Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Dominated Rutgers, Trounced in Maryland
January 18, 2016
Cavs in trouble and the Browns on the rise? What? While We’re Waiting…
January 19, 2016Golden State Warriors (38-4) 132
Cleveland Cavaliers (28-11) 98
Box Score
Last season, the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-2 in the NBA Finals in a best-of-seven series. I know readers don’t need to be reminded of this (my twelfth grade English teacher always told me, “Know your audience,” which is why I always pretended in class papers that inconsequential things that happened in novels and poems were “symbolic of the ongoing class struggle”) — nearly all of Waiting for Next Year’s readers remember that the Cavaliers lost the Finals to the Warriors. But sometimes it’s hard to tell if the Cavaliers do.
After the Cavs lost the Finals, I wrote “How the Cavs Lost (and Won) the Finals,” because it was a feel-good summary after a painful defeat and a cute narrative for discovering optimism when the only alternate outlook was too depressing to bear. Sure, the Cavs hadn’t won a championship. But they played really hard with a depleted roster and, by golly, that was a reason to be proud. Way to go boys! Maybe we’ll get them next year!
But it’s not the summer of 2015 anymore, and there’s no sense getting all mushy about the Cavs’ bad luck last season to make everyone feel better about themselves. No amount of spit-shining will turn the lump of coal into a diamond. Take issue with Curry’s comment on Monday that “Nobody remembers [the Cavs’ injuries] now, they remember the champs” if you want; but that would be stupid and childish because Curry’s exactly correct. The Cavs lost the last three games of the NBA Finals by an average of 14 points, including two games at home in Cleveland.
The Cavs lost the 2015 NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, and they lost hard. Nothing will ever change that the Warriors won a championship last season, and that they won it in Cleveland on the Cavaliers home court. Many of the Warriors will probably always associate Cleveland with their grand win, and remember it as the place they clinched their first championship. When the Warriors think of victory, it smells like a Cleveland steakhouse.1
The Cavs couldn’t change any of that on Monday night, but they could at least begin to change some of the Warrior sentiments about Cleveland and the Cavaliers. They did not. Instead, it was one of the more demoralizing regular season losses in Cleveland sports history — and that’s a pretty long history. It was no more than a regular season game in January (albeit one against the Warriors at home), but was about as bad as such a game can be. It was about as much fun as taking a nap … or picking your nose. Or taking a nap while your friend beside you picks his nose. Let’s go behind the woodshed, err, I mean box score, and see how it happened.
66 to 32 – A lot of people felt that the NBA Finals would have been much different with an intact “big three.” With Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving both injured, the Cavs had only one of their three “best” (most productive) players (LeBron James). It didn’t matter on Monday night. LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving combined for a measly 32 points on 11-of-32 (34.4 percent) shooting. Only James played remotely well, and even he killed the offense by over-dribbling. Love wasn’t involved enough in the offense (a chronic problem I touched on last week) but continues to shoot like a drunk sailor (1-of-5). Irving (3-of-11) forsook the entire offense as he continues to look for his shot, going so far as to ignore LeBron James on possessions. In Irving’s defense, he had a few shots go in and out tonight — but he needs to do simple things to involve teammates instead of reluctantly resulting to difficult passes when his layups are contested.
Meanwhile, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green shot 22-of-39 (56.4 percent) for the Warriors and combined for 66 points. They all showed up to play basketball, and they all wanted to rip out the Cavs’ heart and eat it. They did that (with extra steak sauce); and it was just as graphic as it sounds. Curry made seven of 12 three point attempts, scoring 35 points in three quarters and six seconds of work. He was the best player on the court. LeBron James is extraordinary and a superhuman, but Curry is the best player in the world right now. As the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs show: you can defend LeBron James. It’s just difficult. You can’t defend Curry2
https://vine.co/v/iOLnbHVY0Zz
14 – If there was anything encouraging to take from Monday night’s game (there wasn’t), it was the offensive play from the Cavs’ two two-guards, including 14 points from J.R. Smith. Iman Shumpert added 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting before fouling out … but showed no penchant for slowing Curry. J.R. Smith scored 14 on 6-of-9 shooting, and was the best thing the Cavs had on offense all night. The team consistently asks Smith to rescue it from awful possessions, either giving him the ball without running a play, or tossing him the ball like a live grenade with five seconds left on the shot clock.
Smith made some incredibly challenging shots in his limited time — oh yeah … Smith was ejected early in the third quarter for the Flagrant 2 foul shown below. It probably should have been a Flagrant 1 foul, but Smith is always guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of the referees given his (basketball) criminal record. What wasn’t taken into context on the ejection was that on the immediately preceding possession, J.R. Smith was badly held on a screen (no call was made). I made a remark to fellow viewers that he needs to run through screens to force a foul call. The next possession, Smith ran through a screen (well, plowed through it). After being harassed all game chasing Curry and Thompson around, Smith was the only culpable one. #FreeJR
https://vine.co/v/iOLEjpdKEmg
16, 7 & 10 – Stephen Curry is the best player on the Warriors, but Draymond Green is the heart and soul of the team. Everything the Warriors do is predicated on what he brings to the table — he does everything for the Warriors. They throw him in pick-and-rolls with Curry, Curry dishes it to Green off the trap, and Green immediately takes an open three (which he makes often enough), finds an open man, or puts the ball on the floor and sets up a floater or an open three for someone else. He also defends everyone on the opposing team. Watch how the Warriors move the ball on offense with him in the game. The ball doesn’t ever stop. It pings around the entire floor because of Curry and Green. Green doesn’t hesitate, instead making the right decision with the ball immediately and with conviction. Green does what Love should do for the Cavs on offense (but better), and what Tristan Thompson should do for the Cavs on defense (but better). All while pissing off everyone on the other team and invigorating his teammates. The Warriors are a completely different team without Green — and he finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists on Monday.
20 – Andre Iguodala continues to showcase his skills against the Cavs. He shot 5-of-6 on Monday for 20 points. Despite being a mediocre career three-point shooter (33.4 percent), he’s Curry Jr. against the Cavs, shooting 42.2 percent on 45 three-point attempts in the Finals and this season. Though the Warriors didn’t need the boost on Monday, the Warriors role players (Iguodala, Leandro Barbosa, Shaun Livingston) always look great against the Cavaliers. Because why not?
2 – LeBron James attempted TWO free throws on Monday. It took Festus Ezeli wrapping up James to earn those two precious free throws, one of which was immediately negated by a technical against James for … moving his arms, I guess? I’m not sure what the proper reaction is to having your arms immobilized, but apparently it’s submission and gratitude. The refs wouldn’t have saved the Cavs from annihilation on Monday, but I would have felt better to have one offensive foul called against Draymond Green, and to have LeBron James receive a few favorable calls in his own gym. Even Kevin Garnett watches Green and says, “How the hell does this guy get away with these screens?” Again … two free throws for James.
1127 – LeBron James has played over eleven hundred games, and Monday night’s deficit was the biggest deficit one of his teams has faced IN HIS CAREER.3 That’s how bad Monday night was. James at least played hard (if not smart) all night (chasing down and nuking a pointless Barbosa field goal in the third quarter), and was visibly pissed on the bench, seething as he spoke to Tyronn Lue.
https://vine.co/v/iOL3A5ie1jE
https://vine.co/v/iOlBIBPuPdw
Monday night was a total ass-kicking by the Warriors against the Cavs.4 Sure, it was just a weeknight game in January — but one the Cavs best not forget. Otherwise, Cleveland may host another championship celebration in June … for the opposing team.
- When the Warriors won the Finals last year, they celebrated at Morton’s The Steakhouse in downtown Cleveland as chronicled by Sports Illustrated‘s Lee Jenkins. [↩]
- Not when he’s “on.” If anyone can defend Curry, it’s Kawhi Leonard, and it’s no one on the Cavs. [↩]
- Thanks to Dave McMenamin for passing that along from ESPN Stats & Info. [↩]
- James and Irving admitted as much. [↩]
17 Comments
What a disaster. Warriors can do it all, even flop on bogus plays.
Another Cleveland team withers under the bright lights.
Well at least now we have clarity, as Harv likes to say. It ain’t happenin’ this year. And not to go overboard or anything, but ain’t never happenin’. You can renew the Waiting For Next Year copyright in perpetuity.
Anybody need a ride to the 480 bridge?
I’m not willing to completely write off our chances this year – we may still end up playing someone other than GSW in the Finals (and unless SAS comes in here next Saturday and replicates last night’s whoopin’, I’d like to think we still might be able to beat them in a series). But boy is my outlook changed.
For the rest of the regular season, they need to sit down and watch this game tape before every practice. They need to figure out how to play as a freakin’ team. They need to figure out how to have a Big 3, not a Big 2 1/2. They need to NOT go out and make a rash trade with the intent of beating one specific team (GSW) like they did at the end of the Lebron Era 1.0. It starts with going into Brooklyn and making the Nets hate the schedule makers for slotting them as our next game – absolutely CANNOT have another Portland game. And unfortunately, they might need to pray to Jeebus that they don’t see GSW again until next season. If we were to win the title against anyone else, some may try to sneak that narrative in there, but to paraphrase the best player in the world right now: “Nobody remembers the narratives, they remember the champs.”
And if we do see GSW in the Finals? Well, see Mr. C’s comment…
Last night was a perfect example of why TT is not worth anywhere near the Draymond Green money he was demanding.
Oh, and I want Wiggins back.
So glad that I didn’t watch this game. I probably would have been volcanic. As it stands, I’ll just hope and pray that another western conference team can knock off the Warriors before they get to the Finals, or that the Cavs learn to work together (seems less likely).
I agree with the TT part but not Wiggins.
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/dmbrdy.gif
I’m with you last night was more then a disaster it was flat out embarrassing but the world didn’t end. Golden State has lost 3 games all season so there are a lot of teams who know how last night felt. However it’s clear they have the Cavs number. They are in the Cavs heads. Golden State did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and enjoyed it. I’ve already read and heard people once again preparing the altar to sacrifice Blatt. Blatt played a part last night he was almost as bad as his players. But for me this is about the players. Lets see how they respond. Maybe it’s time to start talking and having that extra fun and time to focus on what matters the most. Next up: Nets. Btw New Jersey is the perfect trade partner.
I’m not going to completely overreact today January 19, 2016 because there is a lot of basketball left to be played and as we all know a lot can happen especially when it comes to Cleveland sports teams. I’ve covered the game in previous comments so for this one I’ll deal with David Griffin “possibly” making a move or two. The perfect trade partner is the Cavs next opponent: Nets. They have 3 guys who I would have a ton of interest in: Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young and Joe Johnson. Obviously work would have to be done for Lopez and if added he’d completely change the Cavs dynamic but he’d also be a center this team hasn’t seen since probably Brad Daugherty. Mozgov and whatever else would go. Nets need some serious financial relief for their team.
Thaddeus Young. This is the guy I’d be most interested in particularly if you have a series against Golden State. Frontcourt player who is offensively versatile. You could bring him off the bench OR you could try KI, LBJ, Young, Love and Mozgov with LBJ becoming the SG. If we’re talking Golden State I’d see a lineup of KI, Shump, LBK, Young and Love. I want Shump’s defense early. Bring JR off the bench with Delly for shooting. I want Young on Green. I want LBJ to guard Barnes. And I want Love’s limited defense on Bogut, period. Nobody else. I also want Love in the paint on both ends. If he struggles you have a fresh Thompson and fresh Mozgov. Just an idea.
Joe Johnson would basically replace JR Smith and Iman Shumpert. Shumpert would still be able to get time however because he plays defense. I don’t see this happening even though of the three guys I named Johnson most likely would be the easiest to get in a deal.
Good thoughts. At this point last season, the Cavs were 21-20 and the Atlanta Hawks were 33-8. A lot can happen by the time April rolls around. It’ll be interesting to see how this team responds. I think they have too much pride to take that kind of beating and not respond.
The Warriors are incredibly efficient in skewing the officiating in their favor. Don’t get me wrong, they are a very good team, but they play soft with the ball in their hand, and hard everywhere else (i.e. picks and defense). The league is already well on its way in condoning the style they play (I guess since it is more exciting), and they know how to take advantage of it. And it is an effective psychological tool as well. The Cavs played into it, and were mentally out of the game within the first quarter.
If they meet again, the Cavs need to combat this somehow. They either need to turn their brain off into think that they are going to get any calls or start making the fouls that they do make count. If Curry is going to drive the lane, he should be getting a hard foul each time.
I just really wish they would start calling technicals on obvious flops. I swear its beginning to look like soccer out there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl2F6P8bw9w.
They better respond otherwise all that talk was nothing but hot air. Speaking of talking. Stephanie Curry is running his yap, yet again. Not good. I guess his father Dell didn’t teach him that people have long memories and tend to remember things especially when you remind them.
I think those calls were a byproduct of the game as well as reputation. JR Smith bulldozed Barnes out of frustration but it did not warrant being ejected. Heck LeBron threw Curry to the court (which I loved) and only had a foul called. Anderson Varejao did his thing and got some calls but otherwise everything went Golden State’s way. And this makes sense given how well they played.
No doubt they played well, I am just saying the the officiating may have created the atmosphere in which they can succeed. I guess its the chicken or the egg situation. I have just never seen a team get away with so many hip checks and arm hooks.
While I won’t say Curry flopped on that play, his act was very floppish. He hooked his arm into LeBron and when LeBron applied a little pressure, Curry exploded off of him and got the foul call.
The Cavs just need to get better in not letting this get to them. No matter how ridiculous it is that the best player in the world and the arguably the games’ most important and valuable ambassador cannot get an obvious foul called when he gets mauled while driving to the hoop.
The one thing they need to do is the next time Green starts barking and puffing his chest, everyone on the Cavs just needs to point and laugh at him. He is a bully, and if you show it doesn’t effect you, he won’t be as effective.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/cavaliers/2016/01/19/lebron-james-urges-calm-after-warriors-rout-cavaliers/78992342/?ref=yfp
Oh no I agree completely on illegal/moving screens Golden State gets away with those all the time. But they play like a team and have a superstar in Curry. They have also been blessed with health. This year they’ve finally had to deal with injuries but even then their worst injury is the head coach. The fact Luke Walton can step in and coach a team that has only 3 losses speaks for itself. So we have to give them credit. I don’t like it but that’s the truth.
As for Draymond Green he does annoy me a lot but I also wanted to draft him. I said so here many times in the days leading up to that draft. But even I am surprised by how well, how fast, he’s risen. He landed on the perfect team.
“All is well! All is well!”
https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/screen-shot-2013-01-18-at-8-32-15-am.jpg