Basketball Daily Dose: Dose: Cleveland's Blown Chance
The Cleveland Cavaliers blew their best opportunity to even the series and get back into the 2016 NBA Finals.
In a contest that was clearly a tale of two halves, the Golden State Warriors simply wanted it more when the game was actually on the line in the final 24 minutes.
As Cleveland fans watched their title dreams begin to slip away again after the Cavs fell apart when it mattered, LeBron James now stares a potential 2-5 Finals record in the face. His desperate group will once more head back to the drawing board in an attempt to do the seemingly unthinkable: Steal a potential closeout Game 5 in what will undoubtedly be a very raucous Oracle Arena.
The Cavs had regained momentum after a must-have Game 3, but a disappointing and deflating Game 4 loss has seemingly sucked the air out of Tyronn Lue’s team and left them completely dejected.
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Golden State @ Cleveland: Warriors 108, Cavs 97
Series Summary: Warriors 3, Cavaliers 1. Next Game: Monday, 6/13 @ Golden State
Studs: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala; LeBron James, Kyrie Irving
Duds: Andrew Bogut; J.R. Smith, Kevin Love
Injuries: Kevon Looney (hip surgery)
Is this what the beginning of the end of Kevin Love’s Cleveland tenure looks like?
Coming off the bench for the first time since 2010—395 games straight— Love’s “new role” did a whole lot of nothing for either he or the Cavs. Finishing with a rather underwhelming 11 points and five rebounds (one block, one 3PM) in his 25 minutes of action, it’s fair to wonder if his role should be further reduced in a do-or-die Monday matchup. Building a winning roster is about more than just the total accumulation of puzzle pieces, and right now there’s limited evidence to support the idea that Cleveland’s box includes parts that are supposed to fit together.
The Cavs wouldn’t be in this game at all without Kyrie Irving, who played through a right (shooting) thumb injury en route to 34 points, four boards, four dimes, three steals, a block and four triples on a smooth 14-of-28 shooting. And as good as LeBron’s final line looks in the box score (25 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, two steals, three blocks, 11-of-21 FGs), turnovers (seven) were again a major problem. James now has an unforgivable 19 giveaways over the last three games, and he must be especially disappointed after voicing a previous desire to address this exact issue.
Cleveland got 38 points on 13-of-32 (40.6%) from the field from players—including Kevin Love— not named LeBron James or Kyrie Irving, and that’s not a formula capable of breeding success when the Cavs get outscored by 33 points from behind the arc.
There were a lot of people waiting for the Splash Brothers to start making it rain, and the best backcourt in basketball brought more than just precipitation to the middle of the country. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combined to connect on 11-of-22 from distance, which not so coincidentally was the exact number of 3-pointers separating the two teams. Thompson had his best game of the series with 25 points, four boards, a steal, a block and four 3PM, but it was Curry who stole the show by the stuffing the stat sheet with 38 points, five rebounds, six dimes, two steals and seven treys to pair with a 9-of-10 performance from the charity stripe. We call it otherworldly; Steph just calls it another night at the office.
Draymond Green (nine points, 12 boards, two steals, three blocks) also did his usual thing even though he was a little less efficient (2-of-9 FGs), but this game is a lot closer if Harrison Barnes (14 points, eight boards, four triples) and Andre Iguodala (10 points, six rebounds, seven assists, one steal, one block, two 3PM) don’t provide the contributions that they did. Andrew Bogut took a donut in just 10 minutes of action, and it was Barnes and Iguodala who really showed up in a meaningful way when the defending champs needed an extra little push to get over the hump.
Something to keep an eye on is Green potentially being disciplined for his perceived shot at LeBron, but it would be very surprising if he’s watching Game 5 from anywhere except on the court.
The outcome of this NBA season feels more certain than ever before, and the record-setting regular season Warriors are on well on their way toward achieving something far more than just repeating as champions.
