Golden State Warriors: 5 takeaways from Game 2 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Cavs beating themselves in battle of the bigs
The Warriors’ bigs match up poorly with Cleveland. Tristan Thompson can obliterate JaVale McGee and David West on the glass. Zaza Pachulia‘s lack of offense allows the Cavs to play more aggressive help defense, and none of the three are particularly good against the pick-and-roll (West is the best and McGee the worst).
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However, the Warriors can counter Cleveland’s bigs by going small. Rather than pitting his team’s strength against that of his opponent, Tyronn Lue has generally conceded his frontcourt advantage thus far. Thompson has played only 43 minutes total through two games.
In fact, in a desperate attempt to get more speed and firepower on the floor, Lue opted for James-at-center lineups when Love rested in the second half. Those lineups may have fared better if Deron Williams, Iman Shumpert, Kyle Korver and and J.R. Smith didn’t combine to go 3-of-17 from the field, but there are other more inherent problems with the Cavs amping up their small game.
For example, Irving, Williams and Korver are awful at defense. Secondly, the Warriors wings are huge, and guys like Shaun Livingston, Klay Thompson and of course Durant can dominate Cleveland’s wings in the post.
Most importantly, Tristan Thompson is Cleveland’s fourth-best player. If he can’t play in Lue’s mind, what is his team’s path to competing with Golden State’s superstar-studded small units?