he should at least have a discussion with lebron about getting switched onto pachulia and actually doing something. so far he's lost the ball straight to pachulia, gotten stripped by curry while awkwardly posting pachulia up, and settled for a 3 (that he actually made). and you knew that shot was going in by curry. lebron misses a layup, gets it back, misses a layup, then curry runs a terrible break where he almost threw it away and he still gets a 3, highly contested, and swishes it. just how this half went. this was actually a reasonable 15 points game a few minutes ago and then exploded. gsw couldn't be playing any better and cleveland couldn't be playing any worse but it all goes back to the first few minutes. cleveland didn't show up with any energy and they're getting the embarrassment they deserve.
One of the announcers mentioned something that was laid bare in the 1st half: The Cavs have only two dribblers on their team. This is why David Griffin said (after the Korver trade) the Cavs are looking to get a playmaker. At the very least they need a Delly that can bring the ball upcourt, set up the offense and allow LeBron and Kyrie to score off the ball a few times.
exactly, just didn't show up. and wow, 26 assists to 4 assists. that's about as bad as i've seen. also 34 fastbreak points in one half. lebron set the tone by not getting back, certainly not playing like it was a real game. i'm almost shocked cleveland has 49 points. they shot 3-15 on 3's, turned it over like crazy, and shot about 1-50 in the restricted area.
Let's not forget Draymond gets PLENTY leeway for all his antics. LeBron did embellish, but it's not much different from Beard.
Imagine if the Warriors went all out on a team that was complete ****. Like the Mavs. They could legit beat a team by 70 points.
My target was the refs (not LeBron), specifically for calling the flagrant foul which was crazy. Harden doesn't get those calls. If that play was anything other than Green on Bron, there would have been no flagrant or review.
don't get me wrong, i hate green. he should probably get about 40 techs a year and several suspensions for kicking people but there's no doubt the calls for green can be influenced by his (well-earned) reputation.
i also had a bad feeling about this game because of the way cleveland was coming in. they were on their 5th game of a west coast trip, and they weren't exactly lighting it up on the trip so far. they shot a season low against utah and then followed it up with a brand-new season low against portland. and the sac game wasn't exactly great. a mid-season lull and long road trip against a warriors team looking for revenge wasn't a good mix.
second verse, same as the first. cleveland misses open 3's, thompson has a gimme offensive rebound and for some reason tips it in the paint straight to pachulia. and i know durant is playing great defense, but cleveland can't score in the restricted area. it's not like kyrie irving doesn't have a history of finishing over anyone and everyone, and he just roofed lebron on that layup.
At the very least haters like me have something to hold on to. No matter how many championships this dynasty wins, I can sleep well at night knowing that these losers are the only ones in NBA history to blow a 3-1 lead in the finals.
This is their problem but they never really had much of a choice because their championship team was built via free agency and trade. They never really had the picks to draft a good ball handler or the cap space to sign one. The Warriors could get an Iggy and Livingston (and Durant) because Steph, Klay, and Green were all drafted. The Cavs' organization is actually pretty crappy they just had Lebron fall into their laps...twice. Their lapses and tendency to get cute is really the only reason they lose. If the Spurs had their talent they would win every game.
Again, Draymond gets plenty leeway for his antics. I don't recall Harden getting fouled like that with no flagrant. He gets plenty calls.
durant and green with just other-worldly rim protection games. maybe one of the best ever efforts. and lebron with about as bad of a game as he cant play, 4-15 with 5 turnovers. he gotten owned by durant on a number of drives. and irving kicked in a 3-14 to boot. i said cleveland might mail it in and that's what happened.
