Warriors haven’t counted Cavs out
OAKLAND, Calif. — There has been plenty of chatter that the underdog Cleveland Cavaliers could be completely deflated from the way they flopped against the Golden State Warriors in their NBA Finals opener Thursday night.
But with LeBron James involved, the Cavs are likely to turn up for Game 2 tonight in Oakland as determined and motivated as ever.
“It’s one of the toughest losses I’ve had in my career,” James acknowledged Saturday, “because of everything that kind of went on with the game and the way we played. Obviously, we all know what happened in the game.”
There were miscues aplenty, most notably by the Cavs’ J.R. Smith. He grabbed an offensive rebound in the final seconds of regulation, then dribbled back toward the half-court line in a tie game rather than shooting for a chance to win it. Smith later insisted he knew the score, though that remains a huge mystery.
The decision baffled a frustrated and stunned James, who signaled at his teammate with arms pointed toward the basket.
“The game’s over. There’s nothing we can do about it,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “We’ve got to move on, move forward.”
James has done so all postseason with an edge, intensity and ability to all-out carry the Cavs — to will them to win after win, if you wish.
Yes, with King James on the other side in this familiar June battle, Golden State knows much better than to fall into such a trap as believing the Cavs are down and out, even if the Warriors have some momentum as they seek their second straight title and third in four years.
The Warriors learned that lasting lesson two years ago, when James led the Cavs back from the brink — a daunting 3-1 series deficit — to capture a title in Game 7 on the Warriors’ home floor.
“I know it’s not the exact same team, but we had them down 3-1 a couple years ago. They might have been deflated, and they came back and won, so we’re expecting another great effort from them,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We’ve been through this too many times. We beat Houston on the road in Game 1 and the narrative was, you know, series is over.
“It seems to always be that way. There is just overreaction after a game.”
Golden State’s Draymond Green didn’t sugarcoat it, admitting his team caught some big breaks to win on a night James
scored 51 points.
“Sometimes you need a little luck,” Green said. “It’s good to be lucky sometimes. I’ll take it.”
Golden State forward Kevin Durant wants his team to remove the luck factor going forward. He even nitpicked the rebound Smith secured as a play he should have prevented.
“As you try to lock in on the details as much as possible, that luck factor — good luck, bad luck — you don’t have it creep in if you figure out the detail parts,” Durant said. “To be good at those parts of the game, then you don’t let the luck creep in.”
Golden State gave up 19 offensive rebounds in all while getting only four.
The Warriors know James is going to score his share of points. They just want to make it harder for him to get good looks, something that is a top priority going into tonight. James, in his eighth straight NBA Finals and ninth overall, shot 19-for-32 to go with eight assists and eight rebounds in Game 1.
“We’ve got to make them work harder in general,” Kerr said. “I thought our defense was subpar the other night.”
James said he was taking antibiotics and using eye drops after getting poked in the eye by Green in the first half. The outer area of James’ eye was still red Saturday.
Golden State defensive standout Andre Iguodala remained doubtful as he works back from a bone bruise in his left knee incurred in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals against Houston, an injury that has cost him the past five games.
The Warriors’ Klay Thompson expects to play, though he was listed as questionable with what he called a sprained left ankle. Smith slid into his left leg in the first quarter Thursday night, and Thompson was dealing with stiffness, swelling and more pain Saturday.
“It is a Finals game, and I’m going to do everything I possibly can to play,” Thompson said. “It’s something you definitely don’t want to have in the NBA championship.”
The Cavs got good news on a bad situation Friday when the NBA determined that big men Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson wouldn’t be suspended for their roles in a scuffle late in the opener.
The NBA fined Thompson $25,000 for failing to leave the court in a timely fashion and for his interaction with Green but downgraded the foul from a flagrant 2 to a flagrant 1. Love left the bench to argue the flagrant call and was on the court when the altercation started, but the league determined he didn’t warrant a suspension because he returned to the bench immediately.
That doesn’t mean NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to see a similar finish between the rivals who are meeting with the title on the line for the fourth consecutive season.
“I just think, especially when a game has been as hard-fought as that one, you don’t like to see emotions spilling over at the end,” Silver said. “You don’t like to see the chippiness. It didn’t from my standpoint necessarily get out of hand in that game, but I’ve been around this game long enough to know that even guys with best intentions, when provoked, they can easily cross a line that you don’t want them to cross.”