Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 2 vs. Cavaliers

5. The Warriors Are The Better Team

You could probably sum up the entire series with this one bullet point, so let’s not beat around the bush: The Golden State Warriors are — convincingly — the better team in the 2016 NBA Finals.

They say that a playoff series doesn’t truly begin until the road team wins a game, and by that tried and true adage, the Cavs are still in this thing. All they have to do is go home and protect home-court where they’re a perfect 7-0 this postseason, right?

Unfortunately, they’re coming off back-to-back losses by a combined 48 points — the largest point differential through the first two Finals games in NBA history — against a Warriors team that hasn’t even enjoyed a single 20-point game from either one of the Splash Brothers yet. GULP.

On the defensive end, the Cavs just aren’t disciplined enough to keep up. On the offensive end, too many role players have disappeared, LeBron James hasn’t taken his game to the superhuman level it needs to be at and the Warriors’ top-five defense has been positively stifling.

Cleveland’s role players have a better chance of regrouping at home, but at this point, a sweep feels like it’s very much in play.

The Warriors have beaten this Cavs team seven straight times dating back to last year’s Finals — the longest streak any team has ever had against a LeBron James team — and their last three wins have come by a combined 82 points.

When I made my Finals prediction of “Warriors in five games,” I feared I was being disrespectful.

It turns out I might have been right about that…I just may have disrespected the wrong side.

Next: No. 4