AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET!
Warriors cruising without Splash Brothers at best
OAKLAND, Calif. — Here’s a real uplifting thought for the Cavaliers.
They haven’t seen the Warriors’ best yet.
“The crazy thing is we can all play better,” Stephen Curry said.
Still the Cavs, down 0-2, have been outclassed and outplayed as the NBA Finals shift to Cleveland Wednesday for Game 3.
“There’s a lot we can improve on,” said the Warriors’ Andre Iguodala, last year’s Finals MVP who has been invaluable off the bench. “We got to stick to the same defensive intensity ... offensively, we feel like there’s still a lot of room to grow.”
That should warm the Cavs’ hearts.
In Game 1, the Warriors’ Splash Brothers backcourt of Curry and Klay Thompson shot a combined 8of-27 with 20 points. In Game 2, Curry encountered foul trouble and scored 18 points while Thompson managed 17. Those two games represented the only times in the playoffs where both of the guards scored under 20 points when both played.
Still, the Warriors won Game 1 by 15 points, 104-89, Thursday and Game 2 by 33 points, 110-77, Sunday. Draymond Green arose Sunday as the main player in a terrific cast. He hit five 3s, defended like a madman and scored 28 points.
“That’s what we’re about. If you watch us play, you know how we get the job done,” Curry said. “Everybody falls in love obviously with how me and Klay shoot the ball, and that’s a big part of what we do [but] over the course of the season and a playoff run, you need [everybody].”
The Warriors realize they have much more to do. Go back one series. In Oklahoma City, Golden State looked awful in falling behind the Thunder, 3-1, before rallying.
“It’s 2-0, so we did our job. We won our two home games ... we’re not celebrating,” said coach Steve Kerr, who admitted he was “definitely surprised” by the 33point spread of Game 2.
“The Oklahoma City series definitely made us stronger. It wasn’t a whole lot of fun, and we barely escaped,” Kerr said. “But we were able to capitalize on the momentum we built during that series, and by winning those three in a row, we’ve been able to carry it over to this series so far.”
The Thunder started their series using size and length for an advantage over the Warriors and later found some success with a smaller lineup. The Cavs have gone smaller — if using LeBron James, and two 6-foot-10 guys, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, is small. It has not worked.
“That’s the success that they’ve had up until this point. They said they want to run. I think it plays into our favor,” said Warriors backup Shaun Livingston, the Game 1 hero.
“Their small lineup was a lot faster than what ours was,” said Cavs coach Tyronn Lue.
So maybe the Cavs try something new.
“They might go big. You never know. But we’ll be prepared,” Klay Thompson said.
The Warriors have focused on James, who has had to shed blood, sweat, tears for everything he has done. In two games, the Warriors have 55 assists to the Cavs’ 32 (17 by James).
“We just tried to be as active as possible. We have a lot of speed on our team and like-sized players who can help, recover, switch,” Kerr said of defending James. “It’s a very difficult job because LeBron is so smart. He sees everything before it happens, and sometimes if you switch, he’ll read that and find somebody for a layup or he’ll attack at the exact right time to expose our defense.”
It helps having a defensive stud like Iguodala.
“We want Andre on the floor as much as possible,” Kerr said. “He’s one of the smartest players in the league, a great defender. He’s our best option on LeBron.”
Add it up and “It’s a great feeling being on our side,” Livingston said.
“We’re feeling confident,” Curry said, “but there’s no point in celebrating or jumping up and down and saying, ‘Look at us. We’re two games away from winning a championship.’”
Without playing their best yet.