3-on-3: Grind or Go Home Edition

1. What is the most important adjustment for the Cavs to make going into a must win game six?

Tom Pestak: They need to have enough energy to finish the game. The Cavs played well again for three quarters and fizzled out in the 4th. Each time fatigue has been an issue. There are no solutions, just compromises. I think the Cavs need to abandon matching the Warriors’ small-ball-at-all-costs and let Mozgov get in a groove. Just as LeBron was unstoppable in the deep post, Mozgov will manufacture many high-percentage looks too. The key will be having someone cutting hard off ball when Golden State counters with the double teams. He’s the most fresh of the rotation players. They might as well play Mike Miller some more too, since the Cavs didn’t get obliterated with him on the court in game 5. The Cavs should also go to hack an Iggy periodically to 1.) get rest, 2.) stay ahead of the 3-point avalanches. Really, they need to remain mentally focused for 48 minutes. They can’t overreact to a contested Barbosa 3 here or a few Iggy 3s there. When it comes to the scouting report, “stay on target”.

Ben Werth: The Cavaliers must get back to their real identity. I understand that the small ball lineup has been pretty decent against the Warriors’ small unit. I get that Kerr forced Blatt’s hand by placing Iggy in the starting lineup. Still, the Cavs must completely dominate the boards from now on if they want to take the championship. There must be a happy medium for Timofey Mozgov. Sometimes over-adjusting is as bad as under-adjusting. If the general consensus is that the Cavs were simply too tired to hit their open shots in Game 4, why go so far away from that game plan in Game 5? Maybe a steady diet of Mozzy in the paint with a sprinkle of some reliable 3-ball accuracy is the answer. LeBron’s post work in Game 5 was a thing of beauty, but to expect him to be the primary rim protector as well is too much. Let’s beat’em with size.

David Wood: The Cavs need to have a more balanced game on both ends of the floor. Defensively, David Blatt has sold out by hedging hard on Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson pick and rolls to make role players like Draymond Green, Iggy, and Harrison Barnes beat them. Those three role guys have showed up and really made the Cavs pay in game 5. They scored a combined 38 points on 12-27 shooting. And, even when executing the stop the Splash Bros plan, Curry still scored 37 points by himself. Blatt should reverse course on defense and eliminate the open shots for the role guys. Curry and Thompson have to close a finals series out on the road tonight. I’m willing to bet on them choking because I have no other idea how to slow the Warriors. Offensively, the Cavs need to return to the “balanced” offense they had in games 2 and 3. In those games, the King posted up and guys cut off the ball to make the Warriors play defense on all five players. In game 5, the Cavs started out many possessions passing the ball around looking for an open shot before giving the ball to LeBron with just seconds left to shoot. LeBron needs to intiate the offense and have the longest chance possible to make an efficient shot for himself or to create one for someone else. I understand this offense tires out the King and may make his lapses on defense even more frequent, but I know no other solution. It’s time to really focus on that hidden motivation, LeBron.

2. Are the Warriors beating the Cavs or are the Cavs beating themselves?

Ben: I would have to say both. The referees are also making a sizable contribution. I am so tired of watching the Warriors get away with holding. The Dubs are smart to do it as long as the refs aren’t calling it, but it has gotten completely out of hand. Every time a guy tries to go around a pick, he is having his hand grabbed. Almost every Curry 3 that has come off screen action has featured an illegal screen of some sort. As Nate rightly pointed out in his great game five recap, maybe the Cavs need to simply play that way as well. But, how can they if the much lighter Warriors players fall down in a breeze?

It is hard to watch Cavaliers games of this magnitude without a strong Cleveland bias. No matter how hard I try to be objective, I recognize that it is futile. With that caveat aside, the Cavs are getting hosed, and it is awful. Kudos to Kerr and the Warriors for taking advantage. I suppose the answer to the question must be a sigh inducing “Warriors are beating the Cavs.”

David: The Cavs are surely beating themselves right now. Every game has been close in the final minutes. However, over the course of the game, the good guys have managed to forget to do the little things that have made the games close in the first place just the right amount of times to blow wins. The Cavs are boxing out, eliminating Curry dagger shots, and pushing the LeBronfense down the Warriors’ throats 87% of the time. The 13% of the time they aren’t doing those the the Warriors have dominated them. In the final five minutes of game 5, Golden State had four offensive boards because the Cavs forgot to box out. That killed any comeback attempt. Furthermore, the Cavs have been giving up at least two quasi fast breaks off made baskets from being lazy getting back. The Cavs are tired both mentally and physcially, so I can forgive some lapses. However, I can’t forgive the lapses where they are stupidly wasting energy. If they want to mess up, I want them to do it to the max. If Iggy leaks out for a fastbreak, stop completely. Don’t waste any energy attempting to sprint back. If Draymond is open for a 3-pointer/the approved game plan shot, don’t waste energy closing out. Be lazy efficiently.

Tom: The Warriors are outlasting the Cavs. If the officiating seems blatantly anti-Cleveland (as it has in almost every game), that’s partly because the Cavs margin for error is so miniscule. The Warriors have MVP Steph Curry being held at bay just waiting to unleash at any moment. Also, Klay Thompson. Also, Andre Iguodala. And, sometimes David Lee. It’s an embarrassment of riches. The Cavs are doing so much right – controlling the pace, locking down in the half-court, and staying calm under pressure, which makes it so hard to watch them lose three games in the final moments due to fatigue/lack of focus/bad calls. Give GSW credit, they’ve played the long game here and have gotten significant contributions from Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, Iggy, and David Lee, which is the poison you have to live with when defending Curry and Thompson this way. It does bother me that the Warriors have forced David Blatt’s hand into keeping Mozgov on the bench. That is one advantage the Cavs have, and they are unable/unwilling to leverage it. Imagine the Cavs’ small-ball lineup with Kevin Love at the 5. It’s frustrating.

3. Who is the most important player for each team going into game six not named LeBron James or Stephen Curry?

David: The Cavs need the J.R. Smith game. They have had a J.R. half, and it was a thing of beauty, lots of 3s and bravado. If J.R. can generate enough offense for LeBron to rest a few more minutes this game, the King might have just enough energy to throw the other six rotation players on his back for a close win. The Warriors need Harrison Barnes to show what he’s made of. Now that Iggy has the job of covering the best player in the world, Barnes should use his extra energy on the offensive end. He scored just eight points last game. A 20 point Barnes game would almost guarantee the Warriors a win and a title.

Tom: Who knows for the Cavs. They just need someone to step up and hit some outside shots. For the Warriors, it’s Iguodala. He alone (with the help of the resurrection of the hand check) can slow LeBron in isolation, and he’s really kept the Warriors in a lot of these games with his momentum-altering, one-man fast breaks. Curry is a generational shooter and has really put a lot of work into being a great all-around player. But for those saying “he makes the Warriors,” I would argue that in these playoffs he’s been very fortunate: injures to Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley/Tony Allen, Patrick Beverly, and now Kyrie Irving have significantly limited the amount of effort he’s had to summon. The Warriors are getting it done without him for long stretches of the game, and he’s right there to don the cape when everyone else is at the point of exhaustion.

Ben: Mathew Dellavedova. Delly must hit at least four 3s for the Cavs to have a chance. Despite Curry’s big shooting night in Game 5, Delly certainly showed a bounce in his step after a low energy Game 4. His defense was solid as ever. It might have even been his best one-on-one defensive game. And, it wasn’t enough. He must consistently drain the wide open 3s that the Warriors are happy to give him. Until he starts punishing them for sagging under the screen, the Warriors will continue to sink into the paint off any pick and roll action. GS is eliminating Delly’s lob and floater game by forcing him to either shoot outside or crash into a mix of bodies. Yes, the Cavs are asking Delly to do much. No one expected Mathew Dellavedova to be the secondary ball-handler and creator on a Finals team. Yet, here we are. If Delly can’t come up huge, the Cavs are in trouble.

Andre Iguodala. What a season for the one-time All-Star. After being relegated to a bench role the whole year, he has emerged as the most valuable Warrior thus far in the series. We have covered his defensive importance against LeBron at length. His strength and uncanny ability to time travel to the handcheck era has been the only thing preventing LeBron from dropping 50 every night. On the offensive end, Blatt continues to dare Iggy to shoot from the outside. Iguodala hasn’t exactly scorched the nets(especially from the foul-line), but he has knocked down enough momentum 3s to swing games. His ability to score in transition as the Cavs scramble to find their defensive assignments has also been huge for the Dubs. Iguodala played primarily at the four during his very successful run with Team USA. His ability to play bigger than his size allows Golden State to push their small ball unit even more. Game 6 will be largely decided by who hits more wide open threes. Iggy or Delly.