Warriors rout overmatched Cavs in Game 2 of NBA Finals: Takeaways
Golden State is now two wins away from becoming back-to-back NBA champions.
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6 min read
The Golden State Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals on Sunday, and the gulf between the defending champions and the Cleveland Cavaliers appeared even bigger than it did in the opener. The Warriors broke the game open with a 20-2 run in the second quarter and won 110-77, led by Draymond Green's 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting, plus seven rebounds, five assists and only one turnover.
1. Green's summer of shooting pays off
After Green won his first championship in his breakout season, he vowed to come back a better player, with improved range on his shot. You could see the results of his offseason work when he made 42 percent of his 3-pointers before the All-Star break. He was less consistent in the second half of the season, though, and Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue decided he would take his chances letting Green launch away on the game's biggest stage. He might regret that now, and he might change things up on Wednesday.
Green did all the things he normally does in Game 2, but the 3-point shooting stood out. He knew Cleveland was going to give him those opportunities, and he knew he couldn't overthink or hesitate. He ended up going 5 for 8 from deep, including an uncharacteristic one going off the dribble against Richard Jefferson in the third quarter. Stephen Curry reacted like pretty much every Warriors fan when it went in:
"The way they're guarding us, Draymond's open a lot," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "He becomes our safety valve when there's pressure, he becomes an open shooter when they're jumping out at Steph or Klay [Thompson]. So it's a good situation for him. The way the series has played out so far, he's been in a pretty comfortable position. We like to play him at the top of the key as a passer, as a shooter, and so far he's been in a good spot."
A reminder: Green is still only 26 years old, and he is approaching his prime as not only one of the most versatile players in the league, but one of the best. His shot should continue to improve in the coming years. Much has been made of the fact that he was labeled a tweener coming out of college, but there was also concern that he had reached his ceiling because he had stayed in college for four years. That is a laughable criticism now that he has evolved into a fundamentally different offensive weapon.
2. LeBron James has some work to do
CBS Sports' Matt Moore wrote after Game 1 that James needed to be much better, despite his stat line. That did not happen -- this was the worst he has looked in the playoffs.
The numbers were a mixed bag: 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting, 1 for 5 from 3-point range, nine assists, eight rebounds, four steals, one block, seven turnovers. Like Green, he was given ample room to shoot from the perimeter. Unlike Green, he did not make the defense pay.
In the third quarter, when the Cavs needed to go on a run, James settled for a jumper with Leandro Barbosa on him. He committed an obvious traveling violation. He drove into traffic and turned the ball over. He airballed a 3-pointer.
It is not fair to put a blowout loss squarely on James' shoulders, but he has to either dominate individually or get his teammates going. That is much easier said than done against this Golden State defense, but he has been undeniably disappointing so far. He knows it.
"I'll figure out ways I can be better," James said. "Starting as soon as I leave this podium, I'll probably go back to the room and watch the game, rewatch ways I could have been better. I had a lot of uncharacteristic, unforced turnovers which resulted in those guys getting 26 points off turnovers. I'm one of the guys who kind of always wants to shoulder the blame and take the blame when we don't play as well as we should. It's just who I am. And I gotta be better."
3. Where are the Cavaliers' role players?
Credit Richard Jefferson. The 15-year veteran scored 12 points on six shots off the bench, and he played as hard as he possibly could on defense. The rest of Cleveland's supporting cast, though, looks pretty much lost. This is jarring to watch after seeing them destroy opposing benches throughout the postseason, and it is unclear if simply going home is going to fix it.
The Warriors are causing problems by switching all over the place and running the Cavs' shooters off the 3-point line. That was predictable going into the series, and Cleveland has not had any answers. Approaching this game, Lue said he needed the Cavs to push the pace so they could get some easier opportunities in transition. The results were disastrous; Golden State just ran Cleveland off the floor again.
After taking only three shots in Game 1, J.R. Smith scored five points on 2-of-6 shooting in Game 2. Channing Frye played only four minutes. Iman Shumpert was invisible on offense and sloppy on defense. Meanwhile, the Warriors are finding contributors up and down their roster.
James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are going to get most of the blame for what has gone wrong. Lue, though, needs to find a way to maximize everybody else. It is not shocking that Cleveland lost both games at Oracle Arena, but it is absolutely alarming it has crumbled like this.
4. The Cavs need to change things up
The entire 20-2 run came with Green playing center, and not once did Lue try to attack that lineup by going big and slowing the game down. For part of it, he matched it with James at center. Cleveland has not done much on the offensive glass, and it has not been able to make Golden State uncomfortable.
You can sort of understand why the Cavs are trying to play fast. Golden State's halfcourt defense is terrifying, and it does a better job than just about anybody of containing James and recovering two shooters. Only one team has managed to beat the Warriors at their own game, though, and the Cavaliers have nothing in common with the Oklahoma City Thunder. They can't win that way.
"Their small lineup was a lot faster than ours was," Lue said. "Being faster and being longer and athletic gave us some trouble, gave us some problems. So we gotta figure that lineup out and we'll be fine."
Sure, just figure out the death lineup. Super easy to do.
5. Is Cleveland doing anything right?
I'll say something nice about Cleveland: everybody is aware of Curry and Thompson. The duo combined for 35 points, and the Cavs are, for the most part, staying with them. The issue is that, with so much attention on them, Cleveland is susceptible elsewhere. It's not news that Green is one of the league's best playmakers, and it's not news that Golden State is great at screening, cutting and passing, but those things are particularly obvious now.
As easy as it is to say the Cavs should play more like they did last year, there is no guarantee that it would be successful. Lue correctly noted the Warriors were tougher and got to more 50-50 balls. Golden State also managed to make Cleveland's offense look stagnant. The Cavaliers, who entered the Finals with the best offensive rating in the playoffs, shot 35.4 percent.
"It's hard for me to kind of pinpoint what's not working and what could work right now," James said. "Obviously, not much is working."
James insisted he is not disappointed, nor frustrated. Lue said he was not discouraged. The Cavaliers, though, look nothing like they did against their Eastern Conference competition. If they start slowly in Game 3, it might be difficult to simply stay confident.
"Whenever we make a run, they stay the course, and whenever they make a run, we get erratic a little bit," Smith said. "They're just a better team right now."
