Don’t count out the Cleveland Cavaliers just yet.
Despite the fact that the Cavs are playing with a big handicap, Lebron James and company dug deep and employed an old school tactic – stay aggressive paired with no nonsense defense and a lot of heart.
The tactic paid off for the Cavs who were able to escape with a 95-93 overtime thriller over the Golden State Warriors right on their very own turf.
As expected, James stepped up big time and it showed in the numbers he produced. James turned in a triple-double performance (39 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists) to lead the way as other players stepped up as well.
Filling up the vacuum for the Cavs have were two players who the Warriors may have taken for granted. Center Timofey Mozgov made his presence felt while Matthew Delladova provided the hustle. Add them both and you have typical old school defense which disrupted the usual smooth-playing Warriors.
"We're undermanned," James said. "We're without two All-Stars, and I don't know any other team in this league that would be able to do that … [to] compete the way we compete and be a force" said James in a report from Yahoo Sports.
The Warriors were led by Klay Thompson who finished the game with 34 points but with his Splash Brother Stephen Curry groping for form, the Cavs came up short.
With the mileage that the Cavs were able to employ, the same deliberate set offense and slowing down the game is expected to progress for the rest of the NBA Finals. And now the Dubs need to find a way to adjust and come back with game three set to be played in enemy territory.
Game 2 started with the Warriors seemingly set to distance themselves early with a 20-12 lead in the first quarter. But once the Cavs tightened up their defense, game 2 became a whole lot closer.
The game started to be a nip-and-tuck affair until the fourth quarter where the Cavs were able to erect an 11 point lead with three minutes left in the final quarter of regulation. However, the Warriors fought back, led by Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry joining hands to sink consecutive three-point shots.
The Warriors managed to keep abreast and eventually knot the game at 87-all when Curry drove in after receiving an outlet pass from Draymond Green.
James had a chance to win it for the Cavs but his shot failed to hit its mark. Tristan Thompson’s putback went off the rim, sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, the Cavs were not about to face a repeat of game 1 where they were only able to score 2 points with 8.9 seconds left in the game. The Cavs jumped to a five-point advantage but the Warriors answer with a run of their own.
In the end, the marginal points came from the hands of an unlikely player, Delladova, who sank both free throws and hence account for the final score.
With the adjustments that the Cavs made, the initial belief of many that the Warriors have the NBA title in the bag have now been erased. There will be no sweep though it remains to be seen if the Cavs will continue with their game plan or look to employ something else.
For the Warriors, it is back to the drawing boards. Steve Kerr and company will have to look into game 2 and figure out what misfired.
The team will have to figure out how to keep their focus despite the highly physical and rugged play that the Cavs have now embraced, particularly Curry who was obviously bothered by the defense put on by Delladova.
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