The Warriors Won That Game Two Years Ago
Did they have a time machine? No. Is Joe Lacob working on one? Probably.
The Cavs first unit looked predictably stale against the Warriors, but they were able to manufacture points in the half court with some predictable LeBron back downs and hustle stat second chance points. The Fighting LeBrons were able to bully-ball the Warriors for easy buckets. Kyrie was able to get to the rim early and often, which is something that has plagued the Warriors all season. Guards that can create their own shots and get to the rim have punished the Dubs.
Not to mention that the Cavs were able to stymie the splash brothers normal barrage of soul crushing 3s. Because of good defense, some lucky breaks, and having a cyborg on their team the Cavaliers were able to keep the game close going into half time. Cleveland came into the third quarter only down 9, and took the lead with a Kevin Love basket at the 4 minute mark in the third. Was this the Cavs team that could finally do it?
Then came a cosmically ordained nut punch from Delly. Sorry Iguodala, there is only one person you can blame for this, and it’s clearly Draymond Green. Iggy came out of the 15 minute flagrant foul review (it at least felt that long, thankfully I was working on some chips and salsa) and then dropped a 3 to console himself. That’s when it happened, well at least that’s when it came to fruition.
The Cavs lost because Shaun Livingston rained down mid-level jumpers on their second unit. And like Trump’s march to Cleveland, no one could stop him.
Many scoffed at the Dubs signing of Livingston 2 years ago. A promising young prep to pro standout who mesmerized scouts and NBA veterans alike with his great handles and amazing court vision. But much like me, his NBA career appeared that it would be cut short buy a gruesome leg injury that I still can’t handle watching (only half of that sentence is made up). Livingston still wasn’t a proven commodity in the summer of 2014 when he showed up in the Bay. Sure he had taken the Brooklyn *Nots deep in the playoffs, but there was still no guarantee his knee could hold up to the minutes and games he would have to play over a whole season to back up the also notoriously fragile Steph Curry.
Fast forward to Thursday night in the Bay.
The Cavs tried hard. Like real hard. And their game plan worked. They bottled up Curry and Thompson, or their shots just weren’t falling. Cue the knuckleheads saying that Steph probably isn’t over his nagging leg injuries…smh.
But it didn’t matter. By the time Steph came back into the game for Livingston with 6:08 left in the 4th it was over. And no amount of iso ball was going to save the Cavs.
We can take the shooting regression from the Cavs and specifically JR as a temporary aberration, or as a testament to the quality of the Warriors D. But if it continues the Cavs will be lucky to steal a game. Not to mention what will happen if the Splash Brothers release their typical morale annihilating thermonuclear three-point barrage. It will be an unholy sight. Maybe Kyrie’s historically bad defense and unnecessarily difficult layups can save them? Maybe?
History says there is a 71% chance the warriors win the series because they took game 1. The eye test says there is a 100% chance the Warriors win the series after they stole a game from Cleveland with a combined 20 points from the Splash Brothers.
But Steph and Klay’s output didn’t matter, the Warriors had already won game 1. Bob Myers saw to it in the summer of 2014.
God help us all if Steph or Klay get it going. The Warriors are who we thought they were.
