The Cavs Learned Last Night That Even Their Best Shot Is Not Enough
I thought we had it guys. I thought we had a sign that this series was actually going to get a little interesting. The sweep was close to being a thing of the past and as fans we were so close to being treated to what looked like a series that could go six or even better seven. To be exact, we were 45 seconds away. Instead, we wake up today with the Finals basically being over. We’ll talk more about that in a second, but let’s not discredit what an incredible performance Game 3 was by both sides. Watching these two teams throw punches like that was a pretty good wake up call to how far away the rest of the league is, but that isn’t news. With all the talk about how boring the playoffs have been and how terrible the Finals has been because of the Warriors dominance, Game 3 was refreshing more than anything else. Even though I despise Lebron & Co with every fiber of my being that doesn’t mean Lebron and Kyrie didn’t play out of their mind. As much as I think it was a bitch move for Durant to come and join GS, that doesn’t take away from how nails that game/series winner was. I’ve said it before, if you love watching good elite basketball, well last night was exactly the reason why.
Let’s start with Cleveland. On a night where they needed outrageous performances from Lebron and Kyrie, for the most part they delivered. It was Lebron early and Kyrie late, but the clear difference in this game compared to the previous two was a) Lebron attacked b) Kyrie finally started to make his shots around the rim. Remember, he had really struggled from within 5ft so far this series, but some of those finishes, honestly were hard to even comprehend how he made them
I think if you’re a Cavs fan and you saw him finishing like that, you had to feel confident. Without Kyrie exploding for 16 points on 7-10 shooting in that third quarter, the Cavs don’t even have the opportunity to have their hearts ripped out in the final minutes. He had 21 of his 38 in the second half and for 99% of the time was brilliant. That 1% though, could very well be a main reason the Cavs will not win the title. Here’s what I mean. A LOT, I mean A LOT of the talk will be about Lebron being passive (more on this in a second), but that’s not what lost this game in my opinion. What lost this game was the way Kyrie treated the possession immediately following the Durant three. With 45 seconds left, you HAVE to have the presence of mind to execute the 2for1 as quick as possible. Instead, we got this
To be honest, I’m surprised TLue didn’t call a timeout after that Durant three. If only because the Cavs were so automatic at scoring ATOs in this game, you’d think this would be a prime opportunity to calm everyone down, run a quick play and still have plenty of time left on the clock if things didn’t work out. That obviously didn’t happen. Now for the shot itself, not ideal. Kyrie is one of if not the best 1on1 players in the entire NBA, and Steph Curry for all his effort, is not what I would call a lockdown defender. You didn’t need the three. I know Irving had been LIGHTS OUT on the stepback so far this playoffs, but how is that the move? If you’re going to dribble for that long, attack the basket! You’ve been finishing at the rim all game! At the very worst you know the refs are going to bail you out with a foul! Kyrie made a mental mistake, and it killed them, that sucks.
But now to Lebron. There is no denying he was absolutely unstoppable in the first half of this game. He was attacking at will, hitting threes, throwing alley oops that actually went in, you name it, he did it. But Lebron did what the Celtics tended to do and forgot that NBA games are 48 minutes. Remember when he laughed at that reporter who asked him about his fatigue? Well, he went 4-13 in the second half, and 2-6 in the fourth quarter. Granted he did play 46 minutes, but it’s clear he wore down as the game went on. His FG% drops with each quarter this postseason, which is great for Lebron haters like me, bad for those who actually root for CLE. Obviously there’s a lot of talk about how he handled the end of the game with around 55 seconds left. Many will have a problem with Lebron passing up the shot to give it to Kyle Korver, but it’s not that cut and dry in my opinion. Yes you want your best player to take the shot, but look at the situation
First off, CLE has a lead, so it’s not like this possession was make or break. Second, I don’t care who you are, attacking Draymond Green at the rim is not smart. He’s fantastic at contesting without fouling in these situations. You also have Kevin Durant lurking, waiting for what he expects is a Lebron drive. As that happens you have Love sealing off Curry which left Kyle Korver WIDE THE FUCK OPEN in the corner. A guy that is shooting 48% from three as a Cav. From that left corner he shot 59.6% on the year!! That looks is about as automatic as it comes. We kill Lebron because he missed it, but to think that this wasn’t the correct basketball play is ridiculous. I have a much bigger problem with Kyrie’s possession than I do this Korver shot. This wasn’t like in 2007 when Lebron passed up shots for Donyell Marshall. Korver was hand picked for that exact type of shot, it just didn’t go in.
If you want to kill Lebron, get on him for how he fell off in the second half. Get on him for his inability to finish at the rim down the stretch. But that play doesn’t bother me one bit. And I’m sure there will be a lot of “JORDAN WOULD NEVER GIVE UP THE BALL IN THAT MOMENT” type takes. That’s silly because did people forget?
There is nothing I HATE more than having to defend Lebron in any way possible, but this is silly.
I also saw this stat after the game and I legit gasped. This is unreal
Two minutes! That’s all it took. That’s basically playing the Warriors in a nutshell.
When you are trying to beat GS, there’s one thing you absolutely cannot do, and that’s fuck up late game executions. The Cavs did not score in the final 3:09 after the JR Smith three, and when you look at their shot selection given the situation, you see why this ending happened. This was their shot selection: three, missed layup, missed layup, missed 12 footer, missed three, missed three, missed three, missed three. Is anyone really surprised the Warriors came back? We saw why under no circumstances is any sort of lead safe against GS because they are so fucking good late in games. You knew that Klay Thompson three was going in, and you knew that KD shot was going in as soon as he took it. The Warriors essentially wait for you to give them a sliver of hope, and when you do, they end your life, it’s really that simple. Ending the game on an 11-0 run is tough when you had played so well for 46 minutes. The Cavs make one of those layups and this series has an entirely different feel.
Also, how about Tristan Thompson really earning his 5/$82M deal? Here’s a fun game. Guess how many total rebounds he has this series? The answer is 11. Guess how many Steph Curry has? The answer is 29. Think about that for a second. Thompson is virtually useless, and it’s not as if GS’s bigs are so good that it makes sense he has not scored a point in two of the three games. You combine his disappearance with the fact that guys like Shumpert and Deron Williams keep shooting despite being bad at it, and it really is surprising this game was close to begin with.
But it’s over now. There is no chance the Cavs are going to get on a plane for Game 5 just to get their dick kicked in on the road. I said the other day if the Cavs didn’t win last night, they’re going to have to witness GS get their revenge and celebrate on THEIR home court and I fully expect that to happen. It’s a shame this series is ending so shortly, but it’s also wild we finally will see a team go 4-4-4-4 in our lifetime. Save all the hot takes about how the Warriors have ruined basketball, and there’s no point to even playing for the next 3-5 years for another day, and just take a second to appreciate what a rare run we just witnessed.
P.S
Name something more refreshing than Lebron tears, you can’t