The backs are firmly to the wall for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They can’t lose a game for the rest of the playoffs, and will have to beat Golden State four straight times to win the NBA title.
What happened last night was simple. Too much Kevin Durant. On a night where the second leading scorer for the Warriors was two time Stephen Curry with 11 points, Durant was magnificent.
He made 15 of 23 shots, and not many of them were layups or dunks. He added 13 rebounds and seven assists, as he kept Golden State from getting blown out early, and then once the game was close, he supplied the dagger with a three pointer from about 35 feet out.
To us, the biggest problem last night was the basic tenets on defense that the Cavs have failed to establish all year long.
How many times did a mix up on the pick and roll result in a wide open dunk by a Golden State player? This is the Cavaliers’ 103rd game of the season, and by the looks of it, they still don’t have a set way of defending this most basic of basketball plays.
You can blame it on the roster turnover, but if the team had a defensive model, the new players would have adjusted to it by now.
We have railed against the switching scheme defensively all season long too. Our basic problem is it is lazy and more so, it allows the offense to dictate who is guarding whom.
Our question is this, who does Tyronn Lue want guarding Durant? Our preference would be Jeff Green and/or Larry Nance Jr. when they are in the game. However, the Cavs seem to be happy to use pretty much anyone else.
Most possessions end up with Durant being guarding by players like JR Smith, George Hill, and Kyle Korver. Why?
Look, you aren’t going to stop Durant, he’s a gifted offensive player, who because of his length can get his shot off wherever and whenever he wants. But you can make him more uncomfortable, and putting players five to six inches smaller on him doesn’t exactly do that.
When Cleveland made the deadline trades, the players they received in return were longer and more athletic. Unfortunately, the coaching staff either didn’t develop the newcomers well enough to contribute against a team that needs length and athleticism to defend them.
Rodney Hood is 6’8″, Nance is 6’9″, even Jordan Clarkson, who although he has been terrible offensively, has been decent on defense, is 6’5″. Are these guys just not good players, or were they minimized by the staff?
Someone said last night that the Cavs don’t appear to be obsessed with Golden State. The Rockets are. Maybe it’s because the wine and gold won in 2016.
It still looks like the Cavaliers are surprised by the new wrinkles the Warriors throw at them. Steve Kerr adjusts and uses JaVale McGee, and the Cavs have no answer, or at least it takes them five minutes to adjust.
Offensively, the Cavs still seem to go away from Kevin Love, their second best scorer. Love had a great first half last night, and then took three shots in the second half. That’s a crime.
And it wasn’t like Love was shrinking or playing tentatively. One of his second half hoops was a play where he took the ball right to Durant and got a layup.
Can the Cavs win on Friday and send the series back to the west coast? Perhaps, it’s not like the wine and gold have been blown out each game. It is similar to the 2007 Finals vs. San Antonio, when Cleveland lost by 9, 11, 3, and 1 points.
Unfortunately, the defensive issues won’t be going away.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 