Cleveland struggles in final minutes, lose to Golden State 104-91; Warriors lead series 3-2: Quick T
1. First off, the Cleveland Cavaliers fought and were able to stay within striking distance in this game. Unfortunately, they could not sustain that fight in them in the final minutes of the game, as Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors pulled away and now lead the series 3-2.
2. It was unfortunate as LeBron James had a great night, posting a triple double with 40 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists. LeBron played well and was attacking often, which is what the team needed him to do.
3. It was the defense that fell apart after a while, letting Golden State get good looks and committing errors on switching, lane adjustments, etc.
4. Steph Curry had a typical night for him, as he was able to get his shots down and finished the game with 37 points. As mentioned in a previous post, once you give Steph Curry the littlest momentum, he will make you pay. In the final minutes, he was on fire.
5. Iman Shumpert has given the Cavaliers some great defensive efforts and plays, such as going after the ball, and staying aggressive as a defender. It’s why they wanted him here. He plays great defense, something that the Cavs needed if they wanted to go deep in the playoffs.
6. J.R Smith got back to his usual self in the first half as he was able to get his shots down and avoided another cold streak. It helped the Cavs in the first half tremendously. However, he disappeared in the second half. He was just not taking any shots when the ball was in his hands, and it looked like Golden State was doing a great job in defending him away from the ball.
7. Golden State simply got hot at the right times during the game. It was hard to knock them off, as they were fully in the drivers seat in the closing minutes.
8. The fact that Timofey Mozgov only played for 9 minutes was puzzling to me. Sure, Golden State was playing small and a more advantageous lineup for the Cavs to counter their style of play would be a small lineup of their own. However, once Golden State got into the habit of driving in easily, it was time to put Mozgov in, who can also contribute offensively.
9. Tristan Thompson was a great once again inside, and helped the Cavs in rebounding once again. Its not a surprise, as Tristan is having a great playoffs. He will be key for the next game. You have to get the ball away from the Warriors. That means extra possessions are going to be treated like gold for Cleveland.
10. Cavaliers Head Coach David Blatt stuck to an 8-man rotation in today’s game. The number of minutes has been an issue for the Wine and Gold starters. I expect to see Shawn Marion and Kendrick Perkins possibly get some minutes in the next game to try and ease the minutes the starters get.
11. There is work that the Cavaliers have to do in order to even up the series and force a Game 7. Offensively, the Cavs need LeBron to continue to be aggressive, and will need some more consistent production from everyone else. Specifically, J.R Smith needs to have what he had in the first half for a full 48 minutes.
12. Defensively, they need to stick to their physical style of play that has helped them get this far. One of the key issues that they have run into is switching, which Golden State knows and has been using to their advantage, often forcing the Cavaliers to switch and cause mismatches in the process.
13. I have a feeling this series is far from over. I picked the finals to go to Game 7, and if the Cavaliers are able to adjust, we might just get an additional game to end the NBA Season.