Cleveland Cavaliers: It’s all in the line on Game 3 of the 2017 NBA Finals

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 2 of the 2017 NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, 132-113.  With this being a different team and year, Game 3 is a must-win game for the Cavs.

Wow.

That’s all I can say after the past two games played by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. It’s amazing what difference a year can make for some teams.

The Cavaliers got better by trading for bench depth and focusing on speeding up the tempo of the offense. It’s a process that still needs improvement, but fans saw the progression throughout the first three rounds of the postseason.

The Warriors? They added Kevin Durant.

The Dubs lost a lot of their depth between Marreese Speights, Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa, Brandon Rush, and starter Andrew Bogut. However, the acquisition of Durant more than mitigated those losses.

KD has been a man possessed in the first two games of the Finals. He’s scored 71 points total in both contests, averaging 35.5 points per game. The Cavaliers thus far have no answer for him.

They’ve tried to put LeBron James on him, but it’s worked to no avail. They tried Iman Shumpert, hoping that he would have the same success against him as he did Paul George, but it’s failed. They can’t afford to double-team him, because that will allow the Cavs to get beat by Golden State’s other weapons.

It’s been chaos.

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The only player that I can see potentially being able to guard Durant one-on-one is Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. They both have similar games, and are both seven-footers. Don’t let the listed heights of 6’9″ and 6’11” fool you.

On top of that, Klay Thompson came out of his shooting funk in Game 2, adding another dynamic to the fast-paced offense of Golden State.

It’s definitely a mountain to climb for the Cavaliers, but it’s not insurmountable.

The end results looked a lot worse than what happened during the game. Yes, the Cavaliers were outplayed terribly, and looked like a YMCA junior league team at times, but it’s not as bad as people are making it out to be.

The Cavaliers missed a lot of open shots. Kevin Love missed about four attempts at an easy layup. Give credit to the Warriors defense, but at 6’10”, he has to make those shots.

Kyrie Irving, who struggled for most of Game 2, missed easy, open-lane layups, and shots in general. They also played atrociously on the defensive end.

I don’t know how many times they left Stephen Curry, Thompson or Draymond Green wide open to hit the easy three-point attempt. Then when they contained the perimeter, it left Durant open to penetrate to the hole at will.

It was just too easy for them.

It also didn’t help that the Cavs’ bench has been a nightmare since Game 1. In two games, they’ve scored only 51 points total, but most of those have come when the score was out of reach. They aren’t impacting the game in the early quarters, which could be the difference.

Deron Williams and Kyle Korver are playing like the moment is too big for them. Channing Frye is getting pushed around by JaVale McGee and Zaza Pauchila. I had Frye as the X-factor for the series since he’s a big that can stretch the offense and shoot, but he’s been a non-factor.

It also doesn’t help that J.R. Smith has scored three points total in both games. He’s a combined 1-for-4 from three-point range, and 1-for-6 shooting overall.

The problems the Cavs are having are fixable, but it must start in Game 3 Wednesday night.

The first thing that should happen is a lineup change. Shumpert should start for Smith, but according to CBSSports.com, coach Tyronn Lue already rule that out. Smith will still be the starter — for right now.

Shumpert came in and gave the team energy in Game 2. He still struggles to make shots, but he helped try to set the tempo defensively.

Lue also needs to consider letting Derrick Williams get an opportunity to play big minutes, instead of in garbage time. Putting another big body out there against Durant besides James could change things. It could tire him out going up against the size and strength of both forwards..

I don’t know if he has something against Williams, but I almost lost it when he put Dahntay Jones in over him in Game 2. Nothing on Jones, but Williams would be more impactful at this point in his career.

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But this is the biggest thing. The Cavaliers MUST stop playing under the screen rolls, and running into picks. They’re not doing anything differently than they did last year’s NBA Finals. The only difference is Durant is on the team.

I lost count of how many times Love and Tristan Thompson fell for the switches with opposing Warriors players — let alone Shumpert at times. They keep falling for the same sets and plays, and they keep getting the same result.

They also must rebound and capitalize on second chance opportunities. Thompson has been great at that all postseason, but the Warriors have completely shut that down. He’s getting double-teamed every time he tries to get an offensive board.

As I’ve said for the past few years, his size is a huge factor. He just doesn’t have enough length at 6’9″ to go up against the 6’11” Pauchila, or 7’0″ McGee. They’re just as strong and tough as he is.

Even Stephen Curry is getting cheap rebounds against him. He really has to step it up in order for this team to have a shot. He has eight total rebounds in both games. Curry has 16. Who’s playing center and who is the guard?

Cleveland also has to slow the pace down. The Cavs are not going to beat the Warriors with transition offense. Golden State doesn’t have the best transition defense, but it’s effective enough to make a difference.

James has said they won’t change the pace, but they’ll be forced to. This is no time to be stubborn. Whatever changes have to be made should be done immediately.

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A lot of Cavs fans harken back to last years Finals when they were down 2-0. While it’s the same scenario, this is a different team. The Warriors didn’t have Durant last season. They couldn’t keep Thompson off the offensive boards.

James just had to worry about Green and Curry, while Smith and Shumpert handled Thompson. Irving was able to do what he wanted on the offensive end without having to worry about the defensive end of things.

A lot has changed.

I originally picked the Cavs to win in seven games, and I’m sticking by that. But if they fail to win Wednesday, it could be the end.

They have to win Game 3 in order to stay alive against this team. They’ll finally have the crowd behind them at Quicken Loans Arena, and must feed off that energy. I believe they will win on Wednesday, but they have to play near perfect basketball to do so.

Next: Cleveland Cavaliers - 5 adjustments for Game 3 of NBA Finals

The pieces are there for the team to succeed, now they must execute the plan.