In Oakland, California we saw two players come back in their MVP form. Kevin Durant had 38 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists and finished with 55% shooting from the field and 50% from three-point range. Steph Curry had 28 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds along with shooting 50% from the field and 54% from three. We could just sum up this game with saying that this game is the cause of these two player’s greatness. But there is more to a basketball game than just two guys. Here are several keys to the Warriors victory:
Turnovers/Assists
The Cavaliers really struggled on multiple levels regarding keeping, taking, and giving the ball. Let's first look at the turnovers. The Cavaliers turned the ball over 20 times last night, and of their 20 turnovers, 11 were live balls (Golden State steals), giving the Warriors transition opportunities. Golden State scored 17 points off of those 11 live-ball turnovers. All of this would be okay if the Warriors turned over the ball more or Cleveland stole the ball away from the Warriors. But the Warriors only had 4 turnovers, while Cleveland had zero steals. They weren't able to stress out the Warriors, and the Warriors sure stressed out the Cavaliers. If we have a takeaway from this game is the Warriors were never uncomfortable.
Paint Points
Although the Warriors are the best team in the restricted area, the Cavaliers really struggled to stop the Warriors in the paint. A lot of buckets came from covering the shooters on the outside instead of helping to cover the driver through the paint. Another problem that is huge is not covering Zaza Pachulia rolling to the paint, not being able to cover the back cuts, and simple one on one drives to the basket. They were too worried about the three point shot, and with that, it creates a lot of easy baskets. They the Cavaliers got outscored 56-30 in the paint. Not a good sign for the Cavs.
Fast Break Points/Transition Defense
27-9 was the margin of fast break points. The Warriors got out in transition like they want to and pushed the ball. The Cavaliers did a poor job on running back in transition whether it would be off of a miss or a live ball turnover. We also saw during the fast break them glue on to shooters rather than the person driving to the basket or rim running. Now part of this problem is just simply the Warriors are too good in transition, and the reason they're so good in transition is that they have those shooters. When Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are running to each corner while Kevin Durant stops on the at above the break while Draymond Green is driving to the basket and Zaza is running to the rim, it's massively hard to defend. But at some point you're going to have to pick your poison, are you going to allow an easy dunk, or leave a shooter open and hope someone can recover quick enough?
Role Players Not Playing Well
Cavaliers not named LeBron were 8-of-28 (28.6%) on uncontested field goals. This is abysmal. Three former Jazzmen really stunk up the bed last night. Deron Williams had zero points, 0-4 from the field, two turnovers, three personal fouls, and was a -8 last night. Kyle Korver was 0-3 from the field and three-point line, and a -8 last night. Richard Jefferson was 0-2 from the three-point line, had 5 personal fouls, and two turnovers. All three were very poor coming off the bench. Also, Tristan Thompson must've been focusing on Khloe Kardashian because he was horrible as well. If Zaza Pachulia is your matchup, you should be owning it.
It's only one game, these teams have blown each other out in most of the games in the finals. But it still is not a great sign if you're a Cavs fan or just simply a Cavs supporter. The Warriors looked like they should've been up by 20 at the half and were only up by 8. If we see the role players for the Cavaliers step up more than they did game one, we may see a closer game. I just don't see this Cavalier team being successful against the Warriors and the reason can be summed up with one name: Kevin Durant.
Prediction for game two: 103-97 Warriors. Updated series prediction: Warriors in 5.
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