Perfect night for McGee, Livingston
JaVale McGee and Shaun Livingston sail below the radar in most NBA Finals conversations, but check out this stat: McGee and Livingston, combined, are 17-for-18 from the field through two games against the Cavaliers.
And the only miss: McGee’s flubbed dunk in Game 1, when the rim rejected him with no Cleveland players in sight.
“Oh, wow — that’s crazy,” Warriors teammate Draymond Green said. “That’s hilarious.”
General manager Bob Myers, standing in one corner of the locker room after Sunday’s 122-103 victory in Game 2, chuckled — loudly — upon learning McGee and Livingston are perfect when defended by actual human beings.
Myers also found significance in the efficiency of these two players. The Cavs obviously are spending most of their time trying to devise ways to slow All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Green.
This naturally creates openings for teammates of the Core Four, and McGee and Livingston are taking full advantage.
“They’re good at playing off the other guys,” Myers said. “They’re smart. JaVale is making it simple on himself. At his size, he requires a body on him. And with Shaun’s intelligence, he’s able to kind of find the nooks and crannies of the defense.
“So both of them have been really good. And we’ve needed them because those other four guys attract so much attention, there are holes in the defense, and those guys (McGee and Livingston) exploit them.”
McGee started Sunday, replacing Kevon Looney at center. This marked the first change in Golden State’s lineup since Andre Iguodala banged knees with James Harden in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals against Houston. Looney had started the five previous games.
The change clearly worked: McGee scored 12 points in 18 minutes, on 6-for-6 shooting from the field (five dunks and a layup). Livingston also didn’t miss, making all five of his shots from the field to score 10 points in 15 minutes.
So, through two games of the Finals, McGee and Livingston have combined to score 36 points — a blown dunk away from perfection.
Here’s the crazy part: McGee played only three minutes in the entire West finals. Head coach Steve Kerr didn’t want to use him because of Houston’s isolation offense, so Kerr leaned on Looney and Jordan Bell, both of whom are better at switching onto guards.
On Sunday, against the Cavs, Kerr felt comfortable starting McGee.
“Just to get more scoring at that position,” Kerr said. “JaVale is so explosive, and just with the way he runs, it gives us some pace and energy. I thought he did a great job.”
McGee was active and engaged from the outset Sunday, moving without the ball and looking for passes from his teammates. The same was true of Livingston, especially in a telling stretch midway through the second quarter.
The Warriors led 40-36 before he made one of his signature mid-range jump shots. Then he took a pass from Curry and drove for a difficult, left-handed layup. Curry hit a three-pointer, and suddenly the lead was 47-36.
This offered another reminder of the contrast in skill sets between Curry and his backup. Curry has taken 638 threes in 2017-18, between the regular season and playoffs. Livingston’s total: six.
Put another way, he knows his role. That’s the explanation Livingston gave for his 9-for-9 shooting line in these Finals.
“That’s just taking good shots,” he said. “A lot of those are layups and dunks, so it’s just being in the right place at the right time.”
As for McGee, he found out Saturday that he would start Game 2. He made 17 starts in the regular season, so he understands how to coexist with his four All-Star teammates.
“Teams are focused on Klay, KD and Steph scoring,” McGee said, “so it makes it a lot easier on me.”