Finals Recap: Warriors 113, Cavs 91 (or, Nowhere To Go But UP…)

Well… that certainly didn’t go as planned. The Cavaliers might have thought they had a blueprint for success against the high flying and undefeated Warriors, but their dreams of getting back to the Paradise Falls of an NBA Championship hit a bit of a snag in Game 1. Though they made things competitive for the better part of the first half, a closer look showed they were barely keeping afloat amid the dark clouds of self-inflicted mistakes. Turnovers, bad habits, poor communication and execution on defense, and an inability to control the glass threatened to deflate the Cavs chances of stealing this game. They then abruptly fell to earth fairly rapidly in the third once Steph Curry started shooting down threes, and the swarming Golden State defense grounded the wine & gold aerial attack.

Was it a feel out game? Perhaps. After all, LeBron James led teams are now a minuscule 1-7 in Game 1 of The Finals… yet they’ve come back to win three of those titles, and ironically lose the series of the lone victory (2011 to the Mavericks). The King reportedly likes to get to know his opponent in these opening games, poking and prodding and observing their potential weaknesses. Though, it’s unlikely he found many weak spots on what is possibly the best team he’s ever faced. Was it a demoralizing loss? Possibly… yet this kind of outcome was certainly expected by most people outside of the Cavalier fanbase. When a former League MVP is added to a 73 win team, which then goes 12-0 through the first three rounds of the playoffs, odds are good that they’re going to have a pretty overwhelming advantage in front of their legion of screaming fans in Game 1, even over the reigning champs.

So, yes, just like Carl Fredricksen who had to fight against time and gravity, the Cavs have plenty of daunting external forces like the dangerous Warriors and a healthy dose of playoff officiating in their way. Yet, the most frustrating aspect of this game for the Cavs was the self-inflicted wounds they incurred on this first leg of the journey. It’s hard to rise up when your mistakes weigh you down, and the baggage of 20 turnovers is the equivalent of a lead balloon. Still, it’s not too late for the Cavs to soar in this series. They were in a similar position a year ago after a similarly disappointing Game 1. They have all the helium they need… they just have to figure out how to better deploy it.

The Game

As far as first quarters go, this one didn’t start out terribly. Neither team looked particularly sharp after the long layoffs, and there were a ton of missed shots… especially at the rim. Both teams combined to start the game just 10-26. The Cavs initially seemed to make a concerted effort to defend the perimeter and not surrender open looks to the Warrior shooters. Unfortunately, that left the paint vulnerable, and Golden State took advantage… scoring almost at will at the hoop on dunks and layups… as well as controlling the offensive glass (they had 10 in the first quarter alone). The Cavs did manage to hit some threes early, getting one each from J.R., Kevin Love, Kyrie and LeBron, but Curry hit two of his own towards the end of the period and Andre Iguodala hit one at the buzzer to give the Dubs a five point advantage. The good news was that the Cavs had held Klay and Draymond (two fouls) in check. The bad news was that Kevin Durant, ZaZa Pachulia and JaVale McGee all got multiple dunks. LeBron did manage to become the first player to reach the 6000 point plateau in the playoffs… and also threw down this poster slam on McGee…

What can we say? 💪🏾👑 pic.twitter.com/syege96Epi

— BurningRiverHoops (@BRBasketball) June 2, 2017

The second quarter was a much more physical struggle, with the Warriors contesting and continuing to force turnovers by the Cavs (they had 12 in the first half). The Cleveland bench couldn’t generate much offense, as the Dubs swarmed LeBron to prevent him from finding open shooters. Fortunately, Golden State remained fairly cold from the perimeter, although they did continue their parade to the paint for six more dunks and layups… including one horrendous coast-to-coast uncontested jam from Durant. Kevin Love started to help regain the balance on the glass, but he had a tough time scoring in the paint on Green. With just under five minutes left in the quarter, KD pushed the Warrior lead to 10, and the game looked like it was slipping away a bit. Then, Kyrie executed the highlight play of the period with this ridiculous four point banana-in-the-tailpipe move…

.@KyrieIrving says count it from DEEP! 👌 #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/RyBdiOU9mv

— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 2, 2017

From there, they managed to at least stay within striking distance for the rest of the first half, and even had a terrific opportunity to cut the lead to five with a wide open Kyle Korver look. I sadly was not able to deploy my loaded up Kenny Powers gif, however, as La Flama Blanca was extinguido. The Dubs took an eight point margin into halftime… and frankly the Cavs were lucky it was only that much of a deficit given their turnover woes.

One might assume the Cavs spent halftime figuring out adjustments they could make to correct their mistakes from the first half. Based on how things went to start the second half… one might assume they napped it out instead…

Here’s how the first four minutes of the third quarter went:

J.R. Smith lost ball turnover… Kevin Durant makes 26-foot running three pointer

Kevin Love misses three point jumper… ZaZa Pachulia makes driving layup

J.R. Smith offensive foul turnover

Tristan Thompson lost ball turnover… ZaZa Pachulia steals

J.R. Smith misses layup… Steph Curry makes 17-foot two point shot

Kyrie Irving misses four-foot jumper

LeBron James misses three-foot jumper… Steph Curry makes 27-foot three point jumper

Kyrie Irving lost ball turnover… ZaZa Pachulia steals

Kevin Durant misses 14-foot jumper… ZaZa Pachulia offensive rebound… Steph Curry makes 26-foot three point jumper

This 13-0 Golden State run effectively put the game out of reach. The Cavs were able to pull within 12 on a couple of Richard Jefferson buckets and a Kyrie layup… but then the Warriors finished the quarter on a 13-4 run, fueled by two threes a piece by Curry and Green, to push the lead back to 21. LeBron did reach another milestone, however, passing Reggie Miller for second on the all time playoff made threes list with this one…

👑 @KingJames just passed @ReggieMillerTNT for 2nd place on the #NBAPlayoffs Three-Pointers Made list. #StriveForGreatness https://t.co/na7DLbINRE

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) June 2, 2017

The fourth quarter was essentially garbage time, even though the starters remained on the floor until about the four minute mark. The teams traded free throws, and the Cavs never drew closer than 18 points down. For good measure, Durant knocked down a couple of salt-in-the-wound threes to finish off his monster night. About the only bright spot for Cleveland in the period was Dahntay Jones checking in to score a third of the bench points (seven) on the night. He ensured the Cavs broached 90, and even hit a triple.

The Evil

The numbers speak for themselves:

The Cavs had 20 turnovers… the Warriors tied the Finals record for fewest with four (just one in the first half). Those turnovers led to 21 points for the Warriors and six points for the Cavs.

The Warriors had 12 steals… the Cavs had zero.

The Warriors had 27 fast break points… compared to nine for the Cavs.

The Cavs managed to win the rebounding battle, 67-60… but the 10 offensive boards they gave up in the first quarter prevented them from creating a cushion when the Warriors were cold shooting.

The Warriors had 31 assists… the Cavs had just 15.

The Cavs had 30 points in the paint… the Warriors had 56. This was a lot more lopsided in the first half, when the Dubs scored on 21-39 attempts in the paint, and Kevin Durant had six dunks on his own.

The Cavs shot just 35% from the field… the Warriors were somewhat better at 42.5% yet they still won by 22 points. They outshot the Cavs 106-86 on attempts. Both teams shot around 36% from three.

Individually, most of the Cavs had forgettable performances. The Big Three scored 67 of the team’s 91 points, and seven of the remaining 24 came from Dahntay in garbage time. That’s 17 points from eight other players, and Richard Jefferson scored half of those.

Tristan Thompson had one of his worst playoff games ever. He was held scoreless (0-3) and to just four rebounds in 22 unproductive minutes. The Golden State big men keyed on him, grabbing him when they could get away with it, and constantly stripping him on his shot attempts.

J.R. Smith kicked off the scoring with a corner three that barely moved the twine… then disappeared, going 1-4 for the game with no rebounds, assists or steals and two turnovers in 28 minutes. He frequently lost his man on defense in the disastrous third quarter.

Deron Williams and Kyle Korver were relative no-shows in their inaugural Finals game. Neither scored or made much of an impact, missing all seven of the shots they took. Korver’s missed threes in particular stood out because they were all fairly wide open. At least they pulled down seven boards between them.

Iman Shumpert and Richard Jefferson at least scored the ball (combined 14 points and nine boards), but RJ made some uncharacteristically bad decisions (like fouling KD at half court when the Cavs were already in the bonus), and was sometimes painfully slow on rotations. Shump was better defensively, but struggled as the de facto ballhandler later in the game with DWill struggling.

LeBron had as many turnovers (eight) as assists. Kyrie had less (four), yet it was still double the amount of assists he had. In general, the Cavs were sloppy and careless with the ball in stark contrast to Golden State. This has to improve.

Whether it was Ty Lue’s fault or not, the Cavs didn’t run much in the way of a cohesive offensive plan in this game. They also didn’t communicate particularly well on their defensive switching and rotations. I’m still a bit perplexed as to why he’s neglecting to use Channing Frye at all, especially with the way the Dubs were packing the paint.

Klay Thompson is really struggling right now (3-12, 0-5 from three), and the Cavs need to take as much advantage of that before he turns it around.

The Genius

The primary stars shone for both teams, creating at least a bit of dueling dynamic duos until KD and Steph took over in the third quarter. KD acquitted himself pretty well in his first Finals game since getting bounced by LeBron and the Heat in 2012, with a game high 38 to go with eight assists and eight rebounds. LeBron matched him in the first half, and still wound up with 28 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists to go along with a pair of blocks. Both forwards had their share of thunderous dunks. The main difference was the turnover tally (eight for LBJ and none for KD).

Kyrie and Steph also played nearly to a draw on the scoring end (28-24 Curry), although Steph hit a few more threes (6-11 vs. 3-4), and won the assist battle 10-2. Both guards flashed their ability to get to the rack and score at will, though Kyrie certainly had taller trees to navigate. The Cavs didn’t put Steph in nearly enough pick and rolls, however, and Kyrie got burned at least once or twice going under screens.

It’s hard to say that Kevin Love had a bad game with a 15 point, 21 rebound effort (a playoff high for him)… but some will say he still got bullied around by Draymond Green. That’s partially true, but he certainly never gave up hustling and trying to assert himself, and for that he should get some credit. He missed his fair share of bunnies down low (he was just 1-7 inside the arc… and like 0-3 on one possession), but he did hit 3-6 from downtown. Kev also played some solid defense, but did get caught in between on some switches.

The Cavs were somewhat successful in limiting the Warriors on the perimeter early in the game, and if they had taken care of things on the glass and with some better interior defensive communication, they might have been able to build a decent lead. They’ll need to find ways to prevent uncontested dunks, layups and put-backs in Game 2.

Parting Shot

If last year taught us anything, it’s to not overreact to early losses like this. This Game 1 wasn’t all that different from last year’s Game 1. There’s no question the Cavs can play better… in fact, it would be hard to imagine them playing much worse from a ball-handling, shooting and defensive rotation standpoint. The difference, clearly, this time around is Kevin Durant. He brings an entirely new dimension to the Warriors attack. However, it’s hard to win any game (let alone in the Finals) with a -16 turnover differential, while shooting 35% and giving up 10 offensive boards in a quarter. Certainly, the Golden State defense has something to do with those things, but there’s no question the Cavs can play better and elevate their game to loftier heights. Here’s hoping they can also get a bit more help putting some air back into their balloon from their sharpshooters, and a bounce back game from Canadian Dynamite. And, even if they come home Sunday down 0-2, there’s always hope they can still make it to Paradise Falls in the end. They’ve done it before. They just have to figure out the mystery of that tall, exotic bird named Kevin. Then things will truly start looking UP.