And then there was one.
After Cleveland’s Game 5 win in Oakland to cut Golden State’s lead to 3-2, the 2016 NBA Finals moved to Cleveland, where the Cavs would have the chance to even the series.
While the Warriors would be without starting center Andrew Bogut the rest of the series following an injury in Game 5, in Game 6 they heralded the return of Draymond Green, who missed Game 5 following a suspension.
With their season on the line, the Cleveland Cavaliers came out rolling and put the Warriors on their heels early. Behind another dominant performance from LeBron James, the Cavaliers won Game 6, 115-101.
After six games, the total score of this series is 610-610, with a decisive Game 7 less than 72 hours away (Sunday, 8:00 p.m ET, ABC).
But before we get to Sunday, let’s look at what went Right and Wrong in Game 6…
RIGHT: LeBron James
King James went for 41 points and 16 rebounds in Game 5, and then played an even better game in Game 6. James finished Game 6 with 41 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots. James was active from start to finish, tossing and flushing alley-oops, but maybe his most impressive work came in the second half. With Cleveland’s offense decelerated as they attempted to nurse their lead, and the Warriors trying to make a run, James took over. In a stretch reminiscent of his performance against Detroit in 2007, James scored 18 consecutive points, and scored or assisted on 27 consecutive Cleveland points. “With our season on the line, at the end of the third quarter he said, “I’m not coming out,” said Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue. “I didn’t have any intention on taking him out anyway. I don’t care what y’all say. We’re going to ride him. He had another unbelievable game. That’s what we expect of LeBron, and that’s what he’s been doing his whole career. So, one more game, and we need another one out of him.”
WRONG: Golden State’s start
The Warriors got off to a terrible start in their game Game 3 loss at Cleveland, as the Cavs jumped out to a 9-0 lead and eventually pushed it to a 30-10 lead. Thursday night the Cavs grabbed an 8-0 lead and eventually extended that to a 31-11 lead by the end of the first quarter. While the Warriors outscored the Cavs in the second and third quarters, spotting the Cavs a 20-point cushion doesn’t seem to be a sound strategy. “Obviously Cleveland brought a lot of force to the game,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr. “I thought we had some good shots early that didn’t go in, and it was like 6-0 after about four minutes. Our defense was pretty good. They had a couple run-outs where they got lay-ups, but our half-court defense was good. We just could not get a shot to fall, and then they just blitzed us.”
RIGHT: Stephen Curry
While the two-time MVP has been uneven in the Finals, Curry looked great offensively in Game 6, as he finished with 30 points in 35 minutes (more on that in a second). Curry shot 6-for-13 on three-pointers and seemed to have confidence in his jumper all night. Curry’s ability to find quality looks had been challenged in the first five games, but in Game 6 the Warriors managed to spring him for a handful of open shots. Curry needs to replicate that offensive performance in Game 7. “We know what kind of team we are, what we’re capable of, what we’ve accomplished so far, and how together we are. We haven’t splintered at all. I think we’re more mentally tough than letting two games not go our way kind of put any doubt in our heads. So like Coach said, if you started the season in October and said you’d be at home Game 7 with a chance to win the NBA Finals, you’ve got to love that kind of opportunity regardless of how it happened.”
WRONG: Stephen Curry
Curry played only 35 minutes because he was in foul trouble all night and fouled out with four minutes to play. (Curry lost his cool after picking up his sixth foul, firing his mouthpiece into the front row and earning an ejection.) While the Warriors clearly felt some of Curry’s fouls weren’t warranted — Kerr termed several of the calls “absolutely ridiculous” — the Cavs sought out Curry time and again and ran plays at him, taking advantage of his inability to play aggressively. “The last two fouls I had I thought were… I didn’t think I fouled either Kyrie or LeBron,” said Curry. “That’s just kind of my perception of the plays and I had a reaction to it. It was obviously frustrating fouling out in the fourth quarter of a clinching game and not being out there with my teammates. So it got the best of me, but I’ll be all right for next game.”
RIGHT: Tristan Thompson
Thompson was a part-time starter for the Cavaliers during the regular season but moved into a full-time starting role in the playoffs, and Thompson has been Cleveland’s third-best player in these Finals. Thompson once again owned the boards for Cleveland, finishing with 16 rebounds and 15 points, finishing several lobs from James, and posting a game-high +32 plus/minus rating in 42 minutes. “The last few days we’ve really been working on getting to the right spots because they do a great job of protecting the elbows and boxes and loading up,” said Lue. “So really the last two or three days we really have focused in on Tristan being in the right spots because he’s very important to what we’re trying to do. And defensively being able to switch one through five with him is great for us, so we need him on the floor. I thought tonight he really got to his spots and really was in the right position every night, and LeBron and those guys could find him when he was open.”
WRONG: Harrison Barnes
The Warriors won 73 games in the regular season by getting production across their roster, with even role players having the ability to have big nights. But after going just 2-for-14 for 5 points in Game 5, Barnes went 0-for-8 in Game 6, finishing with no points in 16 minutes. The Cavs helped off of Barnes often and he wasn’t able to make the Cavaliers pay, going 0-for-5 from the three-point line. “Well, [Barnes has] had two tough games in a row,” said Kerr. “But this is the NBA Playoffs. This is what happens. It happens. It happened to me several times in the Playoffs when I was playing. You have a couple bad games, you think too much. You’re struggling. The focus is brighter. The lights are brighter during the Playoffs, so everybody notices. The regular season you have a couple bad games and nobody cares. But I’m really confident in Harrison. He’s going to start on Sunday, and he’s still one of our key guys, and I’m very confident that he’ll come out and play well.”
Lang Whitaker has covered the NBA since 1998. You can e-mail him here or follow him on Twitter.
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