I really don’t understand basketball strategy, but I don’t understand how the Cavs go from balanced offense with good movement and passing around to Lebron holding the ball for 23 seconds and then making a 20 foot falling away jumper. It happens like clockwork.
People get tight, the lights get brighter, they are afraid to shoot, and they watch Lebron because its the safe thing to do. Also I think the Warriors defense has a lot to do with it. It seems they were content with letting Lebron get his and stopping everyone else. Credit to Lebron, he almost did it but I have no idea what happened in those first 4 minutes of overtime where they just could not score
I didn’t see what happened to Kyrie, anyone know what went on? I just saw a scrum, some people went down, the announcers said Kyrie was limping, and that was it, didn’t see a replay or anything. Was it even the same knee he had tendinitis in? He toughed it out for over 40 mins, but didn’t really shoot well but did a bunch of other things
I hope that tomorrow, when they write about the story to this game, the sportswriters don’t resort to the cliched “This series is over because Lebron did everything he could and still couldn’t win” or “Warriors were lucky to win because other than Lebron, nobody could buy a shot. That won’t happen next game”. It annoys me because its so lazy. So so lazy. I think the #1 defense had something to do with those other guys not shooting well so it definitely can happen again in Game 2, and Game 3, and etc. And Lebron can definitely take his game to even higher heights, he’s the best player in the game and has done crazy things to will his teams to victory before.
Kyrie missing definitely hurts, but guys have bounced back when one of their stars go down before. They know they’re going to have a gimpy leader and respond by playing even better. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cavs come out with even more energy like they did in the first quarter and sustain it and win convincingly. Its equally possible that Steph and Klay rediscover their 3 point shot and rain down 3’s like its going out of business. I’ve watched too many playoff series to believe in momentum. At this point, each game is its own animal, one doesn’t carry over to the next usually.
But yeah, if Kyrie can’t come back, its over 
Its weird not really having a team to root for. Ok, so I’m kind of 60/40 rooting for the Warriors, but usually I’m like 95/5 for one team. I gotta just enjoy these while it lasts because when the Lakers come back to the Finals next year under a rested Kobe, a resurgent Jeremy Clarkson, and the future twin towers in Julius Randle and Towns/Okafor, Jimmy Butler, and Kevin Love, I’ll be 1000%/0% rooting for the Lakers!!!
The Warriors dodged a bullet tonight. They could easily have lost (I hesitate to say they should have lost), and they played poorly.
Kyrie was dribbling and driving to his right, then stopped to cut left and his knee couldn’t take the strain. He went down, then limped off. Losing him would be huge, and I hope his injury isn’t serious. He was playing great tonight.
Here’s a video clip: Kyrie Irving Suffers Overtime Knee injury (VIDEO) | SLAM
Potential for an over reaction, but Cleveland is so screwed. Their bench got annihilated and GSW didn’t even play that well. There’s no reason to expect that to change much. It’s like the Spurs all over again.
Seemed like Cleveland was competitive when both teams went big. Mozgov + TT are legit. When both teams went small, Cleveland had problems. GSW just has so many generic 6 foot 7 type guys who can flat out ball. Somewhere, Nelly is smiling.
I appreciated Kerr’s gameplan of not over reacting to LeBron post ups, made my prediction look good. He had a nice line, but dubious efficiency. He was hitting some tough shots though. Lucky for GSW his turn around J wasn’t there, else he could’ve had 50 easy. Still, the shooters didn’t do squat and the offense ground to a halt while everyone stood around. About the only bright spot was Mozgov going to the rim hard when LeBron got into his move. Got some nice posters that way.
If Irving is out for good, I guess JR Smith is their second option? Oh lawd.
Not sure what Cleveland should do. Maybe go back to LeBron PnR and misdirection for shooters instead of LeBron post up iso, at least when Iggy is on him. They had some success on exploiting switches, but that involved Irving most of the time I think.
Not sure what the announcers or some fans are talking about with the Mozgov travel. You can’t hop step and then pivot.
Not sure if I would describe the game 1 Cavs offense that way. It was pretty dang stagnant.
For the last shot of a tie game teams generally hold onto the ball and play super conservative because they’re afraid of turn overs. Better to go to OT than potentially lose, but it often leads to some stupid looking shots. I think LeBron was gassed at the end because he was shouldering such a huge offensive burden, but he does have a history of overthinking and being indecisive in situations like this too.
I wouldn’t way the Warriors played bad. Green didn’t shoot it very well, and Curry didn’t explode but otherwise they were fine. The Cavs needed to win that in regulation, though because they were out of gas (especially LeBron) in the OT.
I’m actually fairly encouraged if I’m a Cavs fan. LeBron can win 1 on 1, we already knew that. But if JR, Shump, Delly or Thompson can provide any kind of scoring help at all, they’re in good shape. Of course, this assumes Kyrie comes back.
Tight game. Hopefully, Bogut got his ass chewed for passing up some easy slams. The extra pass is usually a good thing, but not when you’re standing right under the basket. TAKE THE SHOT!
I suspect this is a pretty large overstatement. Cleveland came within about a quarter inch on an Iman Shumpert follow from winning Game 1 on the road. That doesn’t reflect a team that’s fatally over-matched (unless Irving is seriously injured, in which case I agree that it’s all over except for the shouting). But assuming Kyrie is OK - or at least, as OK as he was at tip off last night - I don’t think Cleveland needs to “do” anything. A game plan and execution that has you within a quarter inch of a win on the road against this Warriors team doesn’t need an overhaul.
If the Cavs had hit their free throws, it might not have come down to a last shot. I thought they stuck with that small lineup for too long in the 2nd quarter and allowed GS to storm back and tie the game up. I understand scoring can be a problem with Moz and Thompson both on the floor, but that lineup was crushing them on the glass.
Typical Cleveland luck. They could have stolen one on the road, instead they end up losing Kyrie again.
Is Irving definitely out for the finals?
Kyrie is out for the rest of the Finals due to a fractured kneecap. He’ll have surgery on it this week.
Did he even bump it with anyone? He sorta looks like it grazed Klay’s, but it wasn’t a head to head knee on knee smash, it was more of a glancing blow.
I guess Warriors in 4?
LeBron will win one or two. Warriors in five or six, especially if they play as poorly as they did last night - turnovers and sloppy ball handling (and good Cavs defense), poor shooting, giving up easily in the paint on D. Especially the starters.
I watched the play again and Kyrie didn’t hit anyone. He may have broken it when he hit the floor, but it looked like his knee had given out and that’s what caused him to go down. The continuation of that play, a Cavs miss and then Warriors’ Barnes hits the 3, all was with Irving on the floor and struggling to get up and hobble back on D. Barnes’s 3 pretty much sealed the game.
Back to LeBron, he is a force, but Iguodala played some great D against him.
It’s going to be pretty tough for Cleveland to pull this off. No Irving, no Love, that’s 38 points you have to make up. That pretty much makes the Warriors’ strategy as simple as: “clamp down on everyone else and make LeBron beat you by himself, or take LeBron away and make everyone else to beat you.” Either way, the Cavs are pretty much fucked.
Yeah I think so too.
But Bogut and Ezeli played a weak game, and Mozgov owned the paint. If Bogut and Ezeli don’t step it up, Mozgov and LeBron could play an inside-outside game and make this more interesting.
WOW, LeBron literally carries a team on his back, again, and steals a win from the Warriors.
All LeBron Haters, bend the knee, and worship the King. He’s better than all of you in every aspect of life, and its OK to acknowledge that. We all need people to look up to as role models.
Holy shit, who expected that?
If Bron and co can pull this shit off, that will be immortalized. It would significantly boost his case for Greatest of All Time.
I didn’t get a chance to watch the game live, I’m gonna try to pick it up from somewhere else. But everyone is saying that the Cavs won in spite of a big hosing from the refs. True?
Not true. There were some missed and some poor calls, but in the end it was the Cav’s stifling defense that did in the GSWs. Curry had a very off game, but most of that was caused by Dellavedova’s nagging D. Mozgov had another good game in the paint.
LeBron played great, yes, but GOAT? Please. Jordan, Magic, Bird, Dr. J, Wilt, Russell… heck, even Isiah… there’s a long list of greats ahead of him.
There is simply no way that Isiah or Dr J (my childhood hero) are in the same league as Bron.
Also, please name me one other player in the history of the game that could effectively guard any position on the floor, and drop a triple double in a finals game.
Paradoxically, losing Irving’s scoring may be outweighed by losing Irving’s shaky D (though to be fair, he did make some nice defensive plays in game 1).
Yeah, the disloyalty, the temper tantrums, and the massive ego are all things I aspire to.