Cavaliers drop Game 4 to Warriors at home, series now tied 2-2: Quick Thoughts
1. The Golden State Warriors found new life in a lineup change that saw Andrew Bogut replaced with Andre Iguodala. Over time, this small lineup caused problems for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
2. The Warriors were a lot quicker on offense and defense, and often dictated the pace of the game. Countless times, the Cavs could not get their offensive plays established and were often moved around on defense by Golden State, causing the Warriors to get efficent possessions.
3. Was it just a good game by the Warriors or a bad game by the Cavs? It looked to be a bit of both. The Warriors were still missing some wide open shots, but got on a roll often. The Cavaliers just could not get anything going offensively and struggled defending the Warriors, but also during stretches were able to get within single digits.
4. Steph Curry seemed to take the momentum he gained in the 4th Quarter of game 3 and transferred it to game 4. We all knew Steph Curry was going to get that rhythm that he is known for eventually in this series. Cleveland may have accidently given him it in final minutes of game 3.
5. Iguodala caused major problems for the Cavaliers, as he posted 22 points and just sliced through to the paint early and often. He also was able to cool down a LeBron James that was on pace to average 40 points in a series to only 20 points. Out of all the players on the Warriors bench, Iguodala seems to perform the best against LeBron.
6. LeBron James often attacked early by driving inside, but it was the Warriors defense the suffocated the paint, and it had an effect on some of LeBron’s attempts. From the field, LeBron finished shooting 7 for 22.
7. In return, LeBron tried to facilitate to others and for a while nothing was getting knocked down. The team just looked demoralized with every shot that was not falling in their favor.
8. J.R Smith once again struggled from the field finishing with a 2 for 12 performance for 4 points. Smith has been one of the players many believe could help the Cavaliers with scoring off the bench and getting on a hot streak that is hard to stop. However, it has not been the case so far.
9. J.R will need to step up if the Cavs hope to win two of the next three. His scoring is desperately needed. That’s why they brought them here, and that’s why the team is where they are at now.
10. Could a lineup change remedy that? It could, but the Cavs will need a balance of offense and defense for their starting lineup. Iman Shumpert is battling through injury, but has given them good defensive efforts when they really need it. It might just be that J.R needs to get into the game earlier, and needs to settle for getting those shots inside to fall first before attempting to strike from long range.
11. Matthew Dellavedova struggled on both sides of the court. One of the most talked about names of the series struggled shooting and often put up shots on bad looks. It looked like Dellavedova didn’t let his game come to him and just tried to force his game to start up early.
12. I expect for the next three games that Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov will be utilized more inside. It seems that they are one of the go-to options early in the game, but late in the game the offense tends to favor the pull up shots more, when there are often mismatches inside the paint. The Cavaliers know this, and could make the necessary changes to the offense.
13. The rotation has been a question mark all season, and now in the Finals down two key players, the Wine and Gold seem to be stuck on a 7-man rotation, causing more minutes to be placed upon the starters. The veteran bench will need to be utilized from here on if the Cavs hope to give rest to their starters.
14. Are the Cavs out of this one? Not by a long shot. This team still shows a lot of fight. However, as mentioned before, the Cavs will need to bring their A-Game and even more for the rest of these Finals, as Golden State looked revived in their Game 4 win. Each team has a shot at winning the series. Its just a matter of who wants it more. For the Cavaliers all we know is this, if you have LeBron James on your team, you will always have a chance of winning.