Schmeelk: Cavaliers Must Make Adjustments For Game 2
By John Schmeelk
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I don't think anyone put it better than David Aldridge did Thursday night in the fourth quarter. I must give credit where credit is due:
At that point, the Cleveland Cavaliers were down double digits and were getting obliterated by the Golden State Warriors' bench, which allowed coach Steve Kerr to keep both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson on the bench for an extended period in the fourth quarter. The Cavs made a late run to get back in the game, but Curry and Thompson made back-to-back 3s to put the game away.
Even with those late 3s, Curry and Thompson combined to score just 20 points. It was the fewest combined points those two players scored in the past two seasons. They shot just 8-of-27. If the Cavaliers can't beat the Warriors on a night when those two players have their worst collective game in two years, when can they beat them?
The series is far from over, but Cleveland is going to have to make some serious adjustments if they want to compete with the Warriors. It starts on offense, where Golden State's defense turned the Cavaliers into an isolation, half-court team.
It was clear that Cleveland coach Tyrron Lue made a decision that he wanted to slow the game down and turn it into a grind-it-out, half-court contest. It's a sound strategy as it keeps the Warriors out of transition, which does limit a lot of its open 3-point shots.
The Warriors appeared ready for it. They decided to switch every screen, forcing the Cavaliers to attack perceived mismatches one-on-one instead of rotating and/or double teaming and opening up Cleveland's 3-point shooters. The Cavs made only 7 of 21 from 3-point land. No one had shot or made more 3s than they have per game this postseason.
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LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are certainly capable of scoring one-on-one against any defender, but the Warriors will take their chances that they won't do it efficiently enough against Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, Thompson and Shaun Livingston to outscore them. They're right. The Cavs aren't going to beat them by posting up Kevin Love on undersized defenders. Even though the Warriors were caught in mismatches often, they still managed to force 15 turnovers. They are that good.
Rather than pulling up mid-range or trying to score in traffic, Irving and James would be much better off getting into the lane and then popping it out to open 3-point shooters. The Warriors were collapsing toward the lane when James tried to post up, even though they didn't double team. James had nine assists, but he had even more opportunities to find open 3-point shooters rather than forcing shots against great defenders. Iguodala and, to a lesser extent, Green, did yeoman's work of making it hard for James to score down there.
With James and Irving looking to dish out more than finish, it will open up more looks for J.R. Smith, who has thrived in catch-and-shoot opportunities this season. They would also be wise to play Channing Frye more, who only played seven minutes but would help spread the floor. The Cavs were plus-6 on the boards thanks to Tristan Thompson, but I think Frye would have a bigger overall impact on the offense. Tristan Thompson struggles too much finishing near the rim.
The Cavaliers did a great job of slowing down Curry and Klay Thompson, but their defensive issues showed up against Leandro Barbosa and Livingston. They gave Livingston constant open looks from mid-range on the screen-and-roll, the shot he wants. Barbosa was given too many lanes to the basket. Guys such as Irving, Love and others had too many defensive mistakes that gave the Warriors backups easy looks.
James needs to be given credit for the job he did defensively in Game 1. He constantly made sure he switched off onto Curry to make it hard for him to score. He worked extremely hard on defense. Smith, likewise, did a very good job chasing around Klay Thompson. Iman Shumpert made some mistakes, but he was fine.
The Cavaliers are going to have to figure out a way to score in the hundreds. The key question Lue will eventually have to ask himself is whether or not he wants to open up his offense, run, shoot more 3s and risk giving the Warriors more of an opportunity to do the same. As risky as it may sound, it may be the only way the Cavs can win the series.
Can they afford to wait until they get back to Cleveland to try it? Winning four of five games against this Warriors team seems impossible. Unfortunately, for NBA fans, they might have already gotten their "special" playoff series in the Western Conference finals. The Cavaliers hope they can make the NBA Finals a series everyone will remember.
For all things NBA, please follow John on Twitter at @Schmeelk
