Cavs Concerned Over Slow Starts, And That’s a Good Thing

After the Cleveland Cavaliers won their home opener against the Miami Heat, we made the bold statement (kidding) that this year’s wine and gold squad would not start off 19-20.

Today, the Cavs won their sixth straight with a 101-97 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

We feel pretty comfortable with that statement, although it would have been pretty safe to say that before the season started.

Yes, the Cavs do start slow on some nights, particularly against the lower echelon teams in the NBA, but LeBron James and James Jones are stressing to their teammates that this cannot continue to happen.

That shows how good this team is. They are concerned not only with winning, but the manner in which they triumph.

My guess is the Indians and Browns would love to have such worries.

While some people talked about the poor first quarter against the Knicks on Wednesday, you can look at it this way. Cleveland outscored New York by 27 points over the final three quarters.

Because the Cavs have seemed to turn it on whenever they want to, it has become easy to forget that David Blatt’s team is missing three key components.

Just think how the wine and gold will do when they get Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert, and J.R. Smith back on the floor.

Yikes!

Assuming Irving and Shumpert will reprise their roles as starters in the backcourt (the doubt is on Shumpert as Blatt may stay with Smith as the starter), this means the Cavaliers will have five solid guard at their disposal.

This is because Matthew Dellavedova has renewed confidence after his playoff performance and has improved his shooting and passing during the summer.

As for big guys, Anderson Varejao received a healthy DNP-CD today, as Blatt used Timofey Mozgov, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson at the four and five spots, used James at power forward at times as well.

Jefferson is everything that the Cavs wanted Shawn Marion to be last year and more.

He still has his legs as evidenced by his explosive dunks in the pre-season, and he’s a much better shooter than the recently retired Marion.

In fact, he’s kind of a combination of the two vets no longer here, Marion and Mike Miller.

This team is playing so well, the noted national critics of James and his team have nothing to conjure up.

The two biggest stories so far haven’t been stories at all. LeBron not helping up Kevin Love after he was knocked down against New York and that James was disappointed in Love being out of shape. Last season.

Correct, the media is dredging up stuff from last year to discredit this team.

Compare that to last year, when it was Irving, Love, and James couldn’t co-exist and that Blatt was in over his head as coach.

Blatt deserves some respect for using his bench. He clearly wasn’t confident in Marion and Miller as he has no problem using nine or ten players most nights, including giving minutes to free agent guard Jared Cunningham.

And James has not been used more than 36 minutes in any game this year.

We are sure that will come, particularly when Cleveland gets into a tougher part of the schedule, but it good to see the coach not giving into the competition involved with every game and needing to use his superstar too much.

So, if the slow starts are the biggest concern for fans of the Cavs, rest easy.

Just watch the fun as this NBA season unfolds.

It’s Not Easy Being Blatt

It appears that as long as LeBron James is on the Cleveland Cavaliers, David Blatt will be a lightning rod.

In preseason discussions about the NBA, and when the question of what could derail the Cavs’ hopes of getting back to The Finals, the answer inevitably was either health or the head coach.

Apparently, getting a team with two injured all-stars to the brink of championship doesn’t gain you any respect from the NBA media intelligentsia.

Look, we understand that is life for a coach who has LeBron James on their team. James gets the credit if the team wins, and the coach and/or general manager take the heat if the squad falls short of a title.

We are also pretty sure that Blatt understands this as well.

Still, it’s incredible that the criticism of the Cavaliers’ coach has continued into the beginning of a new season.

We understand that Blatt’s only been in the NBA for a year, and whether you discount all of the international experience the man has, there should be no question that he has been around the game a long, long time, and he understands the game of basketball.

Is the NBA game different? Of course. Is the NBA a players’ league? Absolutely.

But if you know the game, you know the game.

And Blatt knows and understands the sport, and his team’s have been pretty successful over the years.

He doesn’t get any credit for transforming the Cavs into the best defensive team in the playoffs last year. And when J.R. Smith tells the media he would walk through a wall for Blatt, you can almost see people’s eyes roll.

Kyrie Irving has spoken glowingly about Blatt in the past, and men who played for him overseas have given him glowing reviews.

However, we guess none of that matters until LeBron James says it, and that’s probably never going to happen, because it’s never happened before at the professional level.

James did repeat many times during the post-season a year ago that the coaching staff gave them an excellent game plan, and it was up to the players to carry it out.

And when the Cavs had the ball with 10 seconds remaining in the season opener against the Bulls, it appeared that James and Blatt were discussing the final play and looked to be in agreement.

It won’t end until the wine and gold win the final game of the season, hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and have a parade down Euclid Avenue.

Even then, some media crackpot, probably from ESPN, will say that Blatt will be on the hot seat if the Cavs don’t get off to a good start.

Blatt is an outsider from the NBA circle, and he doesn’t have the best relationship with the press, mostly because he knows that he knows more about the game than they do, and isn’t shy about letting them know that.

We know people who are friendly with the media get a fairer shake (see Shapiro, Mark).

The criticism of David Blatt is getting out of hand. If the Cavs are 10-15 and aren’t playing hard, then he should be on the hot seat. But, the folks who cover the NBA had him out last year win or lose in The Finals, but here he is back strolling the sidelines.

And if LeBron wanted him out, the guess here is he would be out.

James may not think he’s the greatest coach, but he apparently doesn’t think Blatt is a hindrance to winning.

Until they start losing, or don’t win a title because of his coaching, let’s keep the narrative that David Blatt can’t coach out of the news.

Except that will never happen.

Key Words For Cavs’ Season: Rest and Depth

The Cleveland Cavaliers start the NBA season next Tuesday night and there is no question what the team’s goal is for this season: Win an NBA title.

GM David Griffin brought back all of the key pieces from the team that won the Eastern Conference championship a year ago, and lost The Finals in six games to Golden State.

He also added some depth by signing Mo Williams, Richard Jefferson, and Sasha Kaun as free agents, and of course, Anderson Varejao is back in action as well.

Besides championship, the other key words for the Cavs are “rest” and “depth”.

As they learned last season, it is very important to entire the playoffs well rested and healthy. It is David Blatt’s job to make sure the first part is taken care of.

That means playing LeBron James around 32-34 minutes per night and limiting him to around 70 games. It has been well-noted how many minutes James has played over the past five seasons, because his team has advanced to The Finals in each of those years.

And Griffin has given the coach enough depth, and enough talented players so LBJ can get the time off without the Cavs’ record suffering greatly.

Let’s face it. The wine and gold will be making the playoffs next spring, and for them having the top seed in the East isn’t as important as it would be for other teams.

Although Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert will be out to start the season, Blatt can still start Williams and J.R. Smith at guard, with Matthew Dellavedova and Richard Jefferson backing them up.

Based on how Jefferson played in the exhibition season, he still has plenty in the tank providing he plays around 20 minutes per contest.

As for big men, Timofey Mozgov has stated in the past few days that his knee is still not 100%. That’s concerning, but now that Tristan Thompson has signed, Blatt has five players he can rotate at power forward and the center spots.

So, if Mozgov needs some time off, it would likely mean Varejao or Thompson can start at center opposite Kevin Love, and you can still have Kaun in reserve.

That leaves James’ spot at small forward. Who takes his minutes if he is cut back to 32-34 minutes per night?

Once Irving and Shumpert return, that’s easy. Jefferson gets those minutes.

Until then, Blatt can use a combination of Jefferson, Smith, and James Jones to spell LeBron, while playing Williams and Dellavedova together in the backcourt.

If Jared Cunningham makes the team, which it looks like he may, he could also pick up some spot minutes at the off guard spot. The Cavs will need somebody to pick up some minutes there until the two players who started in the playoffs at guard return.

This is the area where we expect Blatt will improve the most this season. He soured on the veterans brought in last summer (Shawn Marion and Mike Miller) mostly because they didn’t do much once they took the court.

Jefferson and Williams are a step up from those players. As everyone has noted (including his uniform number), Williams had a 52 point game last season.

Blatt’s primary job this season is to keep the 2015-16 edition of the Cavs as fresh as possible and still win over 50 games. We don’t think that will be a problem.

The Tristan Dilemma

Training camp started for the Cleveland Cavaliers this week, and while they are a welcome respite from the mediocrity of the Browns or Indians, there is still an issue hanging over the team.

Tristan Thompson isn’t in camp yet and is still seeking a maximum contract, an estimated $94 million over six years. Reportedly, the Cavaliers have countered with $80 million over five seasons.

The problem is that although Thompson is a very good player, providing he is on a very good team, which the Cavaliers are, he isn’t a starter, and would another team pay him that kind of cash.

Remember, before LeBron James returned to the Cavs, Thompson was looked at as a disappointment because his offensive game is basically non-existent.

In 2013-14, Thompson averaged 11.7 points and 9.2 rebounds per night playing in all 82 games, which is a regular occurrence for the former 4th overall pick.

However, if you are counting on him to be a big contributor on the offensive end, forget it. Thompson can score by grabbing offensive rebounds and putting the ball in the basket or by getting a layup or dunk off another player’s penetration.

He can’t create his own shot, and even if he could, you don’t want him taking it.

You see Thompson has made just 36.7% of his shots from more than three feet away in his career. Yes, you read that right, THREE FEET AWAY.

The people who think the Cavs should pay Thompson have usually two agendas. The first is the worry that it would upset LeBron James, and those people have the constant worry than James will leave for free agency again if he isn’t coddled all the time.

The second concern is that this team is poised to win a championship and therefore, any distractions would be counterproductive, so it would be prudent to just give Thompson the cash.

We would counter that by saying that originally James said he would not sign until everyone else came back, but he didn’t wait until Tristan inked his deal. This may mean that although LBJ sides with his fellow players at least publicly, behind the scenes, he thinks Thompson isn’t reasonable with his demand.

The distraction point is kind of insulting to James’ leadership. He is simply not going to let something like this get in the way of a run toward a title.

Is Thompson worth a maximum deal? Of course not. And the Cavs have to look at the fact that if they pay Thompson the money he is looking for, he will be making roughly the same amount of money as Kyrie Irving, a two-time All Star.

And they have to pay Timofey Mozgov next year too, and he is probably more important to the wine and gold because he’s a rim protector (Thompson averages less than a block per game) and a better offensive player.

Thompson is taking a risk if he signs a qualifying offer, not only because he would leave something like $73 million on the table, but also because there are only a limited amount of teams where his style of play makes a difference.

Can you imagine, let’s say Brooklyn giving him a max deal? They will expect something like 16 points and 12 rebounds per night. Thompson isn’t capable of those numbers, so he will get a lot of grief from a new fan base when he plays like Tristan Thompson.

A compromise is needed and we believe it will occur with Thompson getting less than maximum dollars, but getting the long-term deal because he is important to this franchise.

And then he can go out and be appreciated like he should being the player he is for a championship contending team.

How The Cleveland Media Covers Our Teams

We refuse to be political here, but everyone knows when it comes to news, the liberals watch MSNBC for their slant, while the conservatives favor Fox News.

That got us to thinking…what kind of bias do the people who cover Cleveland sports have? We will look at it team by team, in our humble opinion, of course.

Cavaliers. Right now, Dan Gilbert’s franchise is the favored child by the writers and broadcasters, because they present the best hope for a title on the North Coast, which would be a great story.

However, make no mistake, there is bias. Whenever there is any problem with the team, there is no question that David Blatt is probably the root of the issue, at least according to those who cover the team.

Blatt is a man full of confidence, which doesn’t sit well with the media. So, they will constantly pick on his problem with being called a rookie NBA coach, and because he can be condescending to them at times, they love to point out any errors he may make.

There is also a slant toward LeBron James, who is the best basketball player in the world, but he is a human too, and is not infallible. There are those who question James on how he relates to Blatt, but for the most part, James is right, and Blatt has no clue.

Browns. The most popular word to use to describe Cleveland’s professional football team is “dysfunction”. The GM and coach aren’t on the same page. The owner meddles. What will be the story if the Browns improve once again in 2015.

GM Ray Farmer is another guy who exudes confidence and that turns off some reporters as well. So, they like to point at his draft record, which isn’t sterling when it comes to first round choices.

However, it is kind of comical when 8th overall pick CB Justin Gilbert is passed over for first team reps in practice by last year’s 4th round selection Pierre Desir, Farmer takes a hit because Gilbert doesn’t get the nod.

Who do they think found Desir? Santa’s elves?

Mike Pettine is a serious man, and seems like he will be a solid NFL coach, but he is down to earth with the media, and in turn, you never hear a peep about him being at fault if the team goes 3-13.

And the scribes turned against owner Jimmy Haslam this week when he made some comments about reporters being accountable for their stories.

Guess some people should play along so the media will like them.

Indians. For a franchise that has produced just four winning seasons in 15 years, and just two playoff appearances, you don’t hear a lot of criticism being thrown toward the Dolan family, and the front office.

Our opinion is the guys at the top at Progressive Field are genuinely nice people, so they seem to get a free pass.

No one questions them about their horrible record at drafting in the 00’s, or why they seems to do nothing to put a team over the top when in contention.

The Indians are very media savvy, and seem to feed reporters with facts that make the organization look favorable, and they are reported without question.

But it is very quiet this summer despite being picked to win the AL Central Division for the first time since 2007.

We guess it pays to be nice.

Again, these are our perceptions about how the teams are portrayed locally. It would be nice if the personalities involved didn’t seem to have as much to do with how the coverage is slanted.

Our Comments On What Cavs Are Up To

The free agent frenzy in the NBA has come and gone for the most part, and the word has come down today that LeBron James is ready to sign another two-year deal (a one year contract with a player option, much like last year) with the wine and gold.

We thought it would be time to answer some questions about the Cavs and what they have done and still may do this off-season…

The Tristan contract. Look, there is no question that Thompson’s value to the Cavaliers is much higher than most any other team, because his skill set fits better with a contending team.

We also understand that Thompson is represented by the same firm that handles James, and LeBron wants him back here and wants him to get paid.

So, big deal. Just do it.

We realize that some older fans can’t understand how James can impact how Dan Gilbert and David Griffin handle Thompson’s contract, but that’s the reality of the NBA these days.

James put himself in a situation where he has a substantial say in the future of this basketball team.

And the Cavs and Gilbert are better off with him wearing wine and gold (or navy blue) and having that say than him being somewhere else.

We are sure Gilbert doesn’t have a big deal with it.

Signing Mo. Our first reaction was bringing back Mo Williams was that it was no big deal. Williams is on the wrong side of 30 years old (he’ll be 33 in December), and he’s never been known for his defense, which is key in post-season basketball.

However, he did average 17 points per game after being traded from Minnesota to Charlotte last year, and he likely will not have to carry a large role with Cleveland. He will be Kyrie Irving’s primary back up, and he can still stroke the jumper.

And it didn’t cost the Cavaliers entire mini-mid level exemption, so Griffin still can spend around $1 million on another free agent.

Williams can provide scoring with the second unit, and on the days where Irving has to miss games.

All in all, it’s a good thing for the Cavs.

Dealing Andy? The talk of a possible deal with New Jersey involving G/F Joe Johnson in which the Cavs give up Brendan Haywood’s expiring deal and Anderson Varejao have died down a little bit.

However, if the Cavs had a deal to significantly improve their roster and had to give up the long time Cavalier, then so be it.

Look, it’s a business and there is no room for sentimentality.

Varejao’s problem over the last five years has been staying on the court. In that time frame, he has played more than 31 games just once, in 2013-14 when he participated in 65 games.

When James was in Miami, we advocated dealing the big man in order to get value for him before his worth was totally decimated by the injuries. He was no longer reliable.

If we had our druthers, and you could improve the team by moving only Haywood, then fine, but if you have to deal Varejao to make it work, then that’s okay too.

James’ Contract. We are convinced there is no more misunderstood or questioned player on the planet than James. After agreeing to the deal today, idiots came out of the woodwork complaining about his “loyalty” to the Cavs.

His people told us we was going to do this last year, and to this point, he has been true to his word. The “one and one” deals are simply to get him the most money he can according to the system every year.

And remember, last summer, he said he didn’t have the energy to change teams again.

Fans who question this are no better than the national media people who said Kevin Love was leaving via free agency this year.

Despite What “Experts” Said, Love Stays With Cavs

Once again, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have befuddled the national media.

Despite all the conjecture following the playoffs that Kevin Love would never resign with the Cavs because he wanted to be “the man” and get more shots, and his so-called personality conflict with James, the free agent announced he will ink a five-year deal with the wine and gold, and will be here to pursue a title.

Not only that, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert also re-upped with Cleveland, insuring that the same cast of characters that dominated the NBA entering the playoffs, and survived injuries to key players in the post-season, will be together again for the 2015-16 NBA season.

It was even reported the night before free agency started that Love was going to meet with the Lakers. The four letter network really missed it here, and when it comes to the Cavs, they haven’t been right very often.

We believe that most of these national “insiders” take their own personal feelings into account, and they cannot believe that given a choice, anyone would want to play or work in Cleveland. Therefore, they assume everyone wants out.

As for Love, he had steadfastly maintained all year-long that his intention was to be with the Cavaliers in the upcoming season, and instead of taking him at his word, these people chose to think he was just “saying the politically correct thing”.

And make no mistake, Kevin Love is very important to this team offensively. The Finals should be evidence of that.

With Love on the floor and his ability to shoot the ball, defenses have to account for him, meaning if he is at the three-point line, you have to guard him. This opens up the lane for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to get to the basket.

Remember against Golden State how the Warriors packed the paint with defenders to stop James? That doesn’t happen with Love on the floor.

James needs to be surrounded by shooters, and against Golden State, he was missing two of his most reliable guys in Irving and Love. The wine and gold were down to J.R. Smith, an ailing Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, and veterans James Jones and Mike Miller.

The latter two were not afforded a lot of minutes in the regular season.

Besides that, Love is a very good rebounder, averaging 9.7 per game in the regular season. He might be the team’s second best rebounder behind only Thompson.

And he’s not as bad of a defender as he showed earlier in the year. Once GM David Griffin traded for Timofey Mozgov, providing the team with a shot blocking presence, Love’s defense was much better, mainly because he didn’t have to guard centers.

Simply put, he’s one of the best players in the NBA, surely among the top 25 players in the game. And he’s committed to stay with Cleveland for five more seasons.

So, the national media will have to deal with the fact that the Cavs aren’t going anywhere. They will be making deep playoff runs annually with James, Irving, and Love.

They just don’t get it. One more reason you shouldn’t believe anything they have to say regarding the Cleveland Cavaliers.

No Excuse, Cavs’ Injuries to Love, Irving Are Fact

We are sure that LeBron James will get criticized for speaking the truth after the deciding game of the NBA Finals, mostly because he gets picked on for pretty much everything he does.

James pointed out that the Cavs didn’t have good luck in the health department on their side, losing Kevin Love in the fourth game of the first round series vs. Boston, and Kyrie Irving also missed the bulk of the post-season, including the last five games of The Finals.

In a series where the Cavs struggled to find anyone who could shoot from outside consistently, the absence of Love and Irving, both players who can most definitely shoot, sticks out like a sore thumb. Or shoulder and knee if you will.

For the regular season, Cleveland shot 36.7% from behind the three-point line, and in The Finals, they shot 29%. Now, we agree that there would be some decrease in that percentage in the playoffs due to the stepped up defense.

As a comparison, Golden State’s percentage on long distance shots dropped from 39.8% in the regular season to 36% in The Finals, a drop of almost four percent. The Cavaliers drop was double what the Warriors’ was.

There can’t be a question that having Irving and Love on the floor would have made a major difference.

Love’s replacement, Tristan Thompson, played marvelously in the playoffs, but he’s not an offensive threat outside of the paint. There is no need to guard him away from the basket.

In terms of shooting, some of the shots Love would have had were taken by James Jones, and he hit only 4 of 13 from long distance in the series. There is no question, Love would have helped Cleveland both in spacing the floor and in making shots.

As for Irving, his shooting from outside and his creativity around the basket would have added a different dynamic to the Cavalier offense. His replacement, Matthew Dellavedova, a gritty defender who did a good job on Stephen Curry (so good that the league MVP in the regular season didn’t receive a single vote as MVP of The Finals), made only 6 of 26 three-point shots (23%) and doesn’t drive to the hoop nearly as well as Irving.

It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.

And it’s a fact ignored by several national media people who were exposed as trolls for constantly saying that LeBron James was a one man team during these finals.

He was, but only because two of the Cavaliers’ starters, and not just starters, but current and former all-stars were unable to play due to injury.

The insinuation is that the Cavs’ management can’t put a decent team around the best player in the sport. The reality is they did, but a couple of freak injuries took their toll on the roster and forced David Blatt to shorten his rotation.

Which leads to another point. Blatt is portrayed as a coach that doesn’t use his bench because he played really just seven players in The Finals. However, with Irving and Love in the mix, he would have played nine guys.

The Cavaliers played the way they played at the end because it was the only way they could compete. And they got within two games of an NBA title.

It’s too bad the national media came late to the party and didn’t see how they played when James had Love and Irving at his side. In the last 35 games they played together, Cleveland was 32-3.

That’s why you should be optimistic heading into the off-season.

James will get criticized, because that’s what these guys do. He is in the middle of the cycle where he has been around so long, people pick on him.

In a few years, he’ll be the elder statesman, and will go back to being loved.

After the game, he was honest. That’s the best policy.

Blatt Needs to Learn to Protect His Star

All year, Cleveland Cavaliers’ coach David Blatt has railed against being called a rookie coach.

While it is true that he has a tremendous amount of experience as a head coach on the international scene, certainly more than his counterpart on the Golden State bench, he is a novice in knowing the way of the NBA.

This has nothing to do with his ability to coach players, devise scheme, and put his squad in the best position to win. While we can all debate how much LeBron James has to do with the Cavs’ success, and it is plenty, Blatt changed the style of play for the wine and gold enough that they can be competitive in this series despite the loss of all-stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

Where Blatt needs to learn about the NBA ways is in protecting his superstar player.

He needs to speak out about how the officials are referring the best player in the game, LeBron James.

In last night’s 104-91 loss in Game 5, James shot just nine free throws, and one of those came as the result of a defensive three-second call in first half.

That means he shot one less free throw than Draymond Green, who took nine shots for the game, of which six were inside the three-point line.

By contrast, James took 26 field goal attempts inside the arc, and apparently was only fouled on four of those attempts judging by the number of free throws.

We think even the most even-handed professional basketball fan would think that is ridiculous.

The next time Blatt speaks to the media, he needs to mention that he has the sport’s best player, and that player is attacking the rim pretty much on a consistent basis, and he is simply not getting the calls.

Phil Jackson did this as an art form, both when he coached Michael Jordan and also when he had Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. He cleverly pointed out that his guys got the short end of the officiating stick, especially when they lost a game.

Steve Kerr even did the same prior to Game 4, when he mentioned certain things being “legal”, and that he wasn’t aware of those things. Kerr, of course, played for Jackson with the Bulls.

For the entire series, the Cavaliers, a team that has slowed the pace and tried to jam the ball to the basket, have shot just 12 more tosses from the charity stripe than the Warriors, who everyone would agree are a perimeter based team.

Based on the styles of play, it wouldn’t be surprising if Cleveland shot 5-10 more freebies than Golden State on a per night basis.

The insulting thing is how James hasn’t been able to get to the line. Even some veterans NBA writers and observers, including ABC/ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, have commented on how James isn’t getting the whistles usually associated with great players.

He won’t mention it, because it would be out of character for James. But his coach needs to have his back, and he needs to make the comment prior to tomorrow night’s game because the Cavs either win or go home.

You might say it is gamesmanship, and it might be. It also may be the truth. We all see the replays and there is no doubt LeBron James is getting hit on a number of his shot attempts.

He shouldn’t be penalized for his size and skill set.

Poor Shooting and Iguodala (Again!) Lead to Game 4 Loss for Cavs

Imagine if the Golden State Warriors had won the first two games in the NBA Finals at home, and then the Cavaliers came home and did the same at Quicken Loans Arena.

There would be much more optimism around the hometown today, wouldn’t there?

But the series would still be tied at two games apiece heading into Sunday night’s contest in Oakland. This means there is no need to panic.

However, after that game, somebody will have their collective backs to the wall. One team will be able to win the NBA Championship on Tuesday night.

Yes, the Cavs showed fatigue playing their third game in five days (with a cross-country trip mixed in between), and that takes more of a toll on them because they are really playing seven players because of the injuries to all-stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

There were reports yesterday that several of the Cavaliers’ veterans were upset with David Blatt about not playing more guys, and hindsight being 20/20, he probably should have on Thursday.

On the other hand, he was simply doing what worked in the first three games, and that strategy gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead in the series. The guess here is the coach will play more guys come Sunday night, giving Mike Miller and Shawn Marion, if healthy some time on the court.

The fatigue contributed to a horrible shooting performance from outside by the wine and gold, as they hit just 4 of 27 from behind the three-point line in Game 4, with only Matthew Dellavedova hitting more than one (2 of 9), and J.R. Smith missing all eight of his tries.

The main culprit in the Cavs’ eyes was Andre Iguodala, who had another crazy shooting night, much like the first game, which was the only other contest the Warriors have won.

The veteran swingman scored 22 points on 9 for 15 shooting, including hitting 4 of 9 from behind the arc. As we said after game one, those kind of performances do not happen often for Iguodala, so the chances for it occurring twice in four games is probably astronomical.

Cleveland is holding the “Splash Brothers” under 50 points per game in the series, as they have combined for 172 in the four games, but the added production of Iguodala is both unexpected and damaging to the Cavs’ hopes.

Many experts are giving Steve Kerr mad props for his lineup switch, but if Iguodala had a normal shooting game, we wonder how much praise he would be getting.

Timofey Mozgov abused the smaller Warriors’ lineup for 28 points and Tristan Thompson added 12 more for the wine and gold. The real reason for the defeat was the Cleveland guards simply couldn’t make a shot. That happens. The bigger question is will it happen again?

The players that Blatt depends on for outside scoring (Dellavedova, Smith, Iman Shumpert, and James Jones) made 7 of 38 shots in the fourth game. That’s 19%. While it’s possible they could shoot that poorly again, it’s certainly not probable.

And remember that this was a six point game heading into the final quarter, so while the Warriors won going away, Cleveland certainly had a chance to win heading into the final quarter.

Golden State dominated the first half, but were only up six going into the final 12 minutes.

Can the Cavs win Game 5? Well, they’ve already won a game in Oakland this series, so they certainly can. They needed the two days off between games, and they now have a chance to adjust to the changes Kerr made before Thursday.

We will stick with what we said before the series started. If they can hold Curry and Thompson under 50 points, they have a good chance to win. The biggest key now has become Andre Iguodala.