No synchronized splashes as of yet
The Warriors head into Game 5 of the NBA Finals with a comfortable advantage. They dominated the last game in Cleveland. They seem to have found a winning lineup on the court. And their bench is much deeper than that of the Cavaliers.
When you throw in home-court advantage over the final three games, the Warriors have a lot going their way. All that, and Golden State’s two best players have yet to play their best. If that comes
to pass, the Cavs could be finished.
The vaunted Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, have played well in what has been an entertaining and hard-fought series, now tied two games apiece. But neither player has had that transcendent shooting night that each put together on a regular basis all season. And they certainly haven’t caught fire in tandem.
Beyond the numbers
Statistically, the Warriors’ backcourt is averaging about the same numbers we saw all year. Curry averaged 23.8 points during the regular season, and is now pouring in 23.5 points per game in the Finals. Thompson has dipped from 21.7 points per game to 19.5.
The noteworthy difference has been that both have suffered big declines in threepoint shooting percentage. Curry’s average has sunk from 44.3 percent during the season to 36.3 in the Finals. Thompson has fallen further, dropping from 43.9 percent to 30.3.
Those are big declines for two gentlemen considered the best shooters in the game. And credit should be given to the Cavaliers’ relentless perimeter defense, which has found success trapping and doubleteaming Curry and Thompson.
But Warriors fans should be heartened by these numbers. It is highly unlikely the Splash Brothers will remain clunky. If they get their swish back, the final games could be blowouts.
“Well, we wouldn’t mind,” said head coach Steve Kerr, when asked whether he’d like his two stars to get hot in unison. “It doesn’t have to happen. But I think over time, the law of averages tend to balance out.”
So far, the two shooting stars have taken turns revealing glimpses of greatness. For their careers, the Warriors are 56-15 in regular-season games in which both score at least 20 points. But it’s happened only once in the four Finals games, and that was Game 1 when Curry went for 26 and Thompson 21. The Warriors won that game, but the two haven’t meshed since then.
Thompson scored 34 in Game 2, but Curry clanked his way to 19 points on 5-for-23 shooting. When Curry scored 27 in Game 3, Thompson sank only 6 of 16 shots, scoring 14 points.
Cavs ‘very concerned’
Those are a lot of numbers to digest, but the message is clear. The Warriors’ guards have yet to jell. And that has to scare Cleveland head coach David Blatt.
“First of all, very conscious and very concerned,” said Blatt, when asked about the surprisingly dissonant Splash Brothers. “You know they both have the ability to take and make tough shots, and they both have the ability to have a breakout game.”
“You can’t always guarantee that you can control that, but you can do little things and big things that limit them or at least make it difficult. That’s what we’ve got to keep doing.”
Thompson is cognizant that he’s not playing his best. And he told The Chronicle that he has talked to Curry about it. But this is a man who scored 37 points in a single quarter this season. He has one of the sweetest strokes in the league, and he knows he could get hot at any time.
“Hopefully, save the best for last,” said Thompson, at Saturday’s jam-packed shootaround and media melee at his team’s Oakland headquarters. “Obviously, their defense is geared toward limiting Steph’s shots. And they’re doing well with that.”
But for Game 5, Thompson made a promise: “We’ll both have big games.”
Plenty of backup
To the Warriors’ credit, the team is so deep that periodic scoring slumps from the two guards have not slowed the team. If anything, both Curry and Thompson have made the Cavs pay when Cleveland runs a big man out to the threepoint line to harass them.
Thompson “creates shots for others just by his presence on the floor,” said Curry, when asked about his backcourt mate’s impact on the Finals. “And that’s what makes our team great is you have threats everywhere and you have to choose your poison, basically, of who you’re going to rotate off of.”
Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton explained in more technical hoop terms.
Thompson is “just making the simple bounce pass to whoever is the roll man, and now we’re attacking four on three,” Walton said. “And it’s the same with Steph. They’re good enough to get a shot off whenever they want, but we’ve asked them to make the right play, to let other people attack and then keep moving. The ball eventually will get back to them. And when they do that, we feel like we get great open looks.”
So, these players can make a pretty serious ripple even if they aren’t splashing threes. But don’t count on that to continue. At some point, one or both should leave a memorable imprint on one of the remaining games. It very well could be Sunday.
“I don’t know what that signature Finals moment will be,” said Curry. “As long as we get four wins, that would be signature enough for me. But I hope to have an impact in that effort.”
Here’s guessing he and Thompson will do just that.