Recap Game 6: Cavaliers 115, Warriors 101(Or, Make Curry Defend and Win)
2016-06-17
The Cleveland Cavaliers won the most important game in its franchise history. After their Game 5 victory, the prevailing sentiment was “this isn’t really possible. Even if they win this game, they can’t win the series”. The incredible scoring output from LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in Game 5 wasn’t sustainable. The narrative was correct. But it didn’t have to be for the Cavs to win. A year after losing Game 6 and the Finals to the Golden State Warriors at home, the Wine and Gold played with a different confidence. LeBron and Kyrie combined for “only” 64 points, but the team played with an overall synergy that it lacked in Game 5. Let’s get to it.
1st Quarter:
The Warriors put Klay Thompson on Kyrie Irving from the opening tip. On the first possession, it was clear that Thompson was going to do everything in his power to leverage his defensive length without leaving his feet. The first battle went the Warriors’ way as J.R. Smith missed a deep bomb from the left wing. After getting whistled for a tough foul, Kevin Love played decent defense combining with Irving to force Thompson into a wild layup attempt. Kevin got the loose ball and fired it up to a streaking LeBron James. Draymond Green fouled The King in transition to prevent the layup. When James hit the second free throw of the pair, the Cavaliers took a lead it would never relinquish.
Tyronn Lue had Kevin Love show and recover as a Pick and Roll defender when matched up against Andre Iguodala. Kevin was active and spry, but the Cavaliers’ big man picked up a dumb foul trying to rebound a Tristan Thompson foul shot. With 10:30 remaining in the first quarter, the argument of “should Love start over RJ?” become moot. Richard Jefferson checked in on the dead ball and Cavs fans got to have their cake and eat it too.
The Cavs swarmed on defense over the next two minutes, funneling action to Harrison Barnes who obliged with missed shots. On offense, the Cavs aggressively sought out Stephen Curry in screen action and pushed the pace in transition. LeBron’s tipaway steal and subsequent dunk gave Cleveland a 6-0 advantage and forced Steve Kerr to burn an early timeout.
After the timeout, a good defensive switch by RJ forced Curry to miss a tough stepback three. The Cavs found early offense and LeBron punished the NBA’s golden boy on the left-block with some “old-head bully ball.” The “Q” rejoiced! Shortly under the seven minute mark of the contest, Green finally got the Dubs on the board with a nice split of the double-team for a layup. Kyrie got it right back as he drilled a left wing three after Curry and Thompson messed up their switch assignments. A strip/steal from Kyrie led to a James baseline dunk to put the Cavs up double digits for the first time at 13-2.
Curry drilled a three before getting whistled for his second foul of the quarter. He was clearly frustrated. A quick Cavalier flurry led by early offense and ball movement helped the Cavs push the lead. A quick rest timeout from Lue allowed Cleveland to draw up a beautiful set play that resulted in foul shots for the ever active TT. The following possession, JR contested a catch and shoot three from Klay. This beauty followed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSbjQ72vuXE&t=0m54s
Shockingly, Mo Williams checked in for Kyrie to close the first quarter. Shaun Livingston immediately posted him up, but was unable to make the shot. On the other end, Williams Mo-Flowed a baseline variety and the Cavs poured it on. LeBron’s pocket-pass to Tristan off PnR action ended the first quarter scoring for a 31-11 lead.
2nd Quarter:
Kyrie, Iman Shumpert, JR, RJ, and Love started the second frame. The Warriors inexplicably went under screens against Kyrie Irving. Uncle Drew made them pay with a three ball. Unfortunately for Cavs fans, Shump started his stretch of miserably ineffective play allowing Curry a wide open right wing three off limited action. Love got whistled for a cheap third foul relegating him to the bench and shortening Tristan’s rest. It was a shame as Love was playing with spirit and intelligence.
Shump’s defense and Curry’s shot making started to make people nervous in Cleveland. The Warriors began to get much cleaner looks after ball screens from Anderson Varejao. The Cavs dodged a bullet when Andy stole a ball entry that led to a wide open Klay Thompson three. He missed. The crowd breathed a sigh of relief, but the 15 point lead felt precarious. Lue called a great timeout and drew up an even better play that resulted in this masterpiece.
The Cavs went on the attack again with steals and transition buckets. LeBron’s left wing three ball special pushed the lead to 17. But, Shump was whistled for a tough foul giving Curry three free throws. He followed up that questionable call by flat-out running over Draymond Green on the right baseline for a bad turnover. Lue got him out of there after that play, but the damage was done. A Klay Thompson layup in early offense cut the lead to 13. If felt much closer with the Warriors having already scored 22 points half way through the quarter. To quote my buddy Kenny, “up 13 and you’d think someone died in here.” Incidentally, Kenny literally brushed shoulders with Beyoncé. Uh, back to the game.
The timeout didn’t help much. LeBron and Kyrie missed some decent attempts in the paint while Curry sank a ridiculously deep pull-up three. Green’s layup shortly after made it an eight point game and forced another Lue stoppage.
Curry attempted an even deeper left wing three in an effort to cut the gap to six. Kerr later called it a poor shot that eliminated some of their momentum. Irving stopped the Dubs’ 9-0 run with two trips to the line to knock the lead back into double digits. The Cavs lost Klay allowing a wide open right wing three, but he bricked. Tristan didn’t brick his.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSbjQ72vuXE&t=1m42s
With 2:18 left in the half, Tyronn Lue surprised everyone by inserting Dahntay Jones into the game. At that point, I assumed that Mathew Dellavedova must have been injured. In any case, Jones immediately allowed Klay Thompson to rebound his own free throw miss. Other than that he played a nice mini stretch of basketball cutting hard for an And-1 in the lane and drawing a foul on Draymond Green. His five points ended the quarter giving the Cavs a 59-43 advantage.
3rd Quarter:
Both teams struggled to make shots early in the quarter, but offensive rebounding by Cleveland gave James a monster jam off a nice TT assist and helped Love draw a fourth foul on Curry. Harrison Barnes could have turned the game around had he made his ridiculously wide open threes. He didn’t while JR nailed his to extend the divide to 22 points. Curry stopped the bleeding with his fifth three pointer. After Love freethrows, Tristan continued his solid decision making as a roll man finding Kevin in the left corner for the Cavs’ biggest lead of the night, 70-46.
The Cavs’ offense stalled a bit over the next few possession. The scariest moment of the game came when Kyrie seemed to jam his left foot, on the foot of Festus Ezeli. Fortunately, it seems he will be fine.
Curry made a nice drive and was gifted an And-1 to cut the lead back to 15. The Cavs responded with a great strip steal from Irving that precipitated arguably the greatest play in Cavalier history.
When LeBron hit a right-wing three to put the Cavs up 19, they thought they had won the game. For the rest of the quarter, Cleveland went into prevent offense, milking the shotclock on every possession and taking tough shots late. Meanwhile, Klay Thompson finally got it going from deep. The Warriors scored the last 10 points of the period to cut the lead to single digits. 80-71.
4th Quarter:
Kyrie, Shump, RJ, Bron, and TT looked to right the ship. LeBron was not about to come out of the game, immediately drawing a foul on Barnes while working on the left block. The teams went back and forth with mild success before Steph Curry picked up his fifth foul trying to rip Kyrie in isolation. Curry stayed in the game and fired a long pass to Draymond in transition. Somehow, LeBron chased him down, patiently waited for Green to attempt the shot, and swatted said shot with a “get that weak stuff outta here” left hand.
Curry wouldn’t go away quietly. He splashed his sixth three to break the record for most threes in a Finals series. More importantly, he cut the lead to eight. Thankfully, Lue took the struggling Shumpert out of the game subbing in J.R. Still, shortly after, Curry blew by a Tristan on a switch. Somehow he missed the layup that could have cut the lead to six. LeBron promptly pushed it back to 10 with a grown man offensive rebound and putback. Bron was in straight domination mode with another tough jumper and layup. Curry and Kerr whined about a good no-call from the refs during the timeout with the Wine and Gold up 90-79.
Leandro Barbosa answered a J.R. Swish three with a three of his own with the game approaching the final six minutes. LeBron slowed the game down again, but his decision making was amazingly good, taking Iggy down into the paint and finding Tristan with two great alley oops. LeBron was putting on a show for the ages and one could see that he was enjoying himself. It culminated literally and spiritually with an MVP block.
Steph Curry picked up his sixth foul trying to steal the ball from LeBron. It was poor decision making. He compounded his poor decision when he chucked his mouthpiece into the crowd drilling a fan and earning technical foul. His loss of composure was mildly startling if not completely surprising. J.R. Swished after the technical free throw and Tristan drew an offensive foul on Klay Thompson to send the crowd into another frenzy. LeBron put a bow on his game of the ages with a left wing three to push it back to 20. There were three minutes left, but it was over.
Thoughts:
LeBron James was everything anyone has every hoped he would be in this game. One could and should use every superlative to describe his performance. His concentration and dedication to the gameplan dominated the game. His heatcheck threes and very few defensive lapses can be easily attributed to his heavy work load and were completely understandable. LeBron’s passing, ball-handling, off-ball cutting, and overall demeanor were legendary. He is out for Curry’s MVP and he gave himself and his team an opportunity to win a title.
Tristan Thompson played his finest game. He played huge minutes with total concentration and energy. He saw the right angle to attack, and his teammates found him with perfect passes. Defensively, he was a machine, taking all challenges and minimizing offensive opportunities for the opponent.
Kyrie had another great game, if not a huge scoring one(though his 20 first half points were necessary.) His defensive pressure and connectivity running through screens were consistently better than I have ever seen from him. I was for trading Kyrie for the past few years. His big scoring outbursts didn’t really change my opinion. His defensive performance in this game and for parts of this series has me rethinking my position.
Tyronn Lue should be applauded for some of his play calls out of timeouts and the fact his players stuck to a great gameplan. But his lineups choices continue to baffle me. Shumpert has been an abject disaster in this series as the primary defensive breakdown point on almost every possession, while being a negative on the offensive side. Forget Delly vs Mo. Delly, Jones, and Mo should all get minutes over Shump going forward. A win doesn’t mean that all Lue’s decisions were correct. Without Shump’s mistakes, the Cavs would have won easily.
The Cavaliers are one victory away from securing the first championship that most of us would see. It will be a tall task against a great opponent in their own building. It would an all-time sports story. Thank you, LeBron for getting the team this far. Go Cavs.
Terrific cap Ben! So many amazing plays in this one (that JR backwards lob to LBJ was truly incredible). I respect that you admit Kyrie’s D is starting to change your mind on him as well…
Watching LeBron in the playoffs over the years, I see a pattern of him “figuring out” the other team over the course of a series. He grows in confidence and that spreads to the rest of the team. GS is special and may have a trick or two up their sleeve, but I prefer the Cavs’ trajectory. Plus, I think the pressure rests squarely on GS and they’ll likely play tight tomorrow. Cavs by 10.
Wonder what happened to “Warrior’s Fan Not a Troll”???
Can’t wait for the wine and gold versus the whine and fold.
That’s worth a Pulitzer nomination. If there is such a thing.
The Whine and Fold is a stroke of genius!
JUST HAD A LITTLE “BACK YARD COACHES WINE PARTY ” —-WE ARE PUMPED ALREADY !!!!—–AND STILL 2 DAYS AWAY —IT IS LIKE BEING 5 AGAIN AND IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE —–THINK EVERY CAV FAN NATION WIDE SHOULD GO OUTSIDE SUNDAY EVENING AT 7;45 –LOOK TO THE WEST AND AS A HUGE SHOW ” ALL FOR ONE ONE FOR ALL ” START THE CHANT ” LET’S GO CAVS ” —–WHAT DO YOU THINK–ARE YOU ALL IN ——YEAH I THINK THE WINE MIGHT BE INFLUENCING MY THINKING PROCESS ——-MAN I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU DO IT COLS ——-I AM A-M-P-E-D !!!!!!!! ———–OH YEAH… Read more »
https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/743956481947504641
I just watched all 6 foul calls on Steph. 1st: clearly a foul 2nd: it was a foul, unless you believe a defender can “get position” for a charge with a hip check. But this is the 2nd most iffy call. Had it been an offensive foul on LeBron, it would have been equally iffy. 3rd: clearly a grab and foul 4th: clearly a foul, unless you’re of the belief that the refs should look the other way because it was Steph’s 4th. He clearly hit Love’s arm on the rebound. That’s a foul. 5th: it was a foul –… Read more »
Plus almost every time Kyrie cuts around a screen, Curry wraps his arm around Irving’s torso. If the officials were to call those the way Kerr was lobbying to have things called for his guys last night, Curry would literally be fouled out in six possessions.
5 and 6 can both be argued, but they were both reaches that can be called. Maybe if you’re in foul trouble, and you’re such an important player, you shouldn’t be reaching and asking for those fouls? Or maybe Kerr is right, and ‘you don’t call those fouls on the MVP’. I’m sure there is a logical argument there somewhere.
Four was pretty weak. Kevin didn’t have the greatest position and you don’t see that call on a little versus a big very often
Instead of watching 6 Prepubescent Curry foul calls, I just watched LBJ throw down a vicious jam off a JR alley-oop 6 times instead. Much more enjoyable.
Per ESPN: Total points for each team through the first 6 games
GS: 610
CLE: 610
Wow
Was just watching the 4th quarter again – when I watched the game live, it was without sound. So there was that Curry three at about the 7 minute mark, when RJ ran out on him and Curry sort of moved his hip into RJ to try to draw the flop foul (and then Curry proceeded to flop, of course)…Breen was saying “and Kerr is screaming for a foul!”. How about this, Kerr – there was no freaking foul. So stop complaining about it, and tell your players to stop flopping. If they get a ton of garbage calls from… Read more »
But it works. The call will go the Warriors way in game 7. Cavs are going to have to fight through that.
I remember the Rocky movie when Rocky hit Ivan Drago once and staggered him. He went back to the corner and said, “he’s human.” It was a game changer. All along we’ve been thinking of GS as Ivan Drago.
In reality, over the last several weeks they are 4-3 vs. OKC . . . and 3-3 against the Cavs. I’d say Cavs players are thinking GS is pretty “vincible.” And the Cavs want game 7.
Its easy to forget how stressful it is to have a contending team. I don’t think I’ve been nervous about the Browns since 1987. I’m a wreck. Tell me when its over so I can open my eyes.
I wasn’t that much the last couple games because it really felt like house money. But Sunday I’m going to be a wreck.
LeBron has become downright nasty. It’s as if the league moving toward a new star in Curry awoke the rage within. He’s definitely playing beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. My God is this an amazing turn of events.
The Groin Reaper calling him a f-boy appears to have awoken the rage within. It seems teams never learn. Don’t make him angry. He’s been like this for 13 years.
Groin Reaper is a top level nickname. Hope that catches on.
Laughed out loud at Groin Reaper.
+1 and can all CtB writers consider adopting this pseudonym.
Hey Draymond… what do you think of your new nickname?
http://d13beo3f7vpmvd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/draymond-greene-728×400.jpg
Bray will probably actually show up in game 7 – like most big talking blowhards, he’s more in his comfort zone with a big crowd behind him. I’d love to see him in foul trouble all game.
It is highly unlikely any warrior gets into foul trouble in Oakland this time. We are gonna have to win a close game. I like our chances if Kyrie’s foot isn’t that hurt. When have you ever seen Kyrie shy away from a big moment? He doesn’t always play amazing, but e is always confident. I think he is our best threat in game 7.
Except for LeBron you mean? Maybe the best player in NBA history in playoff elimination games
Right I guess I meant Lebron will do what he will do. We need one other guy the Warriors d has to double team.
TT has been an absolute animal. He’s clearly the third best player on our team at the moment, and I think there are SOME arguments that without him, we wouldn’t have won the last 2 games. He’s playing with energy, he’s playing defense, and suddenly he’s a threat on offense.
If he can bring his ability to finish lobs to Game 7, it opens so much for our offense. GS will have to worry about the lob to TT and it means LeBron should have a little more room to work.
The Warriors lost their composure last night. If they don’t get it back, that’s what might give us a good chance on Sunday. And that’s how all this whining about the refs could really backfire. What I’m hearing in their statements to the media is that the Warriors are refusing to own their loss, refusing to calm down, and getting angry at a taste of their own medicine. That’s the mindset I want them in come Game 7.
No surprise:
https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/743826067710943232
How special is this? It will be only the second real* Game 7 for a championship in Cleveland sports history. The other was the ’97 Indians.
*The 1920 Indians closed out the World Series with a Game 7 win, but it was a best-of-9 series that year.
It’s only the 2nd time since 1948 Cleveland gets to play a game for the title. The other being that 1997 game that Mesa blew.
And no, Browns pre Super Bowl titles do not count. Just like pre-1900 baseball is dismissed.
I’m cautiously optomistic. I feel like Cavs are playing with house money after the way the first 4 games went. What ever happens on Sunday, I know this team has finally brought the effort they needed to. There are a lot of things in the Cavs favor right now. The mental games are completely flipped. As much as the Warriors were in the heads of the Cavs, the Warriors need a shrink at this point. Send Kobe in his chopper over to Oracle, because that place is about to be posessed. Steph lost composure, Green pushed about as far as… Read more »
Forget the cautiously part, I’m flat out confident in this team, and as long as they don’t get completely railroaded by some outside factor (like completely over the top atrocious foul calls), I can live with the result win or lose.
I’ll be interested if the Warriors come out trapping a lot more and trying to speed up the game and generating steals. The Cavs did an outstanding job last night of being opportunistic on steals and rebounds but being patient in the half court and working to find individual mismatches to exploit. The Warriors switch everything and refuse to double until that moment when the player with his back to the basket gets low post position. You could see LeBron toying with them last night by sizing up a smaller player (like Curry), looking to explode to the hoop, getting… Read more »
I’m mostly worried that guys like Barnes will actually do something. Barnes missed a bunch of open threes this game, and he’ll have open threes in game 7. Making some of those would give GS a huge lift. I think Barnes is nothing special, and basically a league average starter, but you can’t count on him missing wide open looks for one more game.
Also, Klay (“Man’s Game”) had a lousy game…look for him to go off. Lebron might need another top tier game, and I think Love or JR is going to have to bring it.
http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2016/0617/LeBron.jpg
Greatness. One of the best to ever play the game. Finals MVP. World’s greatest player.
That is an awesome graphic, and congrats to ESPN for the great headline!
Win or lose game 7, LeBron should be the MVP of the Finals. How can these numbers be denied? And I think we win.
I’m alternating between Cavs have them figured out and will win. To Game 7 is is GSW, they never lose at home, and they never lose 3 in a row.
There’s no way I can survive until Sunday.
I’m getting a Red Sox-Yankees 2004 vibe, where the Red Sox completed their historic comeback with two wins in Yankee Stadium.
Phenomenal Recap, Ben. Just fantastic.
Thanks HoopsDogg. A lot more fun to cover a win like that.
I’m excited and nervous and just have a gut feeling that we win this thing on Sunday. We’ve simply looked like the better team the past 2 games, and honestly, you could say we’ve been the better team the last 4 games. In Game 4, we led for most of the game until our meltdown toward the end of the 3Q and early 4Q. Had we finished that game strong, you could say we’ve been the better team for each of the last 4 games. We might have figured out how to play these guys. Our defense has been tremendous.… Read more »
This game had so many good highlight plays: the oops, the steals, the heat check threes. But that block on Curry might be my favorite play. I would give anything to know exactly what Lebron said to him after that.
I had been on the fence about our chances to legitimately win this series but I’m all in now. Leaving work early to drive back to Cleveland from Kentucky for the game. I wanna be there when we win this thing.
It’s funny to hear the warriors complain about the refs. Let’s call every illegal screen and every time draymond gets overly physical with LBJ as well, right? Game would last about 7 hours and we’ll see who’s 15th man is better.
Is it weird that I’m most scared of Leandro Barbosa when he’s in the game? Guy seemingly hasn’t missed all series.
I don’t understand the Warriors beef with the refs. Both teams had 25 fouls. Curry, a jump shooter, had more free throws than LeBron even though LeBron got most of his points at the rim and played more minutes.
It’s infuriating.
Best to roll your eyes and move on.
It’s so hard though. Like refs suck, I get it. It’s inconsistent and weird. But there wasn’t a foul disparity. Curry’s last two fouls were iffy, but those are really really dumb plays to make when you already have 4.
Yeah, GS had the big time advantage in calls the first 4 games of the series.
Lue is masterful at xs and os and motivation. His rotations can use a bit of work, but I think that’s one of the hardest jobs of a coach because of the personalities involved and sitting there in the heat of the moment. I like this recap, but I think you need to give more credit to the opposite team sometimes. It’s not just that the Cavs lost people on defense, it’s that Curry and Klay only need a small slight opening to splash a shot from 25 feet. It’s tough to defend those shots perfectly every time, especially with… Read more »
Problem with Shump is he has one job. Those plays where Curry or Klay are one step ahead of him are one thing, but he’s mad so many other boneheaded mistakes on offense and defense. I like the guy but this was a rough season and it’s been even worse in the finals. I’m nervous every second he’s on the floor.
Shump hasn’t looked good all series. I understand that he plays good defense, but he also gets burned sometimes. Too many stupid fouls. And offensively? He’s an absolute train wreck. Every time he touches the ball it’s a turnover.
If he can play great defense and just not turn the ball over in Game 7, it’ll help us tremendously.
We’d all give more credit if the opposing team was running great plays to get open. They’re not. Shump just gets lost. Cavs have to approach perfection to win the series. We owe it to everyone to be as brutally honest in our observations as possible.
I agree with the notion that Shump’s minutes should go to Delly, Jones or any other player with a pulse. An absolute trainwreck last night, and we can’t afford that in game seven. Wish LeBron would chastise him like he does Love on occasion.
No. Thank YOU Ben for your fine recap. Living in Richmond, VA I missed the second quarter bc of a Tornado Warning. This was the kind of game we needed. Beat back all the runs GS went on and really frustrated the whole team. Draymond was oddly close to getting a T, also this game. SUNDAY BABY!
You are very welcome! That must have been miserable to have the game cut out like that.
Dahnty Jones we should forget about?
Btw Paul George’s tweet to Curry on Lebron is hilarious.
All I’m hearing today is whining from Warriors that Cavs are too physical & refs letting too much go. WHAT???? This is from the same team that hard fouled Westbrook repeatedly as well as regularly kicked Adams in the groin. Now they want the refs to change to accommodate them.