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

3. Kyrie Is A Problem

In the first two games of this series, the Cleveland Cavaliers seemed to be a contest of which LeBron James co-star deserved more criticism.

Kevin Love had been a non-factor on offense and a glaring weakness on defense, but Kyrie Irving hadn’t been much better, averaging 18.0 points and 2.5 assists per game on 12-of-36 shooting from the floor and 1-of-7 shooting from three-point range.

Even worse, his points had come on a heavy number of isolation sets, killing Cleveland’s offense with his ball-stopping play and ineffective shooting. The poor shooting changed for the better back in Game 3, but in Game 5, it reached what the Warriors are hoping will be its climax.

Kyrie is still fighting an uphill battle with all these isolation plays against a top-five defense, but the difference in the last three games is those shots have been falling.

Since the series shifted to Cleveland for Game 3, Irving is averaging 35.0 points and 6.0 assists per game on .558/.500/.900 shooting splits. He’s gotten to the basket, gotten to the foul line, knocked down tough midrange jumpers and drilled contested three-pointers.

Basically, he’s given the Warriors a taste of what it feels like to play against Stephen Curry, demoralizing the Dubs with the kind of back-breaking, impossible shots that the Warriors are used to dishing out to other teams.

In Game 5, Irving had a historic night, dropping 41 points on 17-of-24 shooting. He drained five of his seven three-pointers, attacked the rim with ferocity and added in three rebounds, two steals and a block for good measure.

LeBron James was the catalyst behind Cleveland’s victory Monday night, but we already know what he can do after seeing it in last year’s Finals as well. The big question mark was how his co-stars would fare, and as the series has worn on, Kyrie has stepped into the spotlight.

Whether he was matched up with Curry or Klay Thompson, it didn’t matter in Game 5. With Irving reaching the 30-point threshold in each of the last three games, the Dubs are going to have to find a way to take him out of his rhythm and hold him to 20-25 points if they want to close things out in Game 6.

Next: No. 2