weinhauers_ghost
Postdoc
Posts: 2139
Age: 64
Loc: New York City
Reg: 12-14-09
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06-20-17 12:04 PM - Post#230215
In response to palestra38
The Warriors definitely wore Cleveland out with pace, and I'll agree that they didn't get much from their supporting cast. With the exception of game 4, they pretty much made Tristan Thompson disappear, Love didn't contribute consistently (and remains a defensive liability), and J.R. Smith did what he usually does: shoots his team into a game and then shoots it out of the game, often in the same game. Plus, even though he has the ability to be a good defender, he too often gets caught ball-watching, and ends up being beaten by a back cut.
Irving and LeBron played huge minutes all the way through, and it's really difficult to play that hard at both ends of the floor when those two are their team's primary offensive options.
I actually figured the game Cleveland played in Game 4 was the game they would have played in Game 3. As that third game went into crunch time, I was thinking that the Warriors definitely had another run coming, and the question was whether or not the Cavs could hold them off. Golden State can make a six or eight point deficit disappear in the blink of an eye. Game 4 turned out to be a death rattle.
As for the defense vs. fatigue question, I was actually looking at it from the start of the series. Klay Thompson was locked in defensively from the very start, and had much to do with the first two games being blowouts, even though he scored only modestly.
Edited by weinhauers_ghost on 06-20-17 12:08 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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