likely an upset is. Even with the ball in LeBron James’ hands seemingly 98 percent of the time, the ball in this regard is in Golden State’s figurative hands, and it has to stay in its literal hands. Too many cough-ups, and LeBron James these Cavs will have a chance.
– – – – – – –
Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
