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In one of the best games of the 2018 NBA playoffs, the Cavaliers almost had the Warriors beaten before succumbing to a 10-point defeat in overtime. Despite a monster outing from LeBron James, the Cavaliers ran out of gas by the end of regulation and got outscored 17-7 in the extra period. This was perhaps their best chance to win a game at the Oracle Arena, which had hundreds of unsold seats left over this time around.
Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson each had over 24 points, while Draymond Green finished an assist shy of another postseason triple-double. It is hard to imagine the Warriors dropping another game in the manner that they were so close to doing against this iteration of the Cavaliers.
Most of it can be put down to the absence of Iguodala from the starting lineup. Kevon Looney had a lackluster game for the most part, and Steve Kerr had David West, JaVale McGee and Jordan Bell all on the floor for periods longer than we're used to seeing in these playoffs.
Let's take a look at the 5 talking points from this game:
#1 LeBron James scores a playoff career high in points
LeBron James now has a 1-8 record in Game 1s of NBA Finals. The latest defeat in a sequence of 7 successive losses comes on the back of an outing which was 10/10 even by LeBron standards.
James scored 51 points on just 32 shots, with a field goal accuracy of 59.4%. His previous playoff career-high was a 49-point game against the Brooklyn Nets in the 2014 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
On this night, James was just unstoppable. He continuously forced switches from the Golden State defense, and he avoided coverages by Durant this way. Mostly, he took Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Shaun Livingston apart off the dribble, and he even started out hot from the 3-point line.
His constant scoring punch allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to stage a comeback in the 4th quarter after getting outplayed in the 3rd.
#2 The plays that led to overtime
Kevin Durant was charged with an offensive foul with 36.4 seconds left on the clock. It looked like the correct call on first look, but the officials reviewed it and overturned it into a blocking foul on James. The replays were inconclusive, with James being clearly outside the restricted area, although there were doubts about whether he'd established position.
Durant made both his free throws, Cleveland got a quick layup on one end and Curry made an and-one at the other to put Golden State up by one point with 23.5 seconds left. Golden State defended the last Cavaliers possession of the game well for about 18 seconds before Klay Thompson allowed George Hill inside the pain on a cut before pushing him. The Cavs were in the bonus, and Hill had 2 free throws to put the Cavs ahead by one with 4.7 seconds left.
Hill made his first one but missed his second free throw. JR Smith collected the offensive rebound but was unable to get a shot off in time with Golden State's defenders hounding him all the while.
The game, thus, was tied at 107-107 at the end of regulation.
#3 Cleveland's advantage on the boards
The Cavaliers were able to hang with the Dubs through 48 minutes because of their dominance in the battle for control of the glass. They held the Warriors to just 4 offensive rebounds through the course of the game while getting 19 of their own, and they capitalized on their second-chance opportunities while restricting the Warriors' fast-paced transition play.
Larry Nance Jr came on as a substitute, and he had a commendable showing with 9 points on 6 shots while grabbing 11 rebounds (4 of them came on the offensive glass, this matches the Dubs' total for the entire rotation). Kevin Love was off from 3-point range, but his 13 rebounds were a game-high.
The rest of the Cavs chipped in as well, with LeBron getting 8 rebounds of his own, while JR Smith and Tristan Thompson had 5 & 6 respectively. The highest rebounding total for anyone on the Warriors were Draymond's 11, and other than Durant with 9, none of them were up to the task of keeping the Cavs off the glass.
#4 Offensive struggles for both teams
The Cavaliers started the game off well, primarily on the strength of LeBron's 12-point first quarter. But their field goal percentages per quarter dwindled from 55% in the first quarter to 44.4% by the end. This was because they kept getting the same kind of looks throughout the game, and the Warriors came into their own defensively to hold them to lower point totals in each period.
The clutch time offense for the Cavaliers was reduced to finding a mismatch for LeBron and getting him isolation plays on those defenders. He started off 11-for-13 in the game, but he went on to finish 19-of-32 as coach Lue was unable to scheme him good looks later on in the game.
The Warriors, for their part, relied too much on Kevin Durant's isolation plays early in the game. Durant took a long while to get hot, and he shot an inefficient 8-of-22 for the night.
#5 Is this game an aberration or an indicator of things to come?
The Warriors have to count themselves as lucky for coming away with a win here. If George Hill made his second free throw, they would've had to come up with an imaginative play to win it. Instead, Hill missed, JR melted down in the final seconds and the Warriors cantered to a 10-point victory in overtime.
What remains to be seen in this series is whether KD's shot remains off. In the past, he's shown to onlookers that he can bounce back from off-games like this. The Warriors will be buoyed by JaVale McGee's impact during the time that he was on the floor, and an adjustment could be made to provide him more minutes.]
The Cavs, on their part, shot lower than their usual percentages. Jordan Clarkson, JR Smith and Jeff Green will need to be a whole lot better than this for them to make a contest out of this series. Kyle Korver could do with a lot more minutes, considering his imminent offensive threat and his reliability in comparison to Clarkson and Smith.
They can't rely on their rebounding superiority for much longer, so they have to find other ways to get the job done.
Guess the Lakers players!
