First off, I
thought this series was over after the first couple games. Golden State just looked so much better then
The Cavaliers. It was hard to imagine
how The Cavs could reconcile the failings of their roster: that they either had
defensive players or offensive players on the court and other then Lebron they
were rarely encompassed in the same individual.
When Cleveland won game 3 it was still hard to believe The Warriors
wouldn’t come back and win the next game.
It seemed like everything turned after game four with the utterance of
the word “bitch.” Since then The
Cavaliers have been a different team. Just
some quick thoughts after watching the last few games…
1. Career speaking Lebron James has got to shoot
better. He’s still completely amazing
but the biggest change from the beginning of this series to now is that he is
both taking open jumpers and making them.
The Warriors have been giving him such a big cushion and packing the
paint that it gums up everything the Cavs try and do. Earlier in the series (and this whole
playoffs) Lebron was reluctant to shoot anything beyond a few feet from the
basket. It’s hard to run an offense this
way unless he were to turn into a primarily back to the basket player. By hitting some jumpers so much opens up for
the Cavs and becomes easier on the offensive end. Soon he will no longer be the most dominant
physical presence on the court in every game and at that point he’s going to
want a reliable jumper. It just makes
everything so much easier for him. Not
that my opinion matters but I strongly recommend he hires a great shot coach
over the summer and that he spends less time working out and more time on
honing his jumper. The next few years of
his career could go easy or hard for him and I think a reliable jumper will
make all the difference…
2. Is something wrong with Curry? That’s the question everyone is asking. It’s easy to say he just doesn’t look
right. He’s definitely not moving jitterbug
style on the court and his jumper looks way too dependent lately on his arms
rather then his legs. For someone so
small and slight even the slightest physical slowing is going to make it hard
to get off a shot. So that would lead me
to wonder if he is indeed healthy, but the truth is that no one on the court
can be fully healthy at this point in the season. They’re all tired. Perhaps the defense in the playoffs is more
physical and the traps are harder and defenses are better prepared and health
is not really to blame for Curry’s fall off.
He’s still been a very good player in the finals but he has not been the
transcendent force in this series or in fact for the whole playoffs that he was
in the regular season. Still, whether he
is unstoppable or not, he forces defenses to scramble in ways that virtually no
other player does on offense. Even when
he’s not scoring big he’s a huge factor as to the shots his team gets on
offense. I can’t help but feel like when
he’s open he’s not guaranteed to make it the way I felt during the season. Whether that’s due to health issues or
because the Cavs are forcing him out of his comfort zone is a fine line that is
hard to draw…
3. I’ve been saying for a while that sometimes dudes just
miss and sometimes they hit shots and the difference is more often then not in
there somewhere rather then in schemes and effort. As Jeff Van Gundy says, “it’s a make or miss
league,” and he’s right. When shots fall
everything becomes easier. It’s
definitely possible to take dudes out of their comfort zone and force more
misses but bottom line, there are dudes that will hit shots anyway on any given
night. Irving looks awesome when he’s
hitting tough shots and terrible when he’s not but I’m not sure anything is
different in how he’s playing other then the ball going in or not. It helps when he’s more decisive but either
way he’s going to take tough shots. Same
goes for Curry or really anyone on the court.
We’ve seen a lot of back and forth blowouts in which a team that was
destroyed one day comes back and annihilate the other team the next. It’s not just a change in effort that
differentiates these games or a change in scheme but simply that shots went in
one night where they didn’t another night.
It sucks to think it’s that simple sometimes but I’m afraid it often
is. There are little things that occur
to put players in and out of comfort along the way but they mean perhaps a
little less then we think.
4. Harrison Barnes cannot hit a shot. I’m not sure much more can be said to
elaborate on this subject. He’s getting
plenty of open looks but they’re just not going in. With every miss his paycheck for next season
is most likely diminishing. He also
cannot guard Lebron. It’s been a tough
finals for him…
5. For offensive guards who play only one end has Irving
just been much better then Curry? He
doesn’t involve the rest of his team the way Curry does so it’s not just about
scoring and making shots. Even when
Curry doesn’t score he opens things up for his teammates in a way that Kyrie
does not but bottom line Kyrie has been a much better scorer in the finals then
Curry. Moving forward Kyrie has got to
learn to score without possessing the ball so long before his shot. If he were able to be quicker and more
decisive about his actions he’d be so much better. Some of that is on the system whereby they
pretty much give him the ball with no action and need him to get off a shot
before the shot clock winds down. He’s
not so gifted in size or athleticism so he has to execute a number of moves to
get the separation to get off his shot.
At some point they need to channel his skills into a system that better
involves the team a la what Golden State has done with Curry.
6. Curry is committing some terrible fouls. What exactly is he thinking? Game 6 I couldn’t see even a questionable
foul other then perhaps his fifth. These
are obvious and dumb fouls. Perhaps his
fifth foul was unwarranted but he reached twice in a row. The first seemed like a foul and the second
didn’t but it was close and it’s the kind of possession in a game where you
just can’t take the chance when you’re in foul trouble. Just play positional defense and don’t try
for the steal. It’s just not smart
basketball. It seems to me that the Cavs
are being very physical with Curry and he’s trying to be physical back and he’s
just not very good at it. There’s an art
to knowing when you can get away with hitting the offensive player and when you
can’t. Curry could have easily been
called for a reach on Lebron James at the 7:35 mark at which point he would have
fouled out. This brings up another
interesting point. Lebron is a physical
player and even more importantly a physical specimen. It’s easier to ignore fouls against a dude
that other people bounce off of.
Consequently I have rarely seen a team reach as much as the Warriors
have against Lebron this series and commit so few fouls. The Warriors are obviously good at it and
they’ve watched a lot of film and are swiping down when Lebron gathers the ball
but they’re still hard reaches and have rarely been called fouls in this
series.
7. Injuries. For the
first time in the last couple years the Warriors are dealing with poorly timed
injuries. Iguodala’s back injury was
particularly devastating in game 6 especially since Barnes has been unable to
match up against James and has played so poorly overall. Bogut’s injury hurts as well as prolonged
small ball is not nearly as effective when it’s not a change of pace. Golden State misses Bogut’s rim
protection. These kinds of injuries are
what every team deals with and it’s important to keep in mind how much luck is
involved in winning it all. The owners
of Golden State can praise themselves all they want for their genius but a
large part of winning is the luck of being healthy at the right time. You can help that luck by resting your
players and utilizing your bench as the Warriors have done but it’s still luck.
8. James expends so much energy on both ends of the
court. It’s not easy to both play great
offense and great defense and be the focal point of everything your team does
on offense. There are a few great two-way
players but they don’t shoulder the offensive load generally that Lebron
does. Clay Thompson for instance plays
hard on both ends but he rarely plays as many minutes as James and the Golden
State offense isn’t dependent on him being involved in every action. He can get moments of rest here and there on
the court when he needs them. For James,
he only rests when Kyrie is cooking and chooses to go one on one.
9. The Warriors may yet win this series but part of their
problem has been that they simply do not fear the Cavaliers at all. Consequently I think they have not taken them
very seriously and their effort has not been as good as it could have
been. Without the proper respect of your
opponent it can be easy to avoid the desperation it takes to win these kinds of
ballgames. The Cavs are not as talented
as Golden State but they are
Desperate to win… and they’ve got Lebron James. It’s been clear from quotes and body language
both before and after the Draymond confrontation that the Warriors do not fear
James’ abilities. That’s
problematic. He’s still the best player
on the court in every game and when he hits shots it’s going to be very
difficult to beat him. Golden State has
the attitude that they just play their game and they can’t be beat. In the end they may be right but for a team
that freaks out every time they are slighted their arrogance towards other good
players is palpable. Eventually you
anger the wrong dude and you miss a few shots and you pay for it. Draymond plays hard and I respect him for
that but he does and says shit that is just crazy. Screaming in Steven Adam’s face after hitting
a shot is all well and good (actually it’s super annoying) but doing the same
thing to Lebron is just not smart. One
guy won’t do much to shut you up, the other just might.
10. The last point brings me here: I cannot believe the
leeway the refs give to Green. He
complains so vociferously and so emphatically after every call. He reached twice on Lebron towards the end of
the game 6, clearly two fouls in a row, and then freaked out and screamed in
the refs face when it was correctly whistled a foul. How does he not get a technical for
this? I read that at one point during
the playoffs DeMarcus Cousins was incredulous that Green didn’t get called for
more technicals. I’m sure he’s watching
Golden State and thinking I don’t complain any more then Draymond. Why is he allowed to get away with it and I
am not (Note that I am arguing neither one should be allowed to get away with
it).
11. My favorite thing the Cavs have done in this series is to relentlessly pick on Curry's defense. The Cavs have treated Curry like the Warriors have treated Love when he's on the court. Involve him in every play until his defense crumbles. It's a great old school strategy that both wears Curry down and puts some doubts in his mind. No one likes knowing that the other team thinks their defense is so terrible that any matchup is a mismatch...
12. On to game 7. I’m
leaning towards the Warriors taking it but for the first time this season the
Cavs have made me doubt that Golden State will win it all. My gut instinct is that the Cavs have put
doubt into the Warriors and that they’ll win but I’m still picking Golden State
because I still cannot wrap my mind around how the Thunder lost to them. In that series as well it just seemed like
the Thunder were clearly better and had Golden State on the ropes and yet the
Warriors pulled out the series. So until
someone actually beats them I’m just going to assume they’re going to win. I like both teams more or less but for the
first time this playoffs I’m rooting hard for the Cavs to pull it out. Cleveland needs this way more then Silicon
Valley needs this…
