Recap: Warriors 108, Cavs 100 OT (or, It’s the Little Things…)

After more than a week of off-days, re-hashed narratives, overheated theories, injury smokescreens, supreme anticipation and absolutely zero actual basketball games, Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals finally got underway last night at Oakland’s Oracle Arena. What was advertised by many (outside of the State of Ohio anyway) as the beginning of an expectedly lopsided series between the “best team in the NBA” and the “best player on the planet” was decidedly much closer in its outcome.

The Cavs shelled the Warriors early, building as much as a 14 point lead on their wide-eyed hosts, before letting Golden State’s deep stable of bench workhorses charge their way back into the fray by halftime. From there, both squads traded blows, drawing even at the end of each successive quarter, and forcing the issue to overtime, to the delight of impartial fans of the game and network executives who suffered through a paucity of Conference Finals contests.

For Warrior fans, the final shot of regulation that fell just centimeters short resulted in a sigh of relief at dodging the closest of calls. For Cavalier fans, a groan at seeing a small window for stealing the opening game on their opponent’s floor evaporate into five of perhaps the toughest minutes of the season. After all, close rarely counts, and sometimes, the small stuff just sweats you.

A Little Strategy

Steve Kerr and David Blatt pulled out most all of the stops in finding ways to out-duel each other on match-ups and substitutions. They started with big lineups, then limbo-ed down to see how small they could go before getting their seven-footers back on the floor. Eventually, Blatt decided to return to the bigger line-up that helped provide the Cavs initial margin in the first quarter by playing Timofey Mozgov for large portions of the final frame. Additionally, both coaches displayed a keen sense of when to use their timeouts to stop runs and make course corrections on both sides of the ball.

They also both game-planned in opposite directions to take some element of their opposing star’s game away: one to try and get the ball out of a star’s hands; the other to force that star to beat them. For Blatt, it was finding a way to limit the looks that Steph Curry could get from the perimeter, and force him into drives and mid-range jumpers or to pass the ball to less dangerous scorers. For Kerr, it was packing the passing lanes to force LeBron into trying to beat the Warriors on his own with his outside shot and ISO-game. Both strategies seemed to work to a degree with Curry going just 2-6 from deep, and LeBron dishing out a mere six assists, while taking a game high 38 shots.

In the end, though Blatt’s gameplan of keeping the pace slow enough to keep the Warriors from blowing things open almost worked (the Warriors would have been held under 100 if the Cavs had been able to convert their last possession), Kerr’s plan to play the passing lanes to convert steals and loose balls to fast-breaks and transition threes finally prevailed in the overtime period when the Cavs simply couldn’t buy a basket.

A Little Short

LeBron James had his highest-scoring game ever in the playoffs with 44 points. Yet, with only a handful of his teammates knocking down shots around him, he needed to take 38 shots of his own to get that total.

LeBron James' 38 field goal attempts were the most he's ever taken, in the playoffs or regular season.

— Ethan J. Skolnick, 5 Reasons Sports (@EthanJSkolnick) June 5, 2015

It’s hard to say that he could have been better, but even he admitted he wasn’t great by his own lofty standards. Mostly, it was the lack of assists that detracted from an otherwise stellar scoring display from the King. The ball movement of the first half slowly became the isolation offense of the second half. Part of it was due to the Warriors’ defensive scheme, but part was also due to his supporting cast’s inability to put the ball in the bucket. In fact, other than Kyrie and Timo, no other Cav (outside of LeBron himself) scored in the second half — after the final JR three of the game to end the second quarter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4uw_YiSt2o

Yes, LBJ was in beast mode early, tallying 31 points through three periods and 42 by the end of regulation, and he put the Cavs on his back with an impressive array of post-moves, back-downs and mid-range jumpers. However, he had a full 24 seconds to try and win the game, following a second amazing Kyrie block of a Steph Curry drive, and he wound up attempting probably his highest degree of difficulty shot of the game. After pounding the rock for 20 seconds on the perimeter with Andre Iguodala guarding him, LeBron went for a step-back, fade-away, high-arcing, long two that drew iron. The ball bounced fortuitously to Iman, who (with a second left on the clock) tossed up a put-back that looked nearly true. Unfortunately, it was just a little off, and the Cavs had to settle for overtime, which featured just one more meaningless LBJ layup to finish the scoring.

A Little Help From His Friends

Steph Curry, on the other hand, didn’t have to do it all by himself. Even though the MVP had an off-night, by his standards, from beyond the arc (getting off just six threes and making only two), he still shot 50% from the floor for 26 points, and dished out eight dimes to his pals. He also got a little help from two late, somewhat questionable bail-out calls in overtime, and finally got to the line to sink 4-4 crucial free throws to help ice the game.

His supporting cast also did enough to help him spread the wealth and stuff the stat sheet. The other Splash Brother, Klay Thompson, overcame a rough start (1-6 for five points in the first half) to turn things around in the second half (4-8 from the field, 7-7 from the line) to end up with 21 points and six rebounds. Both starting forwards, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green chipped in a half dozen boards and a dozen points (actually Barnes only tallied 11, but hit a dagger of a three in overtime to all but end things). They both took shifts helping to defend LeBron, and Green got the worst of it, picking up five fouls and having a miserable shooting game (4-12, 0-3 from deep). And Andrew Bogut, though he didn’t score much, snagged seven rebounds, blocked a couple of shots and was a presence in the middle.

A Little Smokescreen

In the days leading up to Game 1, there were constant reports about what percentage of Kyrie’s ability would be on display. There were some stories that he’d suffered a set-back (which Kyrie later refuted as false). There were others that claimed his progress was slow. With all of the conflicting information, it was hard to know what to expect from Uncle Drew. However, from the jump, it was fairly clear that Kyrie’s nickname might have to be changed to “Uncle Sandbag.”

For much of the night, Kyrie looked… well, like Kyrie. The jitterbug moves were back. The slick, sleight-of-handle was back. The “how the hell did he just do that?” drives to the rack were back. But something else was happening as well. Somehow, some way, through all of his lower extremity issues, Kyrie wasn’t just getting buckets, he was defending like an absolute demon possessed. Uncle Sandbag was seemingly all over the court, hounding Steph Curry, making key steals (he had four on the game), fighting through screens, and even blocking two shots (the second, a chase-down of a Curry layup to set up the shot for LeBron).

https://vine.co/v/eMb3EueuW7m

And he did “get buckets” too, hitting 10 of 22 shots for 23 points on an array of drives and pull-up shots. He only hit 2-8 from downtown, but filled the stat sheet with seven boards and six assists. It was the kind of performance many had hoped for, but few believed he was still capable of achieving given his multitude of nagging injuries. Sadly, the brilliance of his night was dimmed somewhat ominously by yet another apparent knee injury three minutes into the extra period.

A Little More Moz

One of the big revelations in this game was how effective Timofey Mozgov became once Coach Blatt gave him a little more time on the floor, especially in the once seemingly forbidden fourth quarter. After a couple of lapses early (mostly getting his timing down both with Kyrie on passes, and on switching assignments), the big Russian was a force to be reckoned with, not only pulling down seven rebounds (along with volleyball tipping several others out to waiting Cavs), but also throwing down dunks faster than the speed of light (seriously, it sometimes made you wonder if the ball actually passed through the cylinder, it was such a blur).

https://vine.co/v/eMbQLVTP3bg

Mozilla had six of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, when he, LeBron and Kyrie formed a new temporary “big three.” He also calmly drained two huge free throws to tie the score at 98, as if he had ice cold vodka in his veins. Though he only clocked one block, he changed the trajectory of several others, including an outside shot from Curry where the big man switched out and used his considerable length.

One of the toughest “little things” of the game, though, came at a pivotal point in the game and directly involved Moz. His fancy footwork on a turnaround bucket (with the score tied at 96) was deemed a travel by the officials, even though the replay showed what appeared to be a legal move that would put Baryshnikov to shame.

A Little Too Much Dynamite

TT was again a monster on the glass, pulling down 15 total and six offensive rebounds. He found it tough sledding against the Warrior bigs, however, scoring just two points on 1-4 shooting. As a result of the Cavs’ razor-thin bench and frontcourt, Tristan had to log a game high 47 minutes, and it appeared that the extra duty took its toll on him. It was especially apparent when he was taxed with guarding a rejuvenated Mo Speights (back after missing the previous two series due to injury). The former Herculoid took it to TT on the offensive end, and also got fairly handsy with him on the defensive side of things. A little more of a break would have probably helped TT, but with almost zero depth, he’s likely to see a continuance of massive minutes.

A Little Bench Disparity

Okay, that’s an understatement. The bench play wasn’t even close in Game 1. In fact, the herd of veteran horses the Warriors were able to draw from were primarily responsible for dragging them out of their early double-digit deficit. For the game, the Warrior bench out-scored the Cavs bench by a whopping 34-9. Every member of their deep rotation logged a score, a rebound and an assist. They shot a combined 50% (14-27), with 19 boards and eight assists, compared to the Cavs bench (mostly just J.R.) with 3-14 shooting, six boards and four assists.

https://vine.co/v/eMbaIa99t21

With Kyrie logging major minutes (44), Delly was only on the floor for nine, and James Jones for just 17. Neither hit a shot in one combined attempt. J.R., on the other hand, nailed three triples in the first half (including a long one to close out the first half scoring), but went ice-cold in the second half, missing all six of his remaining shots. Overall, he shot a miserable 3-13, and was covered well by both Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala.

While the entire Golden State bench contributed, Iguodala (aka Steve Kerr’s security blanket) gave them the most lift. Iggy shot a blistering 6-8 (including two huge corner threes — one even missing a shoe) for 15 points, and played defense on both LeBron and J.R. like a literal blanket.

#Cavs LeBron vs Iguodala: 11 points on 4-14, including 2-7 in 4th Q/OT. Against everyone else: 27 points on 12-22

— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) June 5, 2015

A Little Concern

While the Cavs proved that they could not only hang with the high-octane Warriors, and that their massively improved brand of defense was not just a product of a reportedly weaker Eastern Conference, a big part of their effort on both ends of the floor in Game 1 involved a rejuvenated Kyrie. The fact that he was performing at such a high level was certainly reason for optimism, just as much as his newest injury is cause for concern.

OFFICIAL STATUS UPDATE: @KyrieIrving (left knee injury) will receive an MRI tomorrow. [MORE]: http://t.co/5CLiVcLux0 pic.twitter.com/BY56gBPXqc

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) June 5, 2015

With an MRI scheduled for Friday, the Cavs should find out more about Kyrie’s potential availability going forward in the Finals. If he’s out for any length of time, their already thin ranks will shrink further, and Delly will be forced to try and recapture his SuperDova mode.

A Little Hope

Despite a horrible shooting night from everyone except LeBron, Kyrie and Moz, the Cavs had the Warriors right where they wanted them for much of the night. They managed to slow the game down, get physical, and attack on defense like a school of frenzied pirhanas. With better shooting games from J.R., Shump, JFJ and TT, they should still be able to make up for what they’ll potentially lose if Kyrie is unavailable.

The other good news is that, while it’s tough to let an opportunity like this to steal a game go by, the Cavs have another chance to do so on Sunday to still earn a split going back to Cleveland. They gave themselves every chance to win Game 1, and with just a few little things breaking differently, the outcome would have been much more satisfying.

Nobody ever said winning a championship was easy. The Cavs are close, but they’ll need to take care of the little things to win it all.