2015 NBA Finals: 5 Things To Look For Heading Into Game 2

After waiting anxiously for more than a week — analyzing, visualizing, and prognosticating how the series will go and what matchups to highlight — the game of basketball finally made its grand encroachment back into our respective lives Thursday as the 2015 NBA Finals finally tipped off.

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The game itself lived up to its hype — accentuated by the unflappable resiliency of the Golden State Warriors and the individual brilliance of LeBron James.

Early on during the contest, the Cleveland Cavaliers would ambush the Dubs, stifling the Warriors attack with their conservative pick-and-roll scheme and omnipresent interior rotations.  In fact, the Cavs jumped out to an early 15-point lead and held Golden State to just 19 first-quarter points.

However, as a testament to the Warriors’ deep and talented bench, the home team would quickly seize the momentum of the game, punishing the LeBron-less Cavalier bench as their castoff of reserves’ early rounds magic dissipated right before our eyes.

Thereafter, both teams would exchange blows and engage in a classic nip-and-tuck affair.  With each Golden State flurry, LeBron would answer back, utilizing his 260-plus pound frame to bully Harrison Barnes or Klay Thompson in his determined course towards the rack.

Sure enough, the game would go into overtime — thanks in large to Kyrie Irving‘s spectacular come-from-behind block on Stephen Curry during the waning minutes of regulation and Iman Shumpert‘s oh-so-close, last-second tip attempt as the fourth quarter came to a heart-pumping end.

In overtime, though, the fate of the entire series took a disconcerting U-turn. As the Warriors went small — thereby, forcing the Cavs to do the same by inserting James Jones for Timothy Mozgov — the Cavs’ offense completely stalled.  Save for an uncontested James layup during the final seconds, Cleveland went scoreless for the entire extra period.

In particular, the Dubs held the Cavaliers to just 1-of-13 shooting (7.7 percent) and caused four turnovers in the final seven minutes of regulation and overtime.

To pour salt into the Cavs’ newly formed wounds, Cleveland learned Friday that their All-Star point guard, Kyrie Irving — who had played so radiantly in Game 1, particularly on the defensive end — had suffered a fractured left knee cap and will miss the rest of the Finals.

The unfortunate injury has paralleled the theme of the 2015 NBA playoffs, as one star after another has adhered to the basketball gods’ wishes for an ailment-riddled postseason.

The Irving injury undoubtedly leaves its inescapable residue as the NBA universe have already begun to play the “what-if” game — specifically, what if LeBron or Shump had converted on their last-second regulation attempts; thus, reclaiming home court advantage and bypassing the Kyrie and Klay knee-to-knee collision during the extra period.

However, it is important to keep in mind that the series is far from over.

If the Cavs lose in four or five, will Game 1 go down in infamy, fitting right alongside Cleveland’s vast history of sports-related heartbreaks? Will “the miss” one day be mentioned along the same vein as the shot, the drive, the decision, and the fumble? Probably.

But here’s the silver lining: as long as No. 23 is donning the Cavaliers wine and gold, Cleveland has a fighting chance.

For the Warriors, they dodged the Cavs’ golden (pun intended) opportunity to steal Game 1; and with the Kyrie injury, the Dubs have the fortuity to suck the life out of their wounded opponent over the upcoming contests.

With that in mind, here are five adjustments to watch for as we head into Game 2.

Next: The LeBron Pick-and-Roll