Irving, Thompson MIA so far for Cavs
BASKETBALL: Everything is on the table for Cleveland ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals
CLEVELAND — It’s circle the wagons time in Cleveland.
The Cavs slogan for this defending championship playoff run is “Defend the Land.”
The irony is that defending the Golden State Warriors, and by extension last year’s title, right now is one thing the Cavs don’t have any answers for.
LeBron James wasn’t prepared to say which way was best to knock some wind out of this juggernaut Warriors team.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to get into the ‘what we need to do better’ right now,” James said following a second humbling loss to the Warriors on Sunday night in Oakland.
“The game is too fresh. We’re going to go home and watch the film to see ways we can be better.”
Right now everything is on the table, whether that’s changes to the starting lineup or even changes to the rotations.
No one to this point other than James, and perhaps Kevin Love, has played to his capabilities.
Missing from that list and normally the second name mentioned behind James is Kyrie Irving, but through two games he has been made to look rather average by Klay Thompson, who is doing a great job defending him.
The other guy the Cavs really need to get contributing is Brampton, Ont. native Tristan Thompson.
Thompson has been a shell of the guy who dominated the boards at both ends of the court all season and leading up to the series against Golden State.
“They’ve been out there talking a lot about trying to keep a body on him, a couple of bodies on him,” James said. “He’s a big piece of our success and they know that, so they have neutralized that in the first two games.”
The travel that wasn’t called
Much was made of Steph Curry’s 13-dribble possession in which he turned LeBron James inside out before scoring on him at the rim in the second half of Game 2.
But upon closer examination, Curry can be seen putting a second hand on the ball after he’s taken it back outside and turns to make another run at the rim.
Elite ball handlers are always going to get the benefit the doubt from referees who are more concerned with the defender and focused on his hands rather than what the ball handler is doing.
Klay’s shot is back
Not that the Warriors needed another advantage to make Cleveland feel that much worse about itself, but previously struggling shooting guard Klay Thompson appears to have snapped out of a scoring funk in Game 2.
Thompson, a woeful 3-for-16 in Game 1, went 8-for-12 from the field and hit his first four three pointers of the Finals in Sunday’s win.
Quick hits
Game 2 marked the first time in NBA Finals history in which two players recorded a triple-double in the same game, and only the second time in overall NBA playoff history.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other time two players recorded a triple-double in the same playoff game was on April 13, 1970 in Game 2 of the Eastern Division Finals, when Milwaukee’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38 pts, 23 reb, 11 ast) and New York Knicks’ Walt Frazier (10 pts, 12 reb, 14 ast) both notched triple-doubles in the Knicks’ 112-111 win. Sunday it was James and Curry that did it.