View from Cleveland:
Tough one to watch
Watching this made me angry.
Not because the Cavaliers lost 113-91 to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday in the opening game of the NBA Finals.
Golden State was at home and the Warriors are outrageously talented.
But at the end of the first quarter, Golden State had seven dunks. That’s right, seven slams! By halftime, it was 11 dunks. Eleven of the Warriors 26 field goals were … dunks!
The Cavs were driving me nuts by absolutely, positively refusing to stop the ball when Kevin Durant was driving down the middle of the floor.
They were so worried about defending outside shooters such as Stephen Curry on the threepoint line that they allowed Durant to go right to the rim. Dunk. Dunk. Dunk. The Warriors are a wonderful three-point shooting team. But guess what? They are even better when they keep driving to the rim for wide-open dunks.
Durant had six dunks … in the first half !
Meanwhile, a frustrated LeBron James had seven turnovers … the second most turnovers in a half for his entire career, according to ESPN.
James often drove to the rim, then tried to pass cross-court to an open shooter.
Golden State was playing what amounted to a two-man zone on the opposite side of the court when James was looking to pass. And pass after pass after pass was picked off.
The Cavs probably thought they were ready for this, but the game delivered a much different message.
The sloppy, lazy defense that too often was on display during the regular season appeared in this game — and was exploited by the Warriors. The Cavs were late getting back on defense, sometimes complaining to officials while the Warriors were delivering rim-rattling dunks at the other end of the court.
In the first half, Tristan Thompson was on the court for 16 minutes and had one rebound.
That’s one rebound in 16 minutes!
That’s ridiculous for a player whose main job is to rebound.
James had a big scoring night (28 points) and he grabbed 15 rebounds. He also had as many turnovers (eight) as assists (eight). He was frustrated for much of the evening. He knew he was making some poor passes. He also was upset with the officials and the general lack of effort on defense.
But James seemed to sink into the same malaise. He made some turnovers and then didn’t even bother to run back on defense.
Kevin Love hit the boards for a game-high 21 rebounds and 15 points. Kyrie Irving scored 24 points.
But they were overwhelmed by Durant (38 points) and Curry (28 points). The Warriors had 27 fastbreak points.
The last time the Cavaliers played at Oracle Arena was not Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. It was a Jan. 16 regular-season game. The Cavs were embarrassed by the Warriors 126-91. The Warriors were in front 78-49 at the half.
“We didn’t come out with the right mind-set and they kicked our butts,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said of that game earlier in the week.
He added, “The guys understand if we’re not ready to play, if our minds are not right, the same thing could happen again.” It basically happened again. James has a 1-7 record in opening games of the NBA Finals. His only victory was in 2011. His Miami Heat beat Dallas in the opener, but they lost the series to the Mavericks.
So one game is just that … one game.
But it’s a game that showed the Cavs that they better shape up, especially on defense.