The Warriors return to face the Cavs for the first time since time sweeping them in the 2018 Finals. A lot has changed. The Cavs are without LeBron James. Kevin Love has missed most of the season due to injuries. They probably won’t make the playoffs.
And, the Warriors are no longer the clear cut favorites to win it all. The league has beefed up, especially in the West where three teams are above Golden State. In the East, the Raptors have shown that with Kawhi Leonard they can slow any team with a switch everything defense.
One thing has stayed the same though. The Warriors are still the most petty team in the league. Earlier this week, Klay Thompson came out and made a ridiculous statement after Anthony Slater of The Athletic reminded him of the tombstone cookies LeBron James had at a 2016 halloween party with his name and Stephen Curry’s on them.
“That was funny. Look how that turned out. Psssh. Bums. That was crazy. I forgot about that. Well, look at what pettiness gets you. Gets you 1-8 in the Finals. Idiots.”
As a ton of people have already said, Klay must have forgotten that the Warriors used an unprecedented cap spike and the sheer luck of having Stephen Curry on a dirt cheap contract in comparison with what he gives on the court to sign a top five player in Kevin Durant since the Cavs won it all and James made those cookies. It’s also ironic that the one player on the Warriors who couldn’t fend for himself without stars around him is saying this. Anyways…
The Warriors have dealt with some drama this season. Durant and Draymond Green have gone at it and the team hasn’t played as well as they are used to playing. They’re 4-6 in their last ten. They’ve lost two of their past three. Tonight, they are without Draymond Green, their defensive lynch pin. They’re also without starting center Damian Jones. The Cavs are missing David Nwaba, Kevin Love, Ante Zizic, and Sam Dekker.
Three Things to Watch
1. The Warriors aren’t an amazing rebounding team and they will be starting Kevin Looney at center, he’s a power forward traditionally. The Cavs need to go hard for offensive boards and get every possible shot up that they can. Tristan Thompson can wreak some havoc if he plays well.
2. Despite winning against the Nets two days ago, the Cavs gave up 4o 3s. They absolutely cannot do that this evening or the game will get ugly and it will happen quick. Curry, Klay, and Durant all love hitting open 3s. The Cavs need to protect the ball to prevent 3s off turnovers, and they must run guys off the 3-line.
3.Get tough. The Warriors probably want to punk the Cavs. We used to give them good games and we came back from being down 3-1 against them. Collin Sexton should go at Curry and get under his feet when he shoots. Tristan should elbow anybody who gets near him in the paint. Cedi needs to tackle Klay. I’m advocating for some heart tonight. I don’t want the Cavs to be on Warriors highlight reels for the next month.
I don’t think the Cavs have the talent to beat the Warriors, and they certainly don’t have an offensive or defensive system to do so yet. They can at least make it competitive for a few quarters; and, if they can’t do that, they can be physical enough to avoid getting laughed at. Warriors 114-94.
Anyone going to the game tonight, please start a “3-1” chant. No team can ever take that comeback and championship away from us.
LeBron should play the four all the time. Been true for years. He won’t do it because he does not want to bang for 82. He knows what happened to Bird’s back.
Bron with Chandler at C, Ball, Ingrahm, + Hart or KCP. Let Kuzma come off the bench where his bad D doesn’t hurt as much. Problem is he is their best 3PT shooter after LeBron.
Good entertaining game, the Cavs and Warriors game. Tristan was handful. Sexton is better than I thought. He looks like DeAran Fox of Kings of last year. Fox look like a budding all star this year. Sexton seem like will atleast justify his draft position. Tristan should net another young player
How was Fox’s handles, finishing, and passing last year? Sexton certainly is a better shooter. Far better than I think any of us thought he would be. Infact that seems to be his major strength.
Agree. Thought he would be a better penetrator/finisher with iffy shooting & it is the other way around.
His other strength is competitiveness/work ethic piece. We are banking in him improving a lot through hard work, desire, and smarts.
Lebron and the Medioctraires.
It’s almost incomprehensible how useless Kuzma is on defense…
I don’t know how the Spurs are winning this game… seemed as though the Lakers were in control.
Gay and Derozan, and Kuzma’s nonexistant D…
Starting to see some separation, wins pending SA at LA:
4 = Phx
5 = Atl, Chi, Cavs
———-
8 = Brk, NY
9 = Mia
———–
11 = Wash, SA, Hou
12 = Utah, Sac
13 = NO, Minn
——–
In PO:
11 = Cha
12 : Orl, Dal
13 = Port, Bos
Just caught up on the game through the comments and stats. I don’t know if this is an indictment of +/- as an analytical gauge, but the top players on each team who played at least five minutes were Rodney Hood (+1) and Jonas Jerebko (+25). I can guess Jerebko had a great view of all those threes going in…how does Hood net a plus rating with no rebounds, an assist, and 2-9 from deep in 30 minutes?
Raw plus minus is sort of difficult to use with any confidence in accuracy. A guy’s raw plus minus could be dragged down by a lineup he played in where everyone else was awful, but he was ok. I cite it all the time, but I don’t know how useful it really is without lineup adjustments for both teams. It definitely can be extremely misleading in certain cases.
That is a stat that for one game can be almost meaningless. Hood was fantastic in the first haldlf (all of his points) and was on court for our big runs to start and end the half (+17 at half). He mostly was on the bench when we got roasted late 3rd and early 4th.
Over the course of the season, +/- is useful. For one game, trust your eyes over some reductive stat.
Hmmmm watching the “smothering” OKC struggling to overcome the Nets…Cavs effort this month looks even better right now.
Smokin Joe with a pretty good game in a losing effort!
TV has Sexton at 17.9 ppg on 52% 3PT shooting in 14 starts.
I know the kid has some areas to improve on. But that ain’t chopped liver.
Yeah he is scoring decently for a rookie pg. What will determine if he busts or not (as in being a plus all around contributor) is whether he improves as a playmaker, defender, ballhandler, and finisher. He has a long long long ways to go in those areas. I am sort of skeptical he will ever have the vision or handles. Don’t think he will ever be elite or even very good in those areas. He just has to become passable. He may not ever be great at finishing. That is something that some guys have as a skill. You… Read more »
I don’t get thinking that he can’t make his ball handling great… I think it’s one of the easiest things to improve upon in basketball… same with finishing too honestly.
Now the vision thing I do wonder… but if he’s the film rat they claim him to be, then that should be enough to make him improve. His lack of size will put more of a premium on anticipation for him I think in order to really improve.
If it was that easy every guard would have great handles and be able to finish easily over bigs. There are great finishing guards, but there a ton of poor finishing guards and wings that can’t ever progress. Some guys just won’t ever be great in either department no matter what they do. He can improve both, but I doubt he ever is elite in either. Innate hand eye coordination plays a huge role on the ceiling of someone’s handles. Finishing can be improved, but again there is some innate ceiling in every player of hand eye coordination and feel… Read more »
At this level that is.
Yup… it’s fantastic really… far better than I could’ve ever imagined when they drafted him. I was dead against drafting him over SGA, but I totally get it now.
But it’s en vogue to pick at his flaws and gripe about what he can’t do since the Cavs are losing so…. LOL… what can ya do???
I mean let’s be real. There is more to scoring at an average efficiency. He has been one of the worst players and rookies in the league as far as his overall impact. I am skeptical of the minute accuracy of RPM. But the extreme lower and upper values are usually pretty accurate measured against the eye test of whether a guy hurts or helps his team a lot. How much real difference is there, or precision between the individuals is hard to know. But the difference in watching the top 20 guys and bottom 20 out of 440 players… Read more »
I’d definitely root for the Lakers over the Warriors. Now if it’s between the Celtics and Warriors, I’d root for mass injury.
I’d chant ‘Warrrrrr-iorrrs’ if I had to decide between those two.
https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1070452055632953345?s=20
Clarkson, Hood and Burks are monuments to inefficiency. I pray they’ll all be gone before the deadline for any useful asset we can find. They are exactly the kind of player that the Cavs need to prevent sexton from becoming.
I would not hold your breath. Hood and Burks are UFA’s so are not likely to fetch much. We probably have to take on salary to get much. Clarkson has a year left at $12 or $13 million, no one is giving us much for Clarkson. Burks was poor tonight, but it was his first poor game out of 4. And he won us the last game on a dunk. Turning on him already? Hill & JR are the trades we try to make. Will listen on anyone. But I think we take at least a couple months to takexa… Read more »
Argh. Just turned it to ESPN for pro sports’ dumbest studio show.
I wouldn’t bother. I think I hate Jalen Rose more than Skip Bayless.
Bayless is a schmuck & provacatour.
Jalen is just a wannabe and is next level stupid to boot.
Same goes for Screamin’ A Smith
Just watched the 2nd half…. Cedi, Sexton, TT looked pretty good. Just not crisp enough on defense to handle GSW, obviously you could say that about any team though.
Man, we played 2.75 quarters perfect. I would argue GSW impossible to beat when both Steph and KD play like that. Nothing to be ashamed about.
Nance, Cedi, and Sexton all showed things tonight. That’s what it’s all about. Keep up the progress!
The Nugs/Magic game just went to OT… looks like an interesting game…
Blossomgame… just a bit outside…
Jones & Blossomgame in.
Sexton misses a lot of 2 foot shots by 1 foot.
Jalen Jones!
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y85wrcv8 plus a first rounder?
If they got a first rounder ok. Otherwise may as well keep TT.
Sexton gets to 20…
Blossomgame! NOMAD will be so excited…
Yep. Good signs from Cedi, Nance, & Sexton. TT & JC did what they do. Hood great for a half. We beat a lot of teams tonight.
+1. So true
Channing in!
Man. I had almost forgotten how much I hate Golden State. I might actually root for the Lakers over them.
Way to get yours in garbage time Klay… 3-1 3-1 3-1!
Needed to keep that 20 streak going.
White flag time… enjoyable game though
White flag was waived when they subbed out Larry.
Your PG of the future…
We can beat Sac with this performance.
Should just be shooting threes at this point…
What the Hell was that? So Curry stops , drops to ground so Hood ‘s body glides over to get a cheap whistle? That ain’t freakin basketball!
Sexton scored on a drive and almost got TT an and 1.
Refs giving Curry 3 on that. No review.
Kenny Mauer special…
Why did Rodney stop shooting threes this half?
He missed a couple in the 3rd and stopped shooting.
Just hated him as a Celtic… Jerebko I mean…
Damn. Nice fight but we are just outgunned.
I’d love it if Steph slipped and concussed himself on one of his flailing flops…
Can’t let Jerebko do that…
He is a really solid player. He hardly ever does anything dumb & can opportunity score & shoot.
Damn. Looney with 2 o boards that trip. Nice lob to LNJ at the other end.
Jordan Clarkson’s second best alley oop pass tonight.
HAHA. No one guards Nance for the oop.
Alley OOP!
WTF with that no call on the Clarkson drive. Also, Livingston in the lane guarding no one for six seconds.
Rooting for that TT 20/20…
Way to stay with it Bandit!
Do they notice they’re trading threes for twos?
Hill shut Klay’s water off.
How is that not a foul on that JC drive? If that’s Curry, that’s a foul all day…
Verticality. Though I think Looney was coming forward, think JC was coming forward much more.
Cook fouled him from the side as well…
This game is over but it was fun for a minute.
More than a minute…
Nice run out!
Oy. Classic GS moving screen on that Cook three.
Cook playing well for someone else irritates me to no end.
He’s useless in the playoffs
Need to make a run with KD & Currty out.