Recap: Golden State 126, Cleveland 91 (MLK Redux)

Cleveland walked into a Bay Area buzzsaw tonight, getting sliced in half by the Golden State Warriors. The Dubs went up 7-0 to start the game and never trailed. Cleveland seemed lackadaisical on defense, uninspired on offense, poorly coached, and… old, as the younger, hungrier Dubs put it to them for the second year in a row on MLK day. Lets get to it.

First Quarter: Cleveland came out with three misses and a turnover in their first four possessions, and it was a sign of things to come. Kyrie got Cleveland on the board while the big four for the Warriors kept working their mojo to conjure 37 first quarter points. The Dubs scored with crisp half-court execution off screens and ball movement, energy plays where the defense triggered fast breaks, and tough offensive rebounding. The Cavs initiated a lot of isolation looks and LeBron held the ball for long stretches of possessions, which was great when he drove, but not so great when he posted up and settled for mid-range Js.

Kyle Korver entered the game for Irving around five minutes in, leaving LeBron and Shumpert as Cleveland’s lone ball-handlers. The Cavs ran a lot of sets for Korver to get him comfortble, running him off curl screens on the baseline and brush screens up high. Unfortunately, Kyle was really forcing it: going 1-5 from behind the arc. LeBron was 1-6 from the floor and Love 1-4. For Cleveland, the only thing keeping things respectable were their six free throws and Iman Shumpert, who despite two wide open misses from the right corner, bagged a pull-up three and a seeing-eye layup for five much needed points.

The Warriors didn’t do it with any one guy. They spread it around to KD, Steph, Klay, Javale, and Andre Iguodala, who all contributed at least four points. The fact that they scored 37 without going to the line tells you how bad the Cavs’ defense was, and how lethal Golden State is offensively. After Cleveland trailed 14-18 at the 4:31 mark, the Dubs outscored them 23-8 to go up 37-22 at the end of 12.

Second Quarter: The slaughter continued as the Dubs stretched out another 11-4 run fueled by brilliant Cavalier decisions like: letting Shawn Livingston shoot 12-footers, Liggins’ going one-on-one against Draymond, and Kyrie guarding David West down low. The ball movement was nonexistent and the Warriors were usually able to hold the Cavs to one shot. Despite being down 22, Cleveland started to chip away at the Warrior lead after a lighting release Korver two, and a Kyrie-fed RJ triple. Then Kyrie baited Livingston in to fouling him on a three and drained a couple freebies.

LeBron re-entered and Cleveland looked like they might be able to right the ship. James got a dunk, and was steaming down the court before Braymond clotheslined him and we waited ten minutes for the officials to confirm that yes, that was a flagrant foul.

Now I see a shoulder tackle by Braymond that would’ve sent a smaller player flying while Green failed to look at the ball or the player. Many see a flop. The increasingly insufferable Chris Webber went on an embarrassing rant about how that’s “not a flagrant,” and if the remote hadn’t been across the room, I’d have hit mute. You be the judge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhFUAamy6ow

The Cavs got two points out of a possession that featured a flagrant foul, an LBJ free throw miss, a Kyrie free throw after a defensive three second violation, and a Kyrie pull-up clank. Then Shawn Livingston came down, and got a ridiculously easy 7-footer on the left baseline to even the exchane. Despite that horrible exchange, the Cavs parade to the free throw line gave them a glimmer of hope. Then a Kyrie J and a LeBron and-1 had cut the deficit to 14. Iggy glided in for yet another Golden State layup, Kevin Love bricked a three, and then RJ got to the line again. Cleveland was battling and trading baskets, and two more James freebies made it 54-60 and Cleveland had energy. Then the Dubs turned the lights out.

James tried to go one on four on the left side, dribbling around for a year or so before Steph snuck behind him on the midpost and stole the ball, and fired it to Klay for a BANG! three pointer on the break. Then Klay blocked a poorly conceived Kyrie isolation at the same spot LeBron got pickpocketed and Thompson kicked it to Durant for the jam.

Earlier in the game we’d seen Kevin Love laying on his back on the sideline and all thought, “uh oh.” Well, out of the time out, Cleveland posted up Kev on the left block and he had nothing on a hook attempt. As Kevin gimpy-walked his way to the bench two minutes later, I thought, “crap. He looks like he’s miserable.”

In those wretched two minutes we saw a prayer layup by Pachulia drop, Steph go to the line, Dray block the King, and Curry hit a buzzer beater to put the Dubs up an insurmountabel 78-49.

Third Quarter: Cleveland came out of the locker room with Korver on the floor instead of Love, and we never saw Kevin again. The Cavs opened with six straight misses and a turnover. Strangely heady play by Iman Shumpert cut the lead to 32 when he hit a pull-up three in transition. LeBron and Kyrie kept attacking and Korver started heating up from three, and the Dubs stopped caring as the Cavs cut it to 95-71 as we all pined for the starters to head to the bench in a now meaningless inevitable loss.

Fourth Quarter: Iman made a layup after fumbling the ball, and then got himself to the line a play later, but it was far too little far too late. Somehow, bafflingly, LeBron was still playing despite being down 25. I conjectured that Lue was using this as high level practice time, which I guess makes sense (but not really). After a another LeBron bad pass and another Kay triple, and Lue finally waived the white flag, putting in the scrubs. Six minutes and 39 painful seconds later, the game ended with the final score of 126-91, Dubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93qRmApzAT8

Thoughts

For as much hype as this match-up got, Cleveland failed to come out and compete. LeBron James played poorly and played way too many minutes. His six turnovers were brutal and the ball was glue in his hand, rarely moving. He finished 6-18 with 20 points, but his lazy defense continued and set the tone for everyone else. His closeouts were awful, and his individual defense was… meh.

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

The Warriors put Kyrie Irving in the pick and roll and his communication with the bigs was consistently bad. Like coach Lue always says, we gotta get to the film room before we can really see what happened, but I saw the Dubs posting Kyrie when he switched, punishing him when he went under, and driving when he went over. Uncle Drew just seemed hapless. He was equally careless with the ball, and his six turnovers were almost more damaging than LeBron’s.

Kevin Love shouldn’t have been playing. I don’t know what’s going on with his back, but he had nothing: 1-6, 3 points, 3 rebounds in 16 minutes. Cleveland needs another big man. The dude still looks sickly after his bout with stomach flu and back problems. Channing Frye threw up an 0-fer in the first half: five minutes, 0 points, 0 shots, 0 assists, 0 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0 steals, 0 fouls in five minute, sparking the “is he unplayable against the Warriors?” debate to come to a head again. He wasn’t much better in the second, but at least he contributed a couple boards and assists, but he has to have the worst defensive hands of any big man in the game. They’re always at his side, and he’s rarely contesting anything. David West killed him on post-ups in the third because of it.

Tristan Thompson was one of the few guys who brought energy on D with four blocks, but TT only grabbed five rebounds and got pushed around by Zaza. Thompson also failed to close out aggressively, letting the Warriors shoot over him for more than one bucket. The Cavs failed to get him the ball and he he seemed in the way on offense. Cleveland has to find a way to make him a factor.

Iman Shumpert might have been the Cavs’ best player tonight. He had 15 on nine shots, nine boards, and three steals, and only one turnover. Hitting one of his three catch-and-shoot three attempts would have been helpful, but it’s hard to fault Shump who had possibly his best offensive game of the year for this loss. Defensively, he was ok, but still made the wrong play on closeouts and hedges more than once, and left his teammates in the lurch. Oh well.

Richard Jefferson at least hit a couple treys tonight, a welcome sign. In this game, being -8 with 11 points in 20 minutes is a victory.

Garbage time hero, Kay Felder was 1-6 in six minutes. He can’t shoot. Until he learns how, he’ll be unplayable on a good team in the NBA.

Golden State targeted Kyle Korver on defense, attacking him consistently. He wasn’t awful, but the Ws have too many weapons to hide him. Mid-Range master, Shawn Livingston lit him (and everyone else) up. But Korver’s release is still quick and deadly, and despite a slow start, he finished with 11 on 4-10 shooting. Against most teams, he’ll be an asset.

Kevin Durant might have cost himself the MVP with his buddy-up move, but he’s playing as well as anyone in the NBA right now. He’s a defensive force with those long arms, and he’s learned how to use his length to case havoc (though he got away with a lot of non-verticality on rim defenses). To finish with 21, six boards, five assists, two steals, and three blocks while playing that level of defense, is something special.

Steph and Draymond had 11 dimes each (and Green had a triple double). The Dubs assisted on 37 buckets as a team. The ball and the rock were constantly moving, and the Warriors were easily finding the often open man. The Cavs finished with 11 assists and 15 turnovers and were outrebounded 58-35. I’m hoping the Cavs watch some game film and get pissed.

Off the bench, David West, Javale McGee, Andre Iguodala, and Shawn Livingston combined for 16-20 from the floor. The Cavs did an acceptable job on Steph and Klay, holding them to 15-37, but the bench absolutely killed the Cavs. Cleveland’s geriatric reserves had no answer. The Cavs’ bench didn’t do much on either side of the ball. DeAndre Liggins seemed much less effective as a sub too, forcing the ball on offense, and not bringing as much energy on defense.

As a team, the Warriors shot 44% from three while the Cavs shot 27% from the arc and 36% from the floor. This was a rough road trip, and the Cavs have to fix their offensive and defensive woes. Still, if you told me the Cavs were going to go .500 on this trip two weeks ago, I would’ve said yeah, “Sounds about right.”

Coach Lue isn’t in any danger of getting fired after another MLK day massacre – the second worst loss of the LeBron era Cavs. But I’m kind of glad they got their butts kicked. Maybe the’ll stop coasting. I know they feel and their fans feel that they can start turning it on whenever they want, but it’s a fine line to walk. If they turn it on too late, they may never get their play where it needs to be, and if they turn it on too soon, will they burn themselves out? Either way, it’s hard to watch a team that doesn’t seem to care all that much.