Why Golden State is giddy about how Game 1 played out vs. Cavs
OAKLAND — The Warriors are comfortable against the Cavs. Maybe too comfortable. They now have six straight wins against Cleveland, after a Finals game that didn’t look like a radical departure from recent defeats the Cavs suffered while David Blatt was coach.
Gone are the anxieties that permeated the Oklahoma City series, anxieties that burbled up long before the Warriors went down 3-1. Maybe it’s just the relief of survival, and maybe it’s just the joy of finally getting back to another Finals, but Golden State players and coaches appear quite sanguine in this matchup.
Shaun Livingston, who’d gone cold against the athletically imposing Thunder, lit up the smaller Cavs. On how he went from hitting 11 field goals for the entirety of the Western Conference finals to sinking eight on Thursday night, Livingston said, “Just the adjustments. I think I took the same shots last series but it’s just staying confident in my shot, understanding my game, where the shots are going to come from and trusting it.”
There is good reason to feel more confident against the Cavs than versus the Thunder defense. In one illustrative play from the Oklahoma City series, Livingston had loaded up for a dunk as Kevin Durant was midair, having jumped too early. Somehow, Durant landed and bounced up faster than a blink to block Livingston’s slam (flying from out of nowhere, Andre Roberson nearly got there too). It was just a visually impossible, unfathomable, and altogether epitomizing Thunder stop. The Cavs provide few such defensive plays that double as optical illusions. Also, Oklahoma City was versatile enough to guard Livingston with bigs. It remains to be seen if Cleveland has the flexibility to try something like that.
What almost certainly won’t work is guarding Livingston with Kyrie Irving, who also struggled to contain Harrison Barnes. Sometimes, Barnes can be an overly deliberate operator in the post. Against Irving’s resistance, he was smooth and forceful.
While the Warriors can’t count on beating the Cavs’ bench production 45-10 in every game, they’re privately ecstatic about how this one unfolded. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were cold and they still won handily. After weeks of Tyronn Lue discussing a fast-paced, free-flowing, new-look Cavs, Cleveland appeared very much the same team Golden State had seen before as the Cavs slowed the pace and devolved into iso-ball. There had been some buzz about Channing Frye as Cleveland’s game-changer. If he did change the game on Thursday, it was for only seven total minutes.
Kevin Love struggled to find an advantage in the post against smaller defenders. LeBron James‘ effectiveness eroded as he faced defensive switch after defensive switch. Irving had his moments where he completely disregarded teammates for entire possessions.
All of that must change for Cleveland, or this series will be brief.
Publicly, this is not what the Warriors are saying, for obvious reasons. When asked if Golden State has a level of control over Cleveland, Draymond Green, whose stints at center the Cavs had no answer for, said, “No you can’t feel controlled at all. This is the same team who we had down 1-0 last year and they hit us twice. So it’s no control. Obviously last year in the Finals I think we won three in a row and kind of figured that out. And then this year, I mean, well, both games they didn’t even have the same coach that they have now.”
This is the party line for now, as it should be. It’s a new-look Cavs and the Warriors can’t rest on their recent dominance of this matchup. While they can’t rest on past laurels, Golden State certainly looked relaxed on Thursday. Unless Cleveland markedly changes its approach, the Warriors have every reason to be.
