Preview & Live Thread: Cavs vs Warriors
2015-02-26
They say to be the best, you have to beat the best. With that thought in mind, tonight’s match-up is the biggest of the season. The Golden State Warriors come in to Cleveland with the league’s best record: 44-10 and are 8-2 in the last ten games (as are the Cavs). We all know about the brilliance of Golden State’s starting back-court — Curry and Klay combine to score 46 points and 11 assists and eight rebounds per game while posting all-time shooting percentages. But there’s more than just these two that make Golden State click.
Chris Ballard wrote a fantastic piece in Sports Illustrated on how the Warriors have gone from playoff “One-and-done to NBA title Favorites.” Ballard examines Klay, Curry, Kerr, Barnes, Iguodala, and secret sauce ingredient, Draymond Green (who is playing like the biggest draft steal of the last 10 years). The article even touches on what CtBers know is the real reason for Golden State’s success, the presence of three former Cavalier Herculoids: Mo Speights, Shaun Livingston, and now assistant coach, Luke Walton. It’s a great article and a more complete Warriors preview than I could give you.
Speaking of Draymond Green, he’s got to be on the short list for the league’s “Most Improved Player” award, and he’s angling his way to a max contract this coming summer. He’s become an unbelievably smart and competitive defender, who despite his 6’6″ size can guard players at almost every position, and he’s added enough offense that he’s not a liability on that end of the floor. But is he really that improved or is he just getting extra playing time? The showdown with Draymond and Kevin, tonight, might give us some answers.
Another candidate for most improved is the Cavs own Kyrie Irving. According to Zach Kempner at NumberFire.com, Irving leads the NBA in improvement when it comes to Wins Above Replacement. Of course, the article notes, LeBron James’ addition might have something to do with that.
Enjoy the game, tonight, and Go Cavs!
Wins Above Replacement
| Player | ’13-’14 WAR | ’14-’15 WAR (Estimated) | Difference (Estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyrie Irving | 1.45 | 13.12 | +11.67 |
| Khris Middleton | 0.10 | 11.14 | +11.04 |
| James Harden | 9.67 | 19.74 | +10.07 |
| Tyreke Evans | -0.75 | 8.96 | +9.71 |
| Anthony Davis | 5.46 | 14.18 | +8.72 |
| Ben McLemore | -4.29 | 4.10 | +8.39 |
| Markieff Morris | 3.20 | 10.81 | +7.61 |
| Lou Williams | 0.28 | 7.48 | +7.20 |
| Darren Collison | 0.82 | 7.84 | +7.02 |
| Cody Zeller | 0.09 | 7.08 | +6.99 |
| Jeff Teague | 2.05 | 8.96 | +6.91 |
| Gordon Hayward | 4.99 | 11.72 | +6.73 |
| John Wall | 8.30 | 14.55 | +6.25 |
| Tyson Chandler | 5.80 | 11.99 | +6.19 |
| Brandon Jennings | -2.82 | 3.29 | +6.11 |
| Russell Westbrook | 6.89 | 12.94 | +6.05 |
| DeMarcus Cousins | 4.45 | 10.47 | +6.02 |
| Draymond Green | 6.54 | 12.17 | +5.63 |
| Harrison Barnes | -0.74 | 4.64 | +5.38 |
| Jared Dudley | 1.93 | 7.26 | +5.33 |
Tom’s weekly segment on Dayton Sportsradio was in studio – Nate even called in! Listen here: http://www.wingam.com/Tom-Pestak-from-Cavstheblog-com-talks-NBA-Cavs-wit/17320024?pid=459695
I like Speights… but he should get a call from the league on that flop…
Kyrie needs to calm down a bit
Curry can’t shoot over KLove when he gets his arms up…
BUDDY BALL!!!! In the house!
GSW going with more David Lee than usual tonight…
He’s there only low post threat for sure.
“Happy Birthday Michael Bolton” on the Megatron as Nirvana is blasting on the sound system.
Michael Bolton all day!!!
Good stuff by Kyrie! Go at him! Make him play Defense.
david lee pushed with arms extended on love’s back no call but curry flops after 3 and foul is called unreal
Agree with the missed call on David Lee… totally was a foul on him.
Kyrie and Curry, both utter joys to watch
Yes they are… love how they both can shoot so well.
That wasn’t a foul.
Cavs offense has no ball movement tonight. GSW running plays.
You’re just a ray of sunshine tonight Kev…
Yep, and i think it will be generally impossible to beat this team like that, especially in a 7 game series. Kind of seems like gs offense is in a different class in terms of fluidity and generating open shots.
They should be more fluid… they’ve been together years as opposed to months.
Total flop that time by Curry.
Make Curry play defense…burn some energy.
And here comes the HORRIBLE phantom calls from the refs…
JR NEVER touched him… Where’s Lauren?!
We need our girl in the house! I miss her…
Uh oh… here comes the first Herculoid…
Wonder what the rotation will look like tonight…
Cavs attacking the paint over and over…. racking up GSW fouls.
“Hit em with body shots” strategy.
I like that strategy give them the old East Coast treatment.
Curry is fast as a viper on that shot…
Anything Steph can do… Kyrie can do!
YES! That’s got to be the longest in the shot clock the Warriors have gone on a possession without shooting this year!
There we go…. Shump brought the defense there~!
Shump spent a lot of time on his hair before the game.
#Samson effect in the house!!!
Oh man that Love shot almost went in……crazy
MAN! How did that shot NOT go down?!
Wish the Cavs would play more with the alternative/throwback jerseys. They look sweet!!
cavs need strong communication on defense too many easy open shots for Warriors
Bogut is a bitch Cavs need to go after him hard they can win that matchup all night
Curry has taken 3 wide open shots…. That can’t happen. Good time out. Fix the defense.
God gs has so many shooters and the two best in the game. Cavs cannot afford to lose curry or thompson for a second tonight.
Warriors came to play, gonna be a great game
They are breaking the cavs down with penetration. This will lead the Cavs to over compensate in the paint and the threes will begin falling. I smell a blow out.
Don’t take offense, but I’m not going to trust your nose on this one…
WOW…. this pace and offenses are crazy!!! First team to really clamp down on defense will get the edge.
Feel like there’s D being played… these are just the two most talented scoring teams in the NBA…
You’re right about that…. these offenses are well oiled machines. Really like how the Cavs are posting up!
Kyrie playing some good defense on Steph that play.
MOZ! Fighting it up and in!
Great dump off by JR on that play!
MOZ-BLOCK… unfortunately right to Curry for three…
Cavs got a taste of their own medicine on that long bomb… gotta shut that down…
JR with several good plays tonight.
Saw that he got a nice offensive rebound and a nice dump off to MOZGOD.
JR with a terrific rebound! Threes not dropping yet for the Cavs tho…
I think Kyrie needs to think defense first tonight. Let LeBron and others do the scoring.
Cavaliers makin it a point to attack inside
Their bigs can’t beat our bigs…
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Agree… I like the advantage there. Need to get Love going.
I like the concept of making Draymond stay on it. Kill the will of the Warriors Lebron.
LBJ with his SERIOUS FACE on tonight!
Man! Curry has some moves as well…
Curry definitely has some handling skills!
What a post move by James!!!
Good game plan so far… go right at them and draw some fouls…
IRVINGGGGGGGG defense!
KYRIE with the steal and breakaway!
LBJ with the sweet baby hook!
In the post, I’m posting bout it.
Once Moz starts looking for his shot instead of looking to pass it back out, he’ll be even more dangerous..
Totally agree… He can ball on the offensive end!
LBJ aggressive early… I like it!
LBJ with the back down and nice hook!
Let’s win one in the blue unis!!!
Navy uniforms!!! Bring em back, wooot!!!
LET’S GO CAVS! LET’S GO CAVS!
BLUE UNIFORMS!!!! There we go!
This is taking too long just start pleaseeeee!!!
I think this is the most fired up I’ve been for any game this year since the opener against the Knicks…
It’s definitely different, being after the ASB… Although I was pretty hyped for the Clippers!
Game plan : trap Curry and make others beat you lol.
May not be a bad strategy at all HAHA… Hate to give up the advantage though and possibly get other guys going with open shots.
Hehe you are right!!!
this should be great game to watch! similar to blazers game few weeks ago
That would be epic, Leo!
What the hell are Shaq and Charles doing? Slo-mo kickboxing… someone’s gonna get hurt!
It’s hard to tell sometimes if they actually like each other, or if they despise each other!
Let’s go Cavs! Great test today.
WHAT TIME IS IT??? GAME TIME WHO!
Dell Curry played the 1987-88 season for the Cavaliers. Steph was born in Akron General Hospital in March 1988, and though he said he has no real memories of his time in Northeast Ohio, “growing up in Charlotte I always thought it was cool that my birth certificate said Akron, Ohio. I keep a soft spot in my heart for all the Ohioans I meet along the way.”
http://www.foxsports.com/ohio/story/golden-state-warriors-steph-curry-steve-kerr-lebron-james-022615
HAHAHA… That’s a cool story, Arch! Always liked Steph… especially during my stay in NC, knew he came from a good school. I like that he acknowledges his OH connection.
Wow! In March of 1988, I was auditing a college course just down the road at The University of Akron during my senior year of high school… Tempus fugit!
Dang EG…. That makes you an “elder” statesman HAHAHA!!!
Seriously! The Cavs keep me young though… ;)
HAHAHA.. I was just gonna say… I would’ve never suspected it! Glad to see you’re still hip to it!
The key to this game will be how aggressively the Cavs guards can stay on the Splash Bros… and if Moz, Love and TT can control the paint…
I’m anxious to see if Perk get some minutes! Could help with controlling the paint.
WAR-RIORS! COME OUT TO PLA-AY!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwwY9y6O3hw
That movie was kind of in the so-bad-its-good category. Might be fun to watch it again some time.
Kendrick’s interview this morning at shoot-around was a joy to listen to. In terms of an asset, he probably brings more to the Cav’s mental growth than anything else. Can be heard on nba.com at http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/video/ Most of the veterans on this team will likely not be around next year, far less the year after. It seems as if Lebron has assembled this plethora of veterans to facilitate the growth of Kyrie and Kevin’s mental toughness and maturity. Between the lines, both of their games are very well polished and they have no shortage of abilities. This stretch of time… Read more »
THanks for the tip on the Perkins inteview! Loved it as well… smart guy he is!
Thanks for posting the SI article link — that was great. Very cool to see the transformation in GS from ancient to modern BB schemes. Glad to see that the Cavs are in that conversation, too, with Blatt.
This is a big one. *nervous*
Not sure our bench can hang with Iggy, Speights, etc.
Definitely nervous as well, Charlie! HAHA!
This is the start of the Cavs’ toughest stretch of the season. There’s Golden State tonight, and in the next two weeks they have road games against Houston, Toronto, Atlanta, Dallas and San Antonio.
That should give us a pretty good idea whether they’ll be able to pass Toronto for the No. 2 seed and get home court through at least the second round. Which totally doesn’t matter! (Nod to Cols.) But would still be nice to have.
HAHA… It’d be also nice to face a sub-.500 team in theory, which would be the case at the first or second seed.
This game will not have a close final score. One team is going to have torrid shooting; the other will not. Go Cavs!
I like your confidence, Kevin!
Tom about to go on Dayton Radio! http://www.wingam.com/ from 5:00-5:20 or so.
Thanks for the tip, Nate… will check it out.
Go Nate!!!
Dayton’s lucky to hear you!
Tom seem to acquit himself well… not too bad!
Thanks guys – and good call-in, Nate!
Here’s the segment: http://www.wingam.com/Tom-Pestak-from-Cavstheblog-com-talks-NBA-Cavs-wit/17320024?pid=459695
That was “the” Nate, Nate? HAHAHA…. I even wondered that at the time but didn’t really think that would happen hahahahaha!!!
Awesome Tom! Love these radio segments!
This is going to be great. I’m pumped.
Same here, Cols!!! Appointment viewing for sure! Cavs are favored by 3.5… over/under is set at 215.5. Taking the Cavs in a close one, 108-106.
i will make sure my boys see this. they like the warriors because of the names curry and klay. (high standard for basketball fandom huh?) anyway, if green has a big defensive game against love-tt, i doubt we win this one. if shump and smith terrorize the splash brothers on offense and defense then it will be a potential preview of nba finals. i just hope for the cavs sake that kyrie and smith force the splash brothers to work on defense and that might slow down their attack mode. nothing like forcing them to run all over the perimeter… Read more »
Hey Chemist! I totally agree with your point about making the splash brothers work on the defensive end. I think that’ll be a big key to the outcome.
I think, in general, when two teams have a bunch of stars, it’s the role/bench players who make the difference. I think #Samson, Jones, Delly, and TT will be key… and really wondering if Perk will see time. And for GSW, I think Iggy, David Lee, Livingston, and Speights are the keys. I’ve always liked David Lee. But seems that we can match up well against them!