James Harden drives to the hole and the half-baked double is effective because it can choke up the passing angles and swipe at the ball as the offensive player barrels in to score. Hence the high volume of errors, primarily to the ball handler who ends up dribbling for 14 seconds before settling for a jumper or lose the ball where there used to be a foul call waiting. With Lebron backing in, he is able to track his team mates and protect the ball. The help comes in late, and it’s usually the big guy, giving the Cavs a free rebounder if LBJ misses. And he almost cashed in every time. 65% of the time. And that was the Cavs’ plan. GSW got length but not strength to withstand that type of eruption. The also had 8 turnovers up to the closing minutes of the fourth. Curry is relatively well within a low impact performance.
Then Cleveland got lazy. In the last period, they got comfortable with watching the playmaker set the tables, they all got stagnant. With LBJ taking his rest, they looked to Kyrie dazzle the Oracle. Only Timofey Mozgov got to his scoring average. There were not enough touches to get the shooters warm and of course, Steph Curry happened. The Cavs kept on switching Tristan Thompson on him and Steph obliged on dealing Tristan his MVP moves. He did not miss. On the other end, at 44 points, the King seem to have gotten bored with the paper thin defense and he tried to challenge himself by shooting fadeaways. He made none. He made Iggy look good. He relied on muscle memory and arena familiarity as he took a back step J. This, instead of punishing Steve Kerr’s guard the passing angle, not the lane stance.
By overtime, the law of averages kicked in, all in favor of the Warriors. Low shooting percentages tends to go cruelly low when there are not enough attempts prior, unless you’re Mo’ Buckets Speights.
Jordan has said it before, about LeBron finding heart as his to dominate completely with the desired result. The Heart for winning. But LeBron has constantly branded himself as a smart player, a player who sees the big picture that usually involves the rest of the team captured in the landscape. He knows what’s lacking. This is why he’s back in Cleveland. And as if to feed his flair for the dramatic, Kyrie’s season is over. Will he win for Cleveland this year? The hecklers would be on his case again if he doesn’t because they know, even if they won’t admit it, every time he goes to the big stage the big trophy is his for the taking. And this is a journey that should be punctuated by his desire.
danDAman 