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.

Cavs Lose Game One, Doesn’t Mean It’s Over

The city of Cleveland is left bemoaning a lost opportunity last night, as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Golden State Warriors, 108-100 in overtime in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

The Cavs had the ball at the end of regulations and it was in LeBron James’ hands. But, Andre Iguodala did a good job defensively, James missed, and the resulting rebound/flip at the hoop by Iman Shumpert just missed winning the game.

Overtime was a disaster, as Cleveland didn’t score until less than a minute remaining, and Kyrie Irving limped off the floor with an apparent knee problem, perhaps aggravating his tendonitis.

However, let’s look at the bright side.

The wine and gold almost won this game despite not getting much offensively from Shumpert and J.R. Smith. James Jones played 16 minutes and took one shot, missing it.

This means James and Irving, who scored 23 points in an excellent performance, had little help from the players who have performed so well from the perimeter in these playoffs.

And Golden State got a tremendous game from Andre Iguodala, who scored 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting. This year, when shooting more than five times in a game, Iguodala had this kind of performance just five times. Meaning, considering the stage, he played the game of his life, at least offensively.

He’s a 47% shooter from the floor, 35% from behind the arc, yet last night, everything he shot went in the basket. Do we think that will happen again? It’s doubtful.

The problem is, Golden State has other players who can, and it is likely that Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will score more than the 47 points they combined for yesterday.

However, is it equally likely that the Cavs will get more out of Smith, Shumpert, Dellavedova, and Jones? We would say yes to that as well.

Obviously, the key is Irving’s health. Can he possibly go in Game 2?

Remember, all the Warriors are doing right now is holding serve. No matter what happens Sunday night, if the wine and gold win their home games, the series will be even a two games apiece.

Cleveland had a chance to take this one. There’s no reason to think they can’t do it again, especially if they put the same defensive effort and get more offensively from their long range shooters.

Other thoughts on the game–

Timofey Mozgov was outstanding last night, scoring 16 points and 7 rebounds. He may have to play at that level, at least offensively if the Cavaliers have a chance in this series.

The officials did play a part, making a horrible traveling call on Mozgov late in the fourth quarter on a play that would have given Cleveland a two point lead with less than a minute to go. We understand they missed plays on both side, but that was just wrong.

Also, could they call any one of the five or six moving picks on Andrew Bogut? He’s like a pulling guard on the football field. No wonder Curry and Thompson get wide open looks.

One adjustment the Cavs made was to challenge outlet passes after missed shots, somebody jumped back to try to slow down the Warriors from racing down the floor. It slowed the tempo just enough. A good move by the coaching staff.

Is This Most Talented Cavs’ Team Ever?

The Cleveland Cavaliers certainly haven’t had a glorious history. Their all-time record since joining the NBA is more than 300 games below .500.

However, they have been to the NBA Finals in 2007, and lost in the Eastern Conference finals three times. And without disrespecting the ’06-‘o7 conference champs, the best team in franchise history may just be the last wine and gold squad to fall one step short of The Finals, the 2008-09 team that one 66 games in the regular season.

That team is a regular on lists of the best teams to not win an NBA title.

Our feeling was that collection of players failed because of Mike Brown’s failure to adjust to what Orlando was doing offensively in the conference finals, and because of the playoff schedule.

If you recall, the Cavs swept each of their first two series against Detroit and Atlanta, and had to wait nine days, from May 11th when they eliminated the Hawks, until May 20th when they took on Orlando.

The Cavaliers were rusty in Game 1, losing on their home floor, where they lost just twice all season long.

By the way, that team won 18 of their last 21 games in the regular season.

Since the current Cavs have now won 16 of their last 18, we decided to compare the current roster to perhaps the best team in Cleveland professional basketball history.

The starters on that team were LeBron James, Mo Williams, Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Ben Wallace.

Anderson Varejao also started 42 games that season, getting the nod when Ilgauskas and Wallace had injuries. Sasha Pavlovic also started 12 games, mostly for West.

James, who was 24 at the time, averaged 28.4 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game, which is comparable to this season’s figures of 26 points, 6 boards, and 7 assists.

However, that team had no one who can compare to Kyrie Irving, who is blossoming into the superstar in front of our eyes. The fourth year player out of Duke is getting 22 points and five dimes per night as offensive option #2.

Williams filled that role in ’09, getting 18 points and four assists. Irving is taking more shots than Williams did, with both making almost 47% of their tries.

Ilgauskas was the team’s third leading scorer at 12.9 a game, with 7.5 boards and shooting 47%. Kevin Love is the third leading scorer this year at 16.8 points, with 10.3 rebounds. He is shooting just 43% from the floor, although he attempts far more three point shots than Big Z did.

That group’s bench was led by Varejao, Boobie Gibson, and Wally Szczerbiak, while the current Cavs use Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, and Matthew Dellavedova as the primary bench options.

We would give David Blatt’s crew an edge because the second and third best players on this team are much better than those on the 66 win team.

Even the bench appears to be better. Varejao scored 8.6 points and 7.2 rebounds as the first big man off the bench in ’08-’09, and Thompson has better numbers at 9.1 and 8.4 respectively.

That group was stronger defensively, because Ilgauskas was still a force inside and Wallace was one of the best defensive players in NBA history up front, and West was a very good defender too.

However, the three Cavs who joined the team in January are helping greatly on the defensive end. Since Timofey Mozgov joined the squad, he has provided the inside presence Blatt’s team sorely needed. And Shumpert and J.R. Smith have given the wine and gold better defense on the wings.

Can this team go farther in the post-season than the ’09 team? That remains to be seen. But it is looking like this might be the most talented roster ever to play in Cleveland.

That’s how quickly things have changed in the last month or so.