At this point, the Cavaliers’ task is as simple as it can be: Win Monday night’s game.
Down 3-1 in the NBA Finals after dropping Friday night’s Game 4 at The Q, the Wine and Gold’s backs are now officially against the wall. After throttling the Warriors by 30 on Wednesday night, Cleveland went cold after intermission on Friday. The Splash Brothers had easily their best combined game of the series – scoring 63 points, going 11-for-22 from long-range.
Overall, the Warriors canned 17 triples to just six for the Cavaliers. The ball-movement that had defined Cleveland’s success in the postseason wasn’t there in the second-half of Friday’s contest, with the Cavs handing out just five assists (four by LeBron James) in the final 24 minutes.
Tyronn Lue’s squad is down but not out and his advice for the team was simple: “If you don’t think we can win, don’t get on the plane.”
The numbers aren’t totally against the Wine and Gold. In Finals history, teams down 3-1 on the road for Game 5 are 6-9. And teams that have played Game 6 at home are 14-12. But they know the real numbers that matter on Monday are turnovers, offensive boards, assists and opponents’ three-point percentage.
The Cavs don’t need to play a perfect game; they just need one win to stay alive.
The fourth quarter of Friday’s loss at The Q was marred by a couple ugly incidents. The first was a bare-chested fan running onto the court before being subdued by security. The second took place when LeBron James and Draymond Green went chest-to-chest after it appeared Green punched James in the groin after LeBron stepped over him.
The league reviewed the play over the weekend and, on Sunday, called it a Flagrant 1 – earning Green a suspension in Game 5. Both sides weighed in on the decision on Saturday, no doubt adding to what should already be a contentious affair on Monday night.
Emotionally, Green is Golden State’s sparkplug and its best frontcourt defender, but he hasn’t been a major offensive factor over the past two games – averaging 7.5 points on a combined 4-for-17 shooting in Games 3 and 4. Still, losing the man who finished second in the NBA in triple-doubles will have an effect on the Warriors.
LeBron followed up his 32-point, 11-rebound, 6-assist outing on Wednesday with a 25-point, 13-board, nine-assist effort in Game 4. James heard about some of the Warriors’ reactions to his postgame comments from Friday night and Green’s subsequent suspension – and, if the stakes weren’t already high enough, he’ll likely be bringing some extra juice into Game 5.
If the role players were the stories of Games 1 and 2, the All-Stars have come out to dominate both games in Cleveland. And once again, Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry took turns stealing the spotlight.
Kyrie led the Cavaliers with 34 points – his second straight 30-point game – going 14-for-28 from the floor on Friday night and 26-for-53 over both games in Cleveland. Irving added four boards, four assists, one jaw-dropping baseline block against Curry and a game-high three steals. As strong as he was through the night, Kyrie cooled off in the final period, going 3-for-10 in the final 12 minutes.
Unfortunately, that’s just as Curry was heating up – notching 13 of his game-high 38 points. Overall, the two-time MVP was 11-of-25 from the floor, including 7-of-13 from long-range, and 9-of-10 from the stripe. Curry had battled foul trouble in Game 2 and was just 10-for-28 from the floor in Games 1 and 3. But he found his stroke on Friday night and made the Wine and Gold pay.
If the Cavaliers can limit Curry to something resembling his first three games, they’ll have a good chance of extending the series. If the Curry from Game 4 shows up, it’ll be a hard day at the office on Monday night in Oakland.
Even when the Wine and Gold blew the Warriors out in Game 3, a Cavalier reserve didn’t score their first point until Iman Shumpert’s three-pointer with 10:50 to play in the fourth quarter. Heading into the Finals, the Cavaliers had relied heavily on their bench along the way. But aside from Richard Jefferson, the second unit simply hasn’t produced on the offensive end against Golden State.
Through the first four games of the series, Matthew Dellavedova is averaging 3.3 points per, Iman Shumpert, 2.8, and Channing Frye, 0.5. Heading into Monday night’s Game 5, the Warriors reserves have literally lapped Cleveland’s – outscoring the Cavs’ second unit, 140-70.
Even after cooling down over the past two games, Shaun Livingston is still averaging 10.0 points per and shooting 64 percent from the floor. Leandro Barbosa isn’t too far behind, averaging 9.7 points on 71 percent shooting.
Cleveland was hoping to get a lift from Kevin Love off the bench on Friday night, but after a strong first quarter seemed to fade late. There’s still no word on whether Love will return to his starting role or come off the bench again in Game 5.
The Cavaliers don’t need any of those players to light up the scoreboard, but they do need a heavier contribution if they’re going to rewrite history over the next week.
It’s not a great surprise that J.R. Smith is struggling to find and hit his shot with any regularity in the Finals for the second straight year; he’s going against one of the very best perimeter defenders in the NBA in Klay Thompson.
Heading into the Finals, Swish was averaging 8.8 field goal attempts per game and hit more three-pointers than any player in the Eastern Conference Playoff bracket. But he’s had difficulty finding his rhythm in the Finals – shooting 41 percent from the floor, including 36 percent from long-range.
Smith attempted only nine combined shots in Games 1 and 2 but broke out in Game 3 at The Q – netting 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting, going 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. But in Game 4, Smith went just 3-of-10 from the field and didn’t take a single shot in the second stanza.
Klay Thompson had been held in check through the first three games – shooting a combined 14-for-38 from the floor, 6-for-21 from deep. But on Friday night, the second half of Golden State’s Splash Brothers finished with 25 points on 7-for-14 shooting.
J.R. is still out-shooting Thompson in the series, but he’ll need to be more aggressive moving forward. Kyrie and LeBron took some heat for attempting 33 of Cleveland’s 38 shot attempts in the second half of Friday’s loss, but their teammates also need to do a better job of shaking free to give the squad’s playmakers good options.
The winner of this matchup could be the difference between the Cavaliers heading home for Game 6 and the Cavaliers simply heading home.
