That game was a lot more interesting than it should have been.
I was intrigued going into it when they announced the starting lineups and I was listening to some pregame analysis on local radio. It was an unexpected lineup because, while it gave the Cavs a HUGE rebounding advantage, it created defensive liabilities that would leave them exposed. Basically, it could work and give the Cavs an unexpected advantage, but only if (1) the Warriors uncharacteristically missed shots; (2) the Cavs took advantage of the advantage and rebounded well; and (3) Love stepped up his offense and scored in the 20-pt. range to make up for the defensive liability.
The stars aligned and it almost worked.
The Warriors DID uncharacteristically miss shots. Look at the 3-pt. shooting, for example:
Green: 2 of 5 (okay, not too surprising there)
Durant: 1 of 7 (VERY surprising)
Curry: 5 of 11
Thompson: 5 of 10
The Cavs DID take advantage on the boards, outrebounding the Warriors 53 to 38.
Love scored 21. And he played better defense than is typical. So he exceeded expectations on BOTH ends of the court.
All in all, I have to give Lue props for putting together such a game plan, and the Cavs for executing it. The stars aligned. The Cavs threw their biggest, best haymaker. And they still couldn't get the win. It would have been huge if they did. But they didn't. I'm not sure where they go from here. Despite this first game being close, I don't expect a close series. The Cavs gave--and probably exceeded--their best, and the Warriors AGAIN came out with frustrating lack of intensity and focus. I don't see either of those trends being sustainable over the remaining 6 games. I just don't.
Some other notes:
Poor J.R. He is getting ROASTED. And I get it. But in the moment, it's perfectly understandable how he could have done what he did. Yeah, the Warriors got "lucky" that J.R. had a mental lapse. But it's not nearly the egregious lapse that it's easy to make it out to be. It's just an egregious result. And it's a blunder that seems glaring for anyone who is not actually on the floor, in the action on court. But in the heat of the moment, on court, what happened isn't that unreasonable.
Javale
J.R.: That inexplicably botched open slam by McGee was destined to end up on a blooper reel or Shaqtin a Fool. ...until J.R. happened. I'm sure McGee is thrilled that the spotlight quickly moved to someone else. Thanks, J.R.!
J.R. dodges a bullet: When J.R. submarined Thompson, it looked like Joe Lacob and Jeremy Renner were going to rush him from the bleachers and shank him when Klay went down. It was pretty clear that it was unintentional, and that he realized right away that Klay was hurt and felt bad. I think Warriors fans AND J.R. breathed a sigh of relief when Klay came back.
LeBron: Wow. What a game. What a performance. [also, what a typically narcissistic post-game interview, but I digress] I can't stand him. But I also can't deny that he is the greatest of all time and is STILL doing things that are mind-boggling. And in many ways, he is playing better now than he EVER has. It is just mindblowing.
BUT...
Curry's D: I haven't seen it talked about, and I think it largely went unnoticed, but Curry played OUTSTANDING defense. That shouldn't really be surprising, because he is an exceptional defender. But his defense is SO underrated. Last night, he got switched onto LeBron pretty frequently. And, yes, there were plenty of times LeBron took him. That's fine. There is elite; and then there is LeBron. He's going to do what he's going to do. And he's going to do it even more against a smaller player. That's just reality. But Stef almost always knew where his help man would be, and consistently battled for position to force LeBron to the help so that LeBron had to pass instead of shoot. If anyone goes back and watches the game again, I invite you to watch for that specific aspect of the game. Watch how many times Curry was on LeBron and forced LeBron into coverage that made him pass instead of shoot. It's not flashy because it's not rife with blocks, stuffs, and steals. But it's incredibly solid defense. Yes, it is
team defense. But it takes tremendous basketball IQ AND the physical and mental ability to understand and execute the team defense game plan for that to happen, and Curry demonstrates that over and over and over.
Durant no-show: Okay, yeah, it may seem silly to call a "no-show" on a guy who had 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. But Durant was frustratingly unfocused, and despite those numbers, felt like a liability far too often. He went to iso plays when ball movement was needed. He took poor shots when he was on cold streaks and the Warriors needed points. He failed to box out the smaller J.R. Smith on that infamous play at the end of regulation. I dunno. He didn't have a
bad game. But he did not play within the Warriors' system, and I kept feeling like it cost them SEVERAL opportunities to take control of the game like they should have.
I know the narrative is that LeBron is trying to do the unthinkable with a cast of nobodies, but WOW... who would have thought one of his teammates would make a Seattle Seahawks level blunder at the most crucial part of the game.
Not really accurate at all, and the same can be said about the Seahawks call. That just shows a lack of understanding of sports. It's easy to be an armchair quarterback, but when you aren't on the field/court, you really have no standing to second-guess a split-second judgment call that, in the mind of the person making it, is well reasoned and well intentioned.
1. The refs ruined that game.
Not really seeing it. Overall, I thought it was a pretty well-officiated (but not perfect) game. The only thing that stands out is the Durant/LeBron play toward the end of the game. And there, the right process was followed, and the right call was made. It only stands out because (1) it came at a crucial point in the game; (2) whichever way the call went, it would give a big advantage to whichever team benefitted; (3) it looked like an extremely CLOSE call; and (4) the process was very atypical and ended in a reversal of what was called on court. Admittedly, yes, that does make it open to criticism and debate. I get why people will focus on it. Heck, you even had the NBA rules analyst in the moment saying it should have gone the other way. But at the end of the day, they followed the right process and made the right call, IMO. Here is what the league said:
Clarity on blk/charge review: The trigger is that if in the last 2 minutes of the 4th or overtime officials have doubt whether the defender was in the restricted area. While reviewing, they may also confirm if the defender was in legal guarding position when the contact occurred.
So, what triggered the review was simply the question of whether LeBron was in the restricted area. From just about any angle, it sure looks to us the fans [or the commentators, or the coaches, or...] that he wasn't close enough to the restricted area to make it a close call. But in the moment, to the refs that are right there and are trying to look at a bunch of different things in real time, I can see how they might have been unsure. And given the conflicting calls on the court in the split second after the call, and the officials' body language as they were making the call, it is clear that they weren't sure. Durant had seen the same restricted area in the final 2:00 issue come up in the regular season, so he immediately lobbied for review. So they did. We can armchair QB it and say they shouldn't have reviewed. But if they were unsure--and they clearly were--the review is legitimate.
And going back to the rule, once they are reviewing that, reviewing whether it is a charge or a blocking foul is also fair game. They did so. And they reached the conclusion that it as a blocking foul. Close call. I think they were right, and nobody but LeBron is saying otherwise. But what LeBron is also ignoring is that even if the benefit of the call should go in his favor, Durant was in a position to maneuver around LeBron, but for Green coming in from the side and
running into Durant's right (shooting) arm before the Durant/LeBron contact. That should have been the basis for the defensive foul call, and not LeBron, IMO. But at the end of the day, although it was a VERY close call, it looks like they made the
correct (i.e. defensive) call.
Topic: NBA thread 2017-18 v. I dub thee champions (Read 68752 times)
