Cleveland Cavaliers: It’s All Or Nothing Against The Warriors

The Cleveland Cavaliers will play Game 5 on Monday at Golden State. If they lose, their season will be over, making them 0-3 in the NBA Finals.

Well, here it is.

The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves one game away from elimination and the Golden State Warriors are a win away from their fifth championship in franchise history. It has been a series of defensive lapses and runs.

Thus far, it won’t go down as one of the best Finals in NBA history, but potentially as one of the more frustrating ones for fans of both teams.

Games 1,2 and 4 were blowouts for the Warriors while Game 3 was lopsided in favor of the Cavaliers. There hasn’t been one competitive game that has lasted 48 minutes.

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It could be due to lack of defensive prowess, or for the terrible officiating that has been going on for both teams. Either way, it’s not the series that we all expected.

That could all change Monday night.

On Sunday, the NBA suspended Draymond Green for one game after he picked up a Flagrant 1 foul, his fifth during the postseason. It comes after LeBron James and Green got into an altercation towards the end of the fourth quarter.

Green and James appeared to get tangled up at half-court and as Green fell down, James stepped over him while Green appeared to get up at the same time under him. Green took exception to it and swatted at James. That’s where things heated up.

In the last series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Green was assessed flagrant fouls after kicking Steven Adams in the groin on two separate occasions.

He has also had a number of questionable antics that officials have taken a blind eye to during the playoffs.

A suspension was long overdue and the NBA finally did something right during the Finals.

While Green being out should give the Cavaliers an advantage, I fear that the Warriors won’t miss a beat. Coach Steve Kerr will likely insert Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup and he has given the Cavaliers all sorts of problems during the series.

He’s averaging 10 points per game and is shooting 50 percent from the field.

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However, he isn’t only scoring. He’s played almost flawless defense on James. His length and ability to steal the ball has taken James out of his rhythm within the game. It seems like Iguodala struggles against other teams, but when it comes to the Cavaliers, he’s

.

The biggest thing the Warriors will miss with Green is how he sets the tempo on both sides of the ball. He’s the free safety of the team. He guards the best players on each roster and is a streaky, consistent scorer.

Any time a clutch shot is needed within the post or perimeter, he seems to be the one to finish it.

While that factor will be a concern for the Warriors, Green is also the best on the team at pick-and-roll and screen rolls. A lot of the Warriors offense comes from Green and others setting screens for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to hit open shots.

That will definitely be missed in Game 5.

In other words, the Cavaliers must take advantage of this opportunity to get back into the series. I look for James and Kyrie Irving to continue to have good games, but J.R. Smith is going to be key. He is really going to have to find his stride.

When he’s making three-pointers and playing tough defense, it’s nearly impossible to beat this team, as we saw in Game 3.

Just as Kerr did in Game 4 giving James Michael McAdoo playing time, coach Tyronn Lue must go deeper into the rotation. Why not let Jordan McRae play valuable minutes? Why not let Dahntay Jones defend Curry or Thompson?

Mo Williams or James Jones aren’t capable of hitting a big three-point shot?

With potentially just one game to go, Lue has to pull out all of the stops and not be stubborn. He should also play Timofey Mozgov more minutes. When he played in Game 3, he completely took Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut out of their games.

He’s had an abysmal season, but his size causes a matchup nightmare for Kerr.

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The Cavaliers must also stop switching on defense. They had it controlled in Game 3, but went right back to their old ways in Game 4.

If they would just play their man one-on-one, it would make it tougher for Golden State to expose the mismatches, especially as it pertains to Kevin Love and Irving.

No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. But with the talent the Cavaliers have, they can be the first team to do it.

Most people wrote off the Warriors last series when the Thunder had them down 3-1, so why can’t the Cavaliers make a comeback?  Cue the “Because it’s Cleveland” jokes that we’re all tired of hearing.

I believe that the Cavaliers will play much better and force a Game 6 back at Quicken Loans Arena. I think Lue will finally realize the potential of this team and do what it takes for this do-or-die game.

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Monday night will be very good or very disappointing for the Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland.