3 Reasons The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Doomed
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers face a 2-0 series deficit against one of the best teams of all time, and it may be time to close the book on their title hopes for this season.
Game 2 of the NBA Finals was talked about as a “must-win” for the Cleveland Cavaliers after losing convincingly in Game 1. With the Golden State Warriors holding home-court advantage, they would need to steal at least one game in Oakland.
They needed to respond to Golden State’s first punch with an equal counterpunch.
Instead they took another shot from the Warriors, losing 110-77 in one of the worst postseason losses of LeBron James’ career. Draymond Green led the way for the Warriors with 28 points, including five three-pointers.
His final three seemed to be vintage Splash Brother, as he dribbled hard to his left and rose up in rhythm at the top of the arc.
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Leandro Barbosa continued his stellar play off the bench, regaining his “Brazilian Blur” speed on a few breakaway layups in the third quarter. Taking away a desperation three-pointer as the shot clock expired, Barbosa is 10-for-11 in the series.
When he has been on the court, the Warriors have outscored the Cavaliers by 35 points.
Everything seemed to come up roses for the Warriors, and both teams emptied the back of their benches for the final minutes. The Cavaliers go back home to Cleveland needing to win four of the next five games to take the title.
While mathematically still alive, three factors help to show that the Cleveland Cavaliers are doomed in the NBA Finals.
They Didn’t Just Lose — They Were Hammered
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The Cleveland Cavaliers face a 2-0 series deficit, something that has happened 270 times in NBA playoff history for a best-of-seven series. The team up 2-0 goes on to win 94 percent of the time.
But the Cavaliers are not the typical bad team that drops the first two games; they are one of the best teams in the league with the greatest player of his generation. In the NBA Finals, three teams who have started out in a 0-2 hole have come back to win, including the 2005 Miami Heat.
So there is a sliver of hope …
… that is thrown away by the way they have lost. The Cavaliers lost their first two games by a combined 48 points, the largest deficit in NBA Finals history. No team has ever come back from a 2-0 deficit after such a poor start. Not simply in NBA Finals history; in NBA playoff history.
Their Defense Isn’t Up For The Task
To win this series the Cavaliers would need to write history and perform better than any team in their position has before. To do that, they would need to shore up a porous defense.
The Cavaliers’ defensive strategy for the series has been clear — don’t let Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson get free. For the most part that would seem to have worked, as they have averaged only 14.5 and 13 points per game, respectively, through two games.
The problem is that their strategy has two major flaws. One is that it leaves space for the Warriors’ other players to score and they have stepped up to the task.
Draymond Green was the man in Game 2, after Harrison Barnes, Shaun Livingston, and Andre Iguodala took turns in Game 1. Leandro Barbosa has been nearly unstoppable through both games.
The other problem is that trapping Curry or Klay means the rest of the defense has to work on a string behind the play, closing off passing lanes and sticking with shooters while watching for backdoor cuts and screens.
They have utterly failed at the last, giving up a plethora of plays to open cutters.
Splash Brothers Are Yet To Strike
No amount of defensive strategy can keep the Warriors’ two best players quiet for long. Each enjoyed moderately successful Game 2s after poor showings in the first game, but neither has put an imprint on a game as they are wont to do.
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Klay Thompson’s long-range explosion saved the Warriors in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals and Stephen Curry closed out Game 7 with force. That was against an
team that played better defense with more length than this Cavaliers squad is capable of.
Even if the Cavaliers get more disciplined on defense, and shut down the role players, and figure out ways to score on offense, they still have to deal with the Splash Brothers. And they’re going to show up one of these games.
Over the last two postseasons, Stephen Curry has followed up every sub-20 point showing by scoring at least 23 points and four of the six times scoring 33 points or more. The only exception was Game 2, where he followed up an 11-point performance with only 18.
That means he is ready to explode in Game 3.
Klay Thompson is similarly primed to perform. He has hit six or more three-pointers six times this postseason, including the aforementioned Game 6 against the Thunder where he dropped in 11 three-pointers.
The depth and defense of the Warriors have carried them to two wins to begin the series. History tells us that the Cleveland Cavaliers are doomed, and the Splash Brothers are ready to drive that point home in the most emphatic of ways.