CAVS DIDN’T GET ENOUGH FROM RESERVE PLAYERS VS. WARRIORS
What was supposed to be a strength did little vs. Warriors.
One year ago Kyrie Irving delivered a game-winning jumper to beat the Golden State Warriors, another signature moment for him in the league’s best rivalry and a Christmas gift to all Clevelanders.
A Warriors nuis a nce, Irving is no longer around. He’s in Boston now, helping lead the Celtics to the Eastern Conference’s second-best record.
The trade-off for the Cavs: increased depth. That was supposed to help them better match the Warriors, whose “Strength in Numbers” mentality was simply too overwhelming in June.
Players have changed. But the story is the same.
Cleveland’s bench, which came into the game as the NBA’s sixth-most productive group, wasn’t good enough.
Dwyane Wade, the leader of the Bench Mob, making his debut in this high-level clash, scored 13 points on an inef- ficient 4-of-11 from the field and 1-of-4 from 3-point range in Monday’s 99-92 loss. He added five rebounds, four assists and three steals, his usual winning plays. But no player had a worse plus-mi- nus and the advantage Cleve- land has had during this hot streak was negated.
“Obviously both teams missing key guys, but the guys that were out there, it definitely didn’t feel just like another game,” Wade said. “It was intense. It’s Christmas Day, competitors were out. It came down to the end. It was fun. So I got the first one out of the way and we look forward to the next one.”
The start-of-the-second- quarter quintet — Wade, Kyle Korver, Cedi Osman, Jeff Green and Tristan Thompson — scored five points on 1-of- 12 from the field in nearly six minutes. That’s an ugly offensive rating of 44.2. It’s a small sample size, of course, but still stunning to watch one of Cleveland’s strengths look so sickly.
Korver, the Cavaliers’ grav- itational pull, was once again minimized by Golden State’s defensive vice grip. Hounded everywhere he went, the Warriors’ switch-everything defense kept Korver from even getting looks at the rim. He finished with three shot attempts, matching his lowest number since Open- ing Night against the Celtics when Korver played just seven minutes.
On Monday, Korver finished with three points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting from beyond the arc. On the defensive end, he was again one of the Warriors’ primary targets.
It was just one game and Korver’s unquantifiable importance has been writ- ten about numerous times. But this is clearly an uncomfortable matchup for him.
In seven games against Golden State since being acquired in a midseason trade last January, Korver is averaging 5.1 points on 11-of-32 (34.3 percent) from the field and 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) from 3-point range.
“We just didn’t make shots,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said of the bench struggles. “We know they switch everything, switch a lot of things. We’ve just got to take advantage of it. But I’m not concerned, no.”
Forget making shots, Korver can’t generate enough room to even launch.
Green played his worst game of the season. Green tallied a season-low three points on 1-of-6 from the field. He also committed three fouls and a turnover in 20 minutes.
Thompson once again looked out of place, restrict- ing the Cavaliers’ offense and failing to provide enough defense or rebounding to justify his role.
And as Lue has shown in the past, he still doesn’t trust Channing Frye against Golden State. Frye, a key piece of the rotation over the last month and necessary floor spacer, didn’t receive any playing time. He has been a DNP in five of the last six games against the reign- ing NBA champs.
In all, the bench, averag- ing better than 40 points per night, scored 21 on 6-of-26 (23 percent) from the field and 3-of-7 (42.8) from 3-point range. None of the five play- ers finished with a positive plus-minus and the Cavs were outscored by six points in the eight minutes with LeBron James on the sidelines.
Just a few months ago, the Cavs crumbled each time James rested. The enigmatic reserves never outscored Golden State’s crew and lost the overall production battle by 53 points. It was one of many issues during a lop- sided championship series.