Recap: Warriors 108 , Cavs 97 (or, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up… )
2016-06-11
…but a comedy in long-shot. To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!” -Charlie Chaplin
As brilliant as Charlie Chaplin’s otherworldly body control and extreme emotional expression was, The Tramp was a hit because he gave hope to the downtrodden chewed up by capitalism. He gave them hope that past pains won’t soil the present, and if you can find a way to believe, better days will come in the future.
After games one and two I wanted to accept that this series is clearly over and to start compiling a list of what the Cavs have done wrong since the summer of 2014. For some reason, there’s a part of my brain that’s broken, and I just couldn’t stop believing in them. I wanted to see them on their home floor. I wanted to see how they responded to adversity with the loss of Love and an 0-2 deficit. Chaos was good for them last yearye right?
The Cavs utter domination during game three awoke the sport synapses in my brain, and I gladly took the spoon feeding from Windy that Curry isn’t healthy. We breath in a you’re only as good as your last performance kind of world, and with three of the last five at home, they only needed one on the road. It could happen. Those battered fan beliefs, along with the announced return of Kevin Love an hour before tip off, gave us plenty of reasons for optimism heading into game four.
First Quarter
The Warriors won the tip, and Harrison Barnes kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound off of a Draymond Green misfire from the top of the key. The Warriors quickly got back into their offensive symphony, and Barnes was rewarded for his effort with a triple from the corner as Richard Jefferson got caught on an Green moving screen.
On the Cavs first possession, Kyrie Irving took a calculated jab step which caused Green to retreat just enough from the threat of a drive, to retort a three of his own.
Beautiful ball movement leads to a JR Smith triple on #NBAonABC. #WARRIORSvCAVS #NBAFinals https://t.co/ZSL7VHQWcK
— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2016
The two teams traded the lead back and forth nine times during the first frame. The Cavs took their first lead as LeBron found Kyrie cutting backdoor under the hoop. With Green and Andrew Bogut in the lane with him, Kyrie wisely kicked the rock out to J.R. Smith in the corner for an uncontested three-ball.
The glorious ball movement continued a minute later, as LeBron walked the ball up the court, and Irving lost Curry through the traffic in the paint and settled into the corner. LeBron swung the ball to J.R. on the wing, and as the defense shifted his way, he darted it to Irving in the corner for a three.
https://vine.co/v/iLBvvaeb9TD
After Iggy deflected the ball out of bounds with 3.8 seconds remaining on the shot clock, Kevin Love checked in off the bench for the first time in six years to a standing ovation. LeBron delivered the touch pass to a cutting Irving, and Kyrie floated it in over Green in the paint, and drew the foul from Klay in the process. A moment later he converted the three-point play.
Every possession so hard fought! THIS is the Finals!!
— Fred McLeod (@CavsFredMcLeod) June 11, 2016
Love didn’t disappoint on the defensive end, as he feverishly contested a Barnes midrange jumper that lead to a LeBron James layup on the other end. On the next Cavs possession, Love gathered a J.R. misfire and converted through uncalled contact.
Tristan Thompson’s strong play from game three overflowed into the first quarter of game four. He pulled in his fourth offensive rebound of the quarter off of a cringeworthy miss, and put the ball in its home. For as much as people made an ordeal of how grossly Tristan is overpaid, his paystub looks like a bargain at the moment in comparison to Shumpert’s. It’s hard to imagine a scenario at the moment where the Cavs could possibly receive an asset in return for Iman.
A loose-ball foul on Shaun Livingston sent J.R. to the line for a pair, and he converted on both to score the Cavs final points of the quarter. After a back and forth first quarter, the Warriors held a 29-28 lead.
Second Quarter
Kevin Love’s hustle continued into the second as he fought off Iggy for control of a Livingston miss by tipping the ball to Channing Frye as he was falling out of bounds. Rather than take advantage of Love’s effort, and get the offense into their sets, LeBron jacked up a three from the top of the key with 18 seconds left on the shot clock.
The Cavs first scoring possession of the second quarter came nearly two minutes in as Delly drove to the paint, then dished to Shumpert on the wing, and he converted his only field goal of the game.
On the next Cavs possession, Green volleyball spiked a Frye attempt to the hardwood. Delly collected the loose ball and as he drove Barnes caught him in the face, and the refs actually called a foul on it. Twitter was a buzz that it should have been a flagrant, but I thought it was incidental contact. The part of the situation that dulled my blade was that as Delly was laying on the floor, Livingston and Green walked over and slapped hands with Barnes afterwards.
Shumpert flashed his stickum defense by forcing Klay to take an off balance jumper which lead to a LeBron lead three-on-two fast break the other way. As the pair of Warriors clung to James in the paint, he found a wide open Shumpert in the corner. Shumpert couldn’t stop his full-steam ahead momentum in racing to his spot and the Shump tripped over official Danny Crawford and fell down as the ball sailed off the tips of Iran’s fingers out of bounds. Maybe if the Cavs were playing the Thunder, they could waste possessions like that, but not against the Warriors. On the other side, Curry drilled a three from the corner.
At the midway point in the quarter we were treated to a series of terrible commercials, my favorite of which was the “we got your man” Sprint ad featuring Paul Marcarelli aka the “Can you hear me now?” guy. According to his wikipedia page, Paul now lives at hometown of North Haven, Connecticut with his two cats Piper and Dusty.
LeBron holds down the block, zips a dime to JR on #NBAonABC. #WARRIORSvCAVS #NBAFinals https://t.co/7DJBiYawmV
— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2016
LeBron teased us for a moment, with how devastating he can be on the block as he backed Livingston down into the paint, and hit J.R. on the wing for a trifecta. I have a dwindling hour glass of hopes that LeBron will embrace his current skill set, and become a bully on the block before his prime runs out of sand.
On the other end, Livingston beat LeBron to the rack but was rejected by Love at the rim, and the ball fell out of bounds off of Livingston’s chest. A second illegal defense call on the Warriors yielded a freebie to Kyrie. If only the refs would call the Warriors’ illegal offense.
https://vine.co/v/iLBUKLB7AKB
Irving put together one of his best two-way sequences of the playoffs, as he actually used the Tristan pick to beat Barnes to the hole and gently skipped the ball high off the glass for a pair. On the opposite end, Irving switched on to Barnes off of a pick, and after Curry beat Tristan off the dribble Irving found his man at the cup and rejected him. If only Austin Carr was there to drop his seven word catchphrase.
With four minutes left in the half, Mark Jackson was criticizing LeBron for being too passive during the first half of the game with a puny stat line of three points on four shots to go along with three turnovers. As that full screen graphic faded to the live action, LeBron stole a lazy pass from Green, raced down court, adjusted himself in the air as Klay closed in, and laid it in. Maybe LeBron was just highlighting that Mark Jackson is the only coach that he’ll actually listen to.
On the next Cavs possession, LeBron nearly lost the ball in the paint and desperately found J.R. at the top of the key as time expired. LeBron snared the offensive rebound and kicked it out to Love on the wing. Love took a back dribble behind the line and gave the Cavs a +5 Dif.
Kevin Love played some of his best defense as a Cav in game four. After Green spun around LeBron, and drove for what seemed to be a sure two handed slam, Love sprinted and meet Green at the rim, forcing him to adjust in the air, and brick the layup.
https://vine.co/v/iLB2ie1z66m
With 57.7 second remaining after a Green travel, the Cavs no doubt hoped to get two possessions in the final minute. LeBron feed Thompson on the block with Curry on him. Green immediately went for the double, then took the defensive assignment over. Thompson amazingly kept the ball alive, and threw up a faraway prayer that was answered.
The half ended as Smith bricked a three and Iggy raced down the court to put up one last shot. Smith nicked Iggy’s arm on the attempt, and there was no call. After the final buzzer sounded, Luke Walton was assessed a technical foul for his reaction to the refs swallowing their whistles. The Cavs survived the first half with a 55-50 lead.
Third Quarter
Irving drilled the freebie before the start of the second half, spotting the Cavs by six. Fifteen seconds later, Irving drained a jumper from the top of the key. On the next Cavs possession, LeBron measured up Barnes as he played the drive, and hit a three from the wing. If LBJ could find his jumper for the remainder of the series, there could be a parade through downtown Cleveland in the near future to interrupt the RNC preparation.
JR and Kyrie blew the defense. Warriors are Splashing.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) June 11, 2016
If the Cavs don’t start close out the Splash Brothers triples, the RNC organizers only worry will be if Donald Trump’s hair comes out of hibernation during his acceptance speech.
The last minute of action was a microcosm of how brilliant, and befuddling Kyrie is as a player. On the brilliant side, he beat Thompson off the dribble and layed it in high off the glass, like only Uncle Drew can. On the other end of the court, he got caught on a moving pick by Bogut, and rather than fight through it to get back to Curry, he argued with the ref. The refs are terrible. We get it. The Warriors cheat and league won’t stop them from doing it. Curry found nothing but space in front of him on his gather, and the bottom of the nylon weave. On the following Warriors possession, Klay did the same, cutting the Cavs lead to two.
Lue promptly called a timeout to gather the troops. At this point if I had a voodoo doll of Curry, I’d poison it, stab it, shoot it, then throw it in the river as if it were Rasputin.
The early returns on the break in the game were positive as LeBron fed a cutting Jefferson for a drive in which Green challenged him at the rim, and ball went for a tour around the cylinder, then gravity pulled it in. On the next Cavs possession, LeBron drew Bogut off of a switch, and opted for a long two, converting again.
https://vine.co/v/iLuuDVWngAV
Kyrie shook Curry off of his balance with a behind the back crossover from the right elbow, producing an echo of awes from the crowd, and extended the lead back to five. I’m not saying that I want the Cavs to play dirty per se, but I’m a fairly petty man, and I’m totally fine with them testing Curry’s MCL out when Curry is on Kyrie.
After a Cavs possession in which Jefferson was mauled on the wing by Green, and there was a no call, Jeff Van Gundy went on a tirade about this game not being about letting the players play, but rather that the refs just aren’t calling fouls. I have multiple friends who have completely tuned out the NBA, largely as a result of the inconsistent officiating. A foul should always be a foul, no matter the player, or importance of the game. On the following Warriors possession, Iggy drilled a three to tie the game. That non-call on Green slapping Jefferson’s arm could have been a six point swing. The Warriors gained momentum from their eight on five power play, and Curry capped off the comeback with a three from the corner to give them their first lead of the second half.
Following the Lue timeout, Anderson Varejao checked in for his first action of the game, and quickly drew a pair of fouls within five seconds of his entry. Love drew a shooting foul on the second, and went on to uncharacteristically miss both free throws. Andy grabbed three offensive rebounds in four minutes, and on the other end, Varejao flopped to the floor, dragging Love with him and earned a trip to the free throw line, where he hit his pair. Andy, you are officially dead to me.
With a minute remaining in the third, the Warriors held a six point advantage, their largest of the game at that point. Irving, shook Andy off the dribble for a fadeaway stop the bleeding. Andy bricked a jumper on the opposite end, giving the Cavs the final possession of the stanza. Love drew Iggy’s third foul, and hit both free throws to make it Warriors 79-77. This is the competitive game, we’ve all been waiting for…
Fourth Quarter
The Cavs opened the final frame of their most important twelve minutes in franchise history with a defensive stand as LeBron fought through a McAdoo screen and harassed Klay into losing the ball out of bounds. On the other end, Love backed Thompson down for a hook to tangle the game at 79. Love then grabbed the defensive board, and LeBron beat McAdoo off the dribble to put the good guys up again.
https://vine.co/v/iLubhu52XeQ
LeBron cleaned up the glass off of an Irving miss for an emphatic dunk putback. On the other end, James gave it right back as he didn’t close out on a Barnes three. I get that LeBron probably burns more calories during a game than 20 soccer moms casually walking on treadmills at a Planet Fitness before they hit Applebee’s for happy hour, but that lack of effort on a close out started a Warriors rally.
This one's on Ty Lue so far. No rest for in the 2nd LeBron & Kyrie has clearly backfired. They're completely gassed & Cavs down 9.
— Cavs:TheBlog (@CavsTheTweets) June 11, 2016
The Cavs offense ground to a halt as LeBron pounded the ball ad nauseum. He then pulled back and launched a three from the top of the key which started a Warriors fast break the other way. After having no pick him up at half court, Iggy promptly drained a pull up jumper a foot into the paint prompting another Lue timeout.
Lue was wired during his motivational intermission, and he put forth less character and charisma during his speech than my dog Mojo when passing peanut shells. Tristian bricked a pair of free throws, and Livingston hit a baseline jumper, extending the Warriors lead to five. All of this happened with Curry resting on the bench btw.
Irving went one for two from the line and scored the Cavs first points in three minutes. As much as I hate Draymond Green, I would love to have him on my team. Off of a Thompson miss, Dray tipped the ball to Curry, and it was promptly layed in for a pair. Love was in the lane, and so was Tristan. Green just wanted it more. The Warriors just wanted it more.
Barnes hits a cold-blooded trey off the Iguodala board + dish on #NBAonABC. #WARRIORSvCAVS #NBAFinals https://t.co/RTKTilwIgf
— NBA (@NBA) June 11, 2016
After Curry beat J.R. off the dribbled then amazingly misfired on the layup, LeBron watched the ball roll off the rim, and never left the floor to grab the board. Iggy did, kicked it out to Barnes for a three, and the Warriors stretched it to nine midway through the quarter capping off a 12-1 run since LeBron didn’t close out on that first Barnes three. Energy, and it’s lack thereof are contagious. Really.
LeBron once again, jab stepped a possession away, bricking a three. Two possessions later, Irving beat Klay off the dribble for a layup. Curry retorted on the other end with a head fake on Frye, and stepped into another three.
LeBron stepped over Green and the two got physical. Fake tough guy swats ensued, and off of a Klay Thompson miss, a double foul was called. If the two were to actually get into a fist fight, I’d bet everything I own on Draymond. He’s hungrier. James won the tip, but a jump ball quickly followed as Jefferson and Klay got tangled on the floor. Thompson tipped the ball to himself, but a violation wasn’t called. Instead, they jumped it again, this time with Jefferson slapping the rock to James who promptly found Irving under the basket for a reverse lay in.
With a minute left in the game, a fan ran on the floor causing a delay in the game. I don’t necessarily disagree with his message, but I’m not going to show a picture of it, because we need to stop giving the idiots of Cleveland a soap box when they pull embarrassing stuff like that. If he would have pulled his stunt on the play where LeBron didn’t close out on the Barnes three that triggered the Warriors run, that would have been ideal.
LeBron had the opportunity to cut it to six, but he split the pair. On the other end Curry and Iggy ran a give and go to push it back to nine. LeBron padded his stats in the final minute, and Steph and Klay went a perfect 10 for 10 from the line as the Cavs fell to the Warriors 108-97.
In Closing
I could go on about how many free throws the Cavs missed, or how the Warriors broke a NBA Finals record, but you probably don’t want to hear about that now. I know I don’t. It seems inevitable that the Cleveland failure package will gain another lowlight, and that we’ll all begin our Zero Dark Thirty-23 whiskey blackout, followed by a sports sabbatical in the next few days. We’ll collectively avoid ESPN programming for a month (they’re making it easier), and we’ll find the time to binge watch a show we somehow missed along the way (Six Feet Under or The Affair?). We’ll all subconsciously begin preparing ourselves to be sacrificed to the sports gods again.
The worst part of all of this for me is the slap fight within my own brain about the Cavs. I don’t want to believe that we’re just victims of sports circumstance, but I don’t want give life to a superstition-like a curse either. I want to accept that Griffin’s objective of finding fit failed, but I still believe what they could achieve together if they just tried. I don’t want to question that the fourth quarter meltdown wasn’t just a choice on their part. I know this would all be easier on me if I just accepted that this is our place in in the caste system. I want to realize that being a fan is definitely maladaptive behavior at this point, and that my life would definitely be easier if I lowered sports a few notches down on my priority list. I want to stop day dreaming about a basketball team, and believing in what they could do if they played the way my imagination has seen them. I just can’t.
Hopefully the guys can get focused on the game and not on the dgreen stuff. Hopefully cavs win game 5 and then we can pop champaign and celebrate in Cleveland after a game 6 win!
Maybe while he’s suspended Draymond can watch a movie…
Or have some friends over for a singalong…
Or read about his favorite author
http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348068741l/159978.jpg
And when he feels like a snack…
The world according to Draymond…
Some advice. Cavs fans are hurting right now. Have a positive podcast. No one wants your Kyrie and LeBron suck hot takes.
No guys, BE YOURSELVES, if your outlook is negative/realistic, then so be it, not going to change the outcome. Expect the worst and hope for the best, nothing wrong with that – this is Cleveland after all.
You can do your own butter and cream podcast. You can control the message that way.
Cavs the blog is 100% the best.
And Braymond is 100% the worst.
Can all Warriors fans go somewhere else?
With you on this, Cols
Draymond Green is the most important player on the Warriors team. Everything they run on both ends, they run it through him. Cavs have to bring the physicality.
Nba did a make up call.
If Green got a flagrant, Lebron should have gotten one too. I would think that be more fair. dG still be the only one suspended…
In any case, focus should be on the game. It isn’t like GS is bad without Green. And they r at home and will be emotional.
So, can Lue and Lebron show up and fight?
How is it a flagrant to step over somebody? That makes zero sense. The worst thing they could possibly give LeBron was what they gave him: a technical foul for physical taunting.
Notes from a hostile land: people out here are PISSED. From the grocery store to the fitness club everyone is talking. They don’t seem to get that Draymond set the table for this in the CF and the league is producing the ultimate in “make-up” calls.
If Draymond didn’t want to be suspended, he shouldn’t have put himself in this position. If you’re a smart player, you don’t even give the refs the *chance* to screw you over. That’s the bottom line.
Maybe GS will be more fired up and play even better….up 3-1 at home w.o. green….i doubt GS is worrying
They should worry. Green’s probably been their most valuable player this series and his defense has been giving our guys fits.
Oracle big money bandwagon fans will be out for blood now, since they got ‘jobbed’ by the NBA. Hope they have the riot police on the scene. Green should have been suspended after the Adams kick, when it would not have mattered, since they got boatraced the next game, anyway.
May well not matter in this case, either, but certainly gives Cavs no excuses. They will never have a better chance to win one there this playoffs, unless their entire team gets injured.
Now, you can probably start Kevin Love at PF without Draymond, Warriors without Draymond may not be a mis match for Love anymore. No more interior scorers for Warriors that Love has to defend plus no All nba defender to stop him from scoring.
Yep, Love will never have a better chance in this series to go off.
I was going to say “nice try lebron” for trying to get Donkey out for a game — but it seems he succeeded!
Part of the review I’m sure included audio of what Draymond actually said. Maybe it wasn’t nice? Ha! I’ll take it. You get yourself in deep with the techs and people are going to come after you. LBJ went over the line, sure, but honestly, it’s pretty minor.
Of course espn breaks the story. Coverage everywhere except this blog. Why is this site so behind ? I like the blog and come here first, but ultimately i have to gonback to hated espn site.
Anyway, lebron getting a lot of hatred again nationally for this… Amazingly it is ok to be flailing Green i guess…
Dude. This blog is free. It’s a labor of love for the editorial staff. Cut them some slack. They have families and lives.
Lebron getting hate because everyone is ignoring the kick…
https://vine.co/v/iLuJDxP1LH0
I don’t see a kick…
I guess, Draymond was not supposed to get up…
After Green hits the floor, first thing he does is kick LeBron in the leg.
Topgun1967 are you for real? Based on this comment and those you made during Game Five, I suggest you take your tripe elsewhere.
No more or less than you
I hope the mods incinerate you for the disparaging comments. You must think this website is a 24/7 paid sports enterprise like ESPN. You are so critical, you should do your own blog. The type of comments you post are just plain insulting, which is not in keeping with the usual temperament of commentators on the site.
Gee, I dunno, maybe because the writers all have jobs and families, and it’s the weekend?
I guess other writers and editors on other sites don’t have families? Great point….
You mean like ESPN, the only site you mentioned? The place where people work as full time writers? Great point…
If you’re curious as to how the sausage is made on this site, I’ll fill you in. I worked at AT&T from 10am-9pm. Then I raced home, let my dog out, and made dinner. I wrote the second half first (you can tell by the differentiation in tone between the halfs). Then I watched the first half after the game was over, and wrote that. The article was finished at six in the morning, 22 hours after I woke up the previous day. I wish I didn’t work 55 hours a week, and was able to put up quick take… Read more »
Hey Topgun… allow me to retort on behalf of all of the writers of this Blog… 1) We are not, nor have we ever claimed to be, a news breaking entity. There are several reasons for this. We are an opinion-driven blog and not a credentialed sports news outlet. We get our breaking news just like you do… from the sites or Twitter feeds run by guys who get PAID to break sports news stories as their JOBS… Yes, we often try to run breaking news stories when possible if one of us happens to be near a keyboard when… Read more »
Green suspended.
Also, James gets a T for “physical taunting” (the stepover), and Lue gets fined $25K for criticizing the officials.
Seems like they got it right.
I don’t think it was the step over that got Lebron the T. He was just going to get back in the play. It was the extra curricular stuff after that under the hoop that got him a t.
On the LeBron-Draymond incident, the narrative everywhere is that LeBron triggered it by stepping over Green. No one is mentioning that Green kicked LeBron’s leg before the stepover.
Per Windy, the league did interviews yesterday and could made a decision today.
If there’s a game 6 in Cleveland, some fan has to take a “Draymond Is a Nut Job” sign.
That narrative is crazy.
If Green, or anyone, stepped over Lebron like that, we’d be upset about that.
Yes, but…no one (even the league, from the initial reports on the suspension) is acknowledging what preceded the stepover. It was clearly an FU from LeBron to Green because of Green’s kick. The kick in itself could be a flagrant-1. LeBron’s stepover warrants a technical for taunting, as the league decided.
So Draymond got his money’s worth: two flagrant-1’s for the price of one.
Anyone want to try to identify the top row in this picture?
https://goo.gl/photos/ThXGmanxsiT1LRkg6
Where is Shump and what have they done to his hair?
Yeah, and champ and delly im having trouble seeing
Seems like mcrae and dahnte made it on there – just wierdly missing a few key guys
Who are those people?!
I see some people advocating for the Cavs to make no changes this offseason which I find to be insane. This team as constructed cannot beat Golden State. If Golden State wins tomorrow (which is likely), they will be 10-3 against the Cavs going back to last year’s finals. If the Cavs cannot beat Golden State then it cannot win a title. We can hope/pray that someone else knocks off Golden State in the Western Conference next year but hope isn’t exactly the best strategy to win a title. The Cavs are going to have to be proactive, especially since… Read more »
So what are the moves? Sure, if LA is willing to give us CP for Irving, but if not? What moves put us ahead of the Warriors?
Get Conley if you can and get a SG(Affalo ?), move JR to bench where he belongs. Warriors had trouble with Memphis when Conley was healthy plus he is a two way unselfish player will be better fit next to Lebron. Try to get a two way big for Love too. Try convincing Durant to come to Cleveland too. Stay away from likes of Melo.
There will be blame placed on Kyrie and Love if they lose in the finals that will affect the chemistry of the team.
My 2 cents.
Unfortunately they can’t really make those types of moves be ause of their salary situation. I like Conley, but he’s a free agent. I do wonder, too, if a more traditional point guard really works with Lebron, since he’s happiest with the ball in his hands all the time.
I like the Conley idea. Ex Ohio State.
K Love for some length and shooting on the wing. Try and get another rotation big with MLE or veterans minimum. LeBron moves full time to the four.
I think LeBron should come out and shoot during pre-game shootaround.
Interesting stats on ISO success in playoffs. Kyrie not the best, but same level as Lillard and Durant, yet the media drools of those two. It’s just strange how people hate Kyrie. He is such a great talent. He is not a pure PG, but who cares?
http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/playtype/isolation/?sort=Poss&dir=1
Exactly. The Cleveland “fans” who are tearing this team apart need to realize that the Warriors are an all-time team. Losing to them is not shameful. Run it back next year.
I am glad you have finally recently shifted your narrative that GS ‘sucks’. But now it’s “welp, GS is just unbeatable, nothing the Cavs could have done”.
I’m not sure which metric you’re looking at (the link as it opens appears to be sorted by number of iso possessions). But in iso points per possession, Kyrie ranks in the 43rd percentile. Not good. The other, recurring issue is that he’s a ball-dominant player on a team that has offensive collapses because of poor player and ball movement. See: Game 4, second half, 5 total team assists, 1 assist for Irving. Here are some of the iso PPP numbers from this year’s playoffs: Curry 1.22 Harden 1.16 Schroder 1.08 Draymond 1.07 McCollum 1.06 Barnes 1.03 Paul George 1.00… Read more »
I’m sorry that’s impossible to read. I don’t know why the paragraph breaks disappear when it posts. I tried to edit them back in and they still vanish.
Um…yay?
Clever clever.
Good for them!
It’s always wise to have a plan B.
We lost cause of Kyrie. He’s not very intelligent when it comes to realizing he doesn’t have his shot falling and figuring out other ways to impact the game. And the Warriors are way too intelligent to lose to someone like that.
Kyrie was 14 of 28 for 34 points in Game Four. His shot wasn’t the issue.
Yep. The people who are blaming Kyrie and LeBron are ridiculous. Those two guys carried this team.
If only Irving got credit for the missed shots he creates for other people by burning the shot clock before realizing he cant get the look he wants.
Seems like stars are dropping out of Rio one by one. I hope our big 3 do the same. Especially Lebron. He needs to take the summer off and just get back to the lab and sharpen his shooting, dribbling, post moves and footwork. I hope he realize that it will be a huge need for him to be able to win a title from this point on. Please he needs to do this, take a shooting coach, go to Hakeem once more. Whatever change we need to add this offseason needs to start from him.
I agree with you and I believe he needs to work on a shooting routine before games and more important, he needs to use it during the regular season so that he can get his confidence in it again. The Warriors (if they stay healthy) are going to get to the finals next year again and probably the Cavs too so if LeBron doesn’t want to look bad he needs to be better with his outside shots and FT’s too.
On the bright side, at least Lue FINALLY decided to mention the lopsided officiating…
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been sad all day. It’s starting to look like a sad summer, as well. Where are the eternal optimists who are saying we can be the first team to overcome 3-1 deficit? We need you now!
I mean we could. But Warriors are probably too good to go down like that.
You can’t beat the Warriors without playing your bench. They force you to address their bench. Cavs got away with it once but you can’t for the entire series. Lue didn’t coach this team to its strengths. A year ago, many playoff teams commented Cavs bench didn’t have offensive prowess but they had stellar defense to take away from the opponent’s offense and it did make a difference. And you throw in TT & Delly with some good starters and you had something. Lue threw that in the trash right before the playoffs. It changed everything including some of their… Read more »
If this happens, I will completely lose it. How could LBJ be suspended? Bron has no prior incidents in the playoffs. At most he deserved a T. Green meanwhile has kicked like 8 dudes. If they suspend both, I am done.
Adrian Wojnarowski @WojVertlcaINBA 4m4 minutes ago
Early indications from the league office say that Draymond Green & LeBron James may both be facing a 1 game suspension for their altercation
League wants the series to be over?? Though that doesn’t make sense since they would lose money.
This is a red herring. They still don’t want to suspend Draymond no matter what so let’s just throw Lebron in the mix so we can justify not doing anything again. I cannot believe the extremes the NBA has gone to protect this piece of trash (his cheap shots I’m talking about) There is no way in hell David Stern would have put up with it. Draymond and Silver must be related or something. Makes no sense.
Mark my word, there will be a huge public condemnation if they suspend Lebron from all the players, newscast ect. Everyone and Santa Claus knows how very bad Draymond Green has been in these playoffs. It’s more than a lump of coal he deserves.
People, this is a fake twitter account. Come on.
What? I’m on here all the time. Are you not a regular? I’m on twitter as well . So are a lot of the Cavs the bloggers. It is 2016.
Is it fake, Steve? I double checked it and thought it was a real Woj bomb. If it’s fake,
I feel much better :)
Sorry Steve… Had a blonde moment. Thought you meant “I” was a fake twitter account since the reply was after my comment. Glad to hear it’s a fake . There are like 2 more fake Wojo twitter accts. Fred Mcleod got snookered once too by it.
I just checked Woj’s twitter and I don’t see that tweet on there? @WojVerticalNBA is, indeed, his account, but the tweet is nowhere to be found. I doubt they do anything. There is no way they suspend LeBron. I do see them taking the “We brought LeBron into it so we can justify not suspending Braymond” route, though.
If Woj tweeted it, he has since deleted it.
Green kicked LeBron in the shin, hit him in the groin, and took a swing and a miss at him after getting back to his feet.
LeBron stepped over Green, which I guess could be considered taunting and T-worthy. Unclear what else he did to warrant punishment.
After LeBron and Green were separated and there were plenty of players and officials between them, Curry came over to bark at LeBron from about 5 feet away. Like a poodle barking at a Rottweiler from behind a fence.
Curry is absolutely the poodle behind the fence. He hides behind the new NBA knowing that nobody will ever touch his skinny a**. He is a punk and he’s very fake tough.
This same team just simply will not win a 7 game series against a healthy warriors squad from now until eternity unless there is a massive overhaul of the offensive schemes and sets. Right now we look like the Marc Jackson warriors teams on offense, except if you watch film on them they had more motion than we do! We need our own version of Steve Kerr to come in and institute a much more sophisticated offense. We also need our main ballhandlers, LBJ and Irving, to buy into it. Of course I am not convinced that would happen even… Read more »
If I’m the Cavs GM, I just bring this team back. They can do it.
On this one topic, I agree with Cols. Saving my longer diatribe for the impending “what should the Cavs do this offseason” blog.
It’s fun to talk about roster changes, but Griff knows what he’s doing. I know that I wouldn’t have done half the things he’s done.
I don’t think you go into the off season saying certain (key) players need to be moved.. But if the right offer comes along that can improve the team it should be considered.
Delly was awful in his short stint.
Didn’t Jefferson only get 1 point? Since all you base on a player’s value is points that must mean Jefferson is trash compared to Delly. Luckily that isn’t what gives a player true value.
In his whole 5 minutes? Troll harder. A lot of guys were beyond awful in big minutes.
Lue deserves criticism. He is a Doc Rivers Jr in not trusting his bench and riding the starters too long and as predictable ; we see late in the 3rd, the mental mistakes due from fatigue set in. For the life of me, I cannot understand why did Fry go in to close and not ONCE did LeBron or Kyrie pass him the ball for a 3. Such a wasted opportunity. It was the fatigued Lebron & Kyrie show to Kerr’s delight. Lue got outcoached and played right into Warriors hands. Curry strolled in the 7 th minute of the… Read more »
Nah. It’s not Lue’s fault the Warriors made 17 threes and the Cavs made 6. Warriors are just really great. Cavs are really good.
Not entirely, but sure it is. The Cavs made just six because the offense stagnated and they were easy to defend, not because they lack three point shooting ability. The Warriors made 17 because they created good looks.
Oh you of all people don’t believe the game was still winnable in the 4th? Cavs beat themselves in this one and Lue shares responsibility .
Warriors were really great last year, and the Cavs won two with a shell of a team.
Jason Lloyd: James and Irving combined to take 33 of the Cavs’ 38 shots in the second half. Kevin Love took two. Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson and Tristan Thompson each took one. And that was it.
Not good. I put the responsibility for the above mostly on the shoulders of Lebron and Tyron Lue.
Yep.
Only 5 assists in the second half, with the season on the line.
Michael Wilbon called Irving unbelievably selfish in the 4th quarter. Those shots he threw up at the rim where incredibly wasted possessions. WTF was he thinking?
Overreact much? Cavs team is really good. Just getting beat by an all time great team. It sucks and it hurts. But no reason to be ashamed or to hate this team.
I’ve said it before , but if the Cavs don’t re-sign Delly and keep Lue or get a new coach named Mark Jackson, I’m going to have a lot of trouble rooting for this team. There are few things in the world that I hate more than wasted talent. Watching this team kill itself with stupidity is worse than almost anything. Kyrie may have salvaged a bit of trade value with his scoring. Trade both him and Love. Just make it happen. Get rid of Lue. Bring Blatt back! Haha. Well Ok, maybe not that part. Good for Andy that… Read more »
Nate — I love all you do for this blog and community, so I say this legitimate respect, but you overreact to every loss and every win.
Ws are very good. Cavs are also very good. The idea that you have conditions under which you won’t root for the Cavs is just silly.
Not my comment. Posting for Ben. Though I agree with his thoughts on the idiotic play in the second half costing them the game.
Thrice that motion
Man, I dunno. I love this team and want them to win every night, but they make it hard sometimes with the lack of effort, especially on defense, resorting to hero-ball isos on offense, and the passive-aggressive in-season sniping. If I wasn’t so invested in the laundry, I’d have a hard time rooting for this group of players.
Delly has destroyed his own value in the playoffs by forgetting how to shoot and forgetting how to follow a scouting report on d…it’s on him if we don’t send him a decent contract offer and someone else does. No way I overpay for him if I’m Dan Gilbert watching the finals. Delly is worth more than iman turnovers shumpert…but he has tanked the end of the season man.
Maybe. Something weird is going on with him confidence wise. Still should’ve started the 4th though.
In hindsight maybe it’s a blessing in disguise for us to be able to resign him? He loses some market value, fine tune his game, then come back a better player for us.
But yeah this is a bad timing to disappear
In (slight) defense of Delly, he lost his shot in mid-February and hasn’t found it since. So that wasn’t due to playoff pressure.
And yet even without his shot, he was still valuable through the earlier rounds. The team’s best offense usually came with him on the floor.
It’s his defense that has suffered the most. He continually gives guys their strong hand. This isn’t against the Warriors cuz he’s barely played, but against the Pistons he almost cost us one game by himself on Jackson. It’s more than his poor shooting.
on positive note, I actually think Indians have a better chance to win championship than Cavs do. 1) Indians are in 1st place even after playing more than 1/3 of the season 2) American league doesn’t really have GS Warriors like super team this year. A lot of beatable, competitive teams compared to Indians 3) Maybe Karma. The entire world talks about Lebron and Cavs and how Bron would bring its 1st championship in 50+ years; yet quietly Indians and unsung heros get the job done in Oct? 4) Cavs – I have little faith in Bron as he ages.… Read more »
Did anyone notice last night how a large part of the announcing revolved around how the game was being called? (Over 60%) We had two NBA coaches in the broadcast with decades of NBA experience both disagreeing on every call and having no clue about what the rules are. Conclusion: The NBA has turned into an absolute farce (because of the reffing). Yes, people will continue to watch the performances in the same way wrestling fans crazily followed “Big-Time Wrestling” for a long time. I’m saying that the NBA is more of a SHOW than a competition – or anything… Read more »
GS has undoubtedly a great team in modern era of NBA – pure shooting above all else. I grew up watching 70s to 80s NBA and in some way, I prefer that era. Purely personal preference. I admit GS is a great shooting team and good team chemistry amongst many other positive attributes. But I take Jordan and Bulls any day and Showtime Lakers any day over GS.
Curry and Klay are good shooters.. amazing actually.. and I guess today’s NBA is all about that.. sadly
Dude…it’s the increase in camera angles, rehashing on ESPN ad nauseum, and officiating oversight, not a change in officiating practices, that causes that conversation to happen more frequently now.
How about getting the travel call right? What does that have to do with camera angles and so forth? We have to invent a word that goes beyond “ridiculous.”
Officiating turned into a joke during the David Stern era when Stern started marketing stars instead of teams. The Stern era kind of killed the idea of the team over individual. The 2002 or 2003 (cannot remember which) wcf with the kings and lakers was way worse bias than this series, to the point I am still convinced that series was basically fixed by Stern and NBA in favor of the lakers.
It’s been this way for 20+ years. 2002 Lakers/Kings, anyone?
not holding my breath but Green needs to be suspended. Enough is enough… I used to respect his play so much until these playoffs.. he will forever be known as a dirty player, detracting his outstanding BB play overall.
when would NBA make a decision on this? today? again, doubtful they do anything.
I’ve read conflicting things, but i think if Draymonds intentional punch to the Kings jewels is upgraded to F2 he gets 2 games by rule. Is that right? F1 would get him 1 game.
that’s assuming he gets anything from NBA… do u realllllly think he gets flagrant from NBA office?
I would say ONLY IF NBA wants to give Cavs a better chance to extend the series and make more money
It’s all about three pointers anymore. And th Warriors are better at shooting them than us.
Three pointers are obviously important. But with all the three pointers the Warriors made last night, they would have finished with a very beatable 100 points – if not for the free throws down the stretch.
agree. I don’t think 3pointers was THE reason we lost.. other than last 1 min FTs that bumped GS well above 100 pts, we would be in line to win the game IF we played team ball last 6 min of 4QTR.. Bron and Kyrie tried to be a hero and hero ball never end well. Lebron has been in the league and in these key games so many times and I don’t get how he does not realize this. Kyrie – I don’t condone it but I can understand – he’s young and doesn’t know any better. I think… Read more »
Sadly I think Kevin Love just doesn’t fit here despite sacrificing too much. Not in the finals where Lebron needs to be the power forward. Kevin Love will never be a center, much more if matched against Green/Duncan/Aldridge/Diaw. Kyrie is immature, but I believe he cares winning a championship 10x more than his “brand” Delly needs to stay. Mozgov can go but we need a TT duplicate with better paint presence and shot blocking. I agree with what you said with Shump, we need a REAL CONSISTENT 3&D guy to be paired with Kyrie then JR needs to come off… Read more »
Last night I felt like I was watching OKC games 6 & 7 all over again with Lebron and Kyrie taking on the roles of Durant and Westbrook. I knew we didn’t have a chance.
I contend that the 3’s the Warriors hit had nothing to do with the loss. If not for the GS free throws down the stretch, they would have been held to 100 points – even with the 3’s.
The offense just imploded. I also think our guys were totally gassed.
Go Tribe.
LeBron was awesome. I loved the game plan to attack the rim like crazy to get Bray and Iggy in foul trouble. Only problem is the refs called zero fouls.
Great games from LeBron and Kyrie. Too bad the NBA has decided that driving to the rim is no longer a basketball move.
The KI hate from national media is amazing. He was incredible these last two games. So much heart. Taking on the challenge of Steph with huge cajones.
He’s arguably the best player in this series.
He has stood toe to toe with Curry and excelled.
That’s why I don’t see the hate, or the need to trade him for a traditional point guard. His scoring is essential with a Lebron team going forward. Putting the ball at the basket is still the name of the game and he’s proven to be excellent at it on the biggest stage. Every distance on the floor. Sure he did cringing errors too, but those are things that will certainly improved as experience goes seeing his will to win. Is he immature still? I think so.. but he definitely can will a team to a win in an nba… Read more »
I’m not going to defend his hero ball too. But to say that’s all he do is stupidity. There are clearly times where he need to take over and no second guessing he answered the call. With Lebron as your teammate you gotta have that instinct.
Kyrie’s defense was pretty bad in the second half. He’s had nice moments, but he’s been ok, not great. To be great you have to bring it every play. Can’t lose focus.
No arguments on that note. I’m clearly pointing his scoring capability. I see you believe both him and Love should be traded. But if someone’s retained my bet is on Kyrie.
Which would be a mistake.
He was gassed in the second half. They all were.
It makes the difference between success or failure on defense when playing against a Steph Curry. It determines whether you “finish” or don’t on offense down the stretch.
He has not. He has overdribbled the offense out of sync and he has been a huge liability on defense.
Liability? By what degree?
Is he a liability when he blocked Steph in the 1st half, go under screens to deny Steph many open 3’s?? or when he was also part of the reason in making Steph pedestrian the first 3 & 1/2 games?
He’s a liability when he gets lost on almost every screen, forcing us to switch into bad matchups. He’s a liability when he doesn’t get back in transition, forcing us to cross-match or let them get easy looks. He’s a liability when the Warriors specifically look to attack him.
It worked the first two games. But he’s shown the capability of not being COMPLETELY a saloon door the following two games. But the team as a whole isn’t picking up the slack to save him at times too. Parker is just an average to good defender at best, but his team as a whole had the schemes and the abilities to absorb his deficiencies on D. Same with Steph.
Yeah, the rest of the defense has issues too, but I’m not putting Irving’s shortcomings on them. I’d be much more inclined to put their issues on Irving. Primarily because of him, we have to go with sub-optimal defensive plans, like switching Love onto a guard on the perimeter.
Man but I can’t fault Irving for being 4 inches shorter than Livingston too, then when he’s being isolated he did his best but still unable to stop him from scoring. Same situation with Iggy & Barnes. He’s done a great job with Curry (albeit with the help from everyone) first 3&1/2 games. Stephen!Curry!
But I think you see the difference between Irving and passabld defense when Curry gets switched in this series. Curry has been able to get his hand on the ball and cause some disruption against bigger players. Irving just gets bullyed. And I’m not seeing this 3.5 games. The Cavs as a team tried to stop Curry in game 1, the Warriors responded by attacking with whoever Irving was left on. In game 2, Irving shot 64% and didnt rack up many points because he only needed to play 24 mins. 38 points last night. I’ll give Irving game 3,… Read more »
Obviously that game 2 line is about Curry.
I’m with you Hot Sauce. I watch sports for the pure enjoyment. I enjoy watching Kyrie more than any other NBA player . . . and despite being a horrible player, we still somehow made it to the Finals with him.
I just wish we had a true play making point guard who was a lock down defender. Kyrie could play the two (even though that would severely curtail JR’s minutes).
What do you mean “national media”? He’s getting ripped just as much right here.
If Lue was willing to work the refs, like any other NBA coach does, this could change.
Also, can everyone start the grassroots movement on Twitter and other social media to get Green suspended. If the purposeful nut punch is not upgraded to a flagrant, the league has lost its damn mind.
http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/meanwhile-an-update-on-draymond-green-1781803795
I really think Cavs win game 5. It took Cavs two games to get to the level they needed to compete against Ws. Now they are there and its fun to watch. Yesterday’s game was basically a street fight. I think each game moving forward will be more or less a coin toss. Cavs lost yesterday because the made several major defensice mistakes in the 2nd half. That’s it. But I think the Cavs turn the table and make a few key shots to win. Winning 3 straight coin tosses, though, is going to be very hard. So, sadly, I… Read more »
I don’t think GS is dumb enough to lose 3 straight with 2 chances at home. But I’m also keeping faith.
Agree they aren’t dumb, and it will be very hard. Only way to do it would be to play three straight games at the level we played in G3 and first half of G4. If we do that, and Green is suspended for G5, there is a chance.
That’s another thing, the league loves their golden babies they’ll re-print the rule book that will state Green’s actions were “unintentional”.. Business as usual
“The Cavs offense ground to a halt a LeBron pounded the ball as if it got his sister pregnant and didn’t buy her any pampers”. – Can someone explain this joke to me – I dont follow
Me neither.
Bruce Dickinson: “Babies…before we’re done here…y’all be wearing gold-plated diapers.”
What we needed last night was *more cowbell*.
I know Ctb is divided when it comes to this, some even thinks they need to cut both but I’m starting to arrive at the conclusion that Kevin Love needs to get traded. Between him and Kyrie it’s Kev that has to be let go. They can’t be on a same lineup with a team of GS caliber or basically a team that can/will exploit one of them especially on this stage.
Kyrie is as bad as a defender, but he can make huge positives happen in a finals game which unfortunately Kevin has yet to show. Kyrie can score big in a finals. Create points when nobody is, which is going to be a need with an aging Lebron going forward. He can derail an offensive scheme but is Kev making someone else better or letting the flow go with everyone? Also, sadly Lebron’s best position in a FINALS series coincide with Kev’s.
Cavs can win with love, but can’t win without a PG who can run actual sets and gets team into an offense consistently.
Yes! The team game needs reps.
There’s reason to believe that the ISO and hero ball is hurting the development of a Cavs TEAM that is staring at a basketball revolution: pace, space and tres!
Love seems hesitant much of the time, but it seems to me this roster has what it needs to create hard-to-solve problems, as long as there is movement off-the-ball and trust in this new fangled ‘open man’ concept.
So what you’re suggesting, if I’m reading you right, is that how they play during the regular season might actually matter. An interesting concept that I hope they give some consideration to next season.
They made it to the Finals two years in a row with the PG they have. They can win. When they move the ball they win. We don’t talk about play making PG’s much anymore. We talk about ball movement offenses. When the Cavs move the ball – Kyrie or no Kyrie – they win. They’ve shown that.
I can’t think of many play making PG’s around the league. Teague? Lowry? Westbrook?
Kevin Love top 20 RPM player most of his career. Kyrie middling throughout.
People lose perspective real quick when it comes to Kevin Love. Cavs don’t even win the Eastern Conference Championship without him. Love has improved greatly from a year ago and Lue deserves some credit for that. He was able to extract & challenge Love to make him better. He still has a long way to go on defense but he is much better. All this boils down to is a Golden State thing. Stand in line with the rest of the NBA on that one.
Our team is flawed. That’s the truth. Hats off to the opposition.. But in no way I’m surrendering until the final buzzer sounds as difficult as it is to go through.
At least the Tribe is in first place. They look good this year. For once.
Theyre working on their 4th straight season over .500. I have no idea where “for once” comes from.
81-81 and then collapse based in all the negatives that haunt this team. Lue’s rotations are both self-defeating and self-refuting. Irving is a shooting guard in a point guard’s body. Dribbling plus standing-around is not the recipe for success. I am coming to hate the word “handle.” The Dubs have not really gotten into their fluid extra pass offense much, but the Cavs have mostly eschewed their own version of the same. In theory, the Big Three should cause an open man to be open; hi J.R. Swish! But in practice I observe the “trust in the team concept” dissipate… Read more »
Cory, your closing approximates my after-drinking, next-morning thoughts on my sports relationship as well. My father told sports, “It’s not you, it’s me,” a long time ago, after the Colts left Baltimore; I couldn’t really understand then. I do now. My life, by no means that of a “young rajah,” is blessed, and I am thankful… but until I extricate myself from the lunacy of expectation and (nearly) blind devotion to my teams, I can only agree with my wife, who sees my “enjoyment” of the Cavs, Browns, and O’s (out of place here, I know) as masochistic. I seriously… Read more »
You can “enjoy” the Cavs and Browns. Just keep things in perspective. There ARE a few things in life that are more important than a Cavs championship. Even if it doesn’t feel that way. It’s a journey.
No worries, I have. Writing is cathartic, and my comments were intended as such.
It’s a relatively minor thing, but when the broadcast team asked their officiating expert about that call on Love when Varejao flopped (on the Iggy score, I believe), and he said it was a foul because ‘there was contact on a push’, I went bananas. Here’s the thing, moron: there’s constant ‘contact’ on the court…not all contact is a foul. If this person can’t see that this is an obvious flop, ON A REVIEW, from a known flopper, then there is zero hope for rational officiating in the NBA, and every single player should just flop 100% of the time,… Read more »