Welcome in to the full recap of Game 4 of the 2017 NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and the Warriors where the Cavs played like the defending champs, setting an NBA Finals Record for most threes and for the most points in a half, beating the Warriors 116-137 and ending their undefeated run in the postseason.
No brooms needed. You can put them back after this game. As I said in my preview, I'm giving the Cavs at least one game in these finals and fitting that it came in Cleveland. But, hats off to the Cavaliers for coming out fighting after a demoralizing loss in Game 3. To beat the Warriors, teams have to score more points than them, which is nigh impossible with the weapons they have. The Cavs got their points by any means: three pointers, layups, free throws. They set the tone and were the aggressors from start to finish tonight.
Golden State Warriors
(+)
Kevin Durant, 35 points, 9-22 shooting. Kevin Durant is the unquestioned MVP of the Warriors right now. He might be the only big positive for the Warriors this game. As much as the Cavs were on their game offensively, the Warriors just kept running their offense through Durant and he did the rest. The team crept back in a few instances this game and Durant's scoring played a huge part in that.
David West, 6 points, 3-4 shooting. Six points is not much, but David West provided some quality minutes for the Warriors off the bench. All six of his points came when the Warriors needed some momentum to build to quiet the hostile Cleveland crowd for a bit.
(-)
Foul trouble. This is a combination of some ticky-tacky calls from the refs and the physicality of the Cavaliers. The Cavs were attacking the basket at will, moving the ball. The Warriors were pretty much out of position that they had to commit some desperate fouls.
Splash Bros. Steph Curry with 14 points. Klay Thompson with 13 points. The Cavs' defense shut them down big time, chasing them away from the three point line and not allowing a lot of air space for a good shot. Quiet game indeed for the Splash Bros.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Kyrie Irving, 40 points, 7-12 three point shooting. Kyrie Irving, "Uncle Drew," was a one-man wrecking crew tonight. The man lives for these kinds of moments in elimination games. Irving put his offensive arsenal on full display. Three point shooting? Check. Attacking the basketball? Check. Taking defenders to school and step back in front of their faces? Check. Breaking ankles? Check. It was a complete scoring clinic that Irving put on tonight.
Kevin Love, 23 points, 6-8 three point shooting. The Cavaliers needed the Kevin Love who was shooting at a ridiculously high percentage throughout the postseason tonight. That Kevin Love showed up tonight. 6-8 shooting from the 3-point line says it all.
LeBron James, 31 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists. LeBron James surpasses the Magic Man himself, Earvin "Magic" Johnson for most triple-doubles in the NBA Finals. There's nothing surprising about this typical stat line from LeBron, it was another day in the office.
J.R. Smith, 15 points, 5-9 three point shooting. J.R. Smith in Games 1 & 2 and J.R. Smith in Game 3 & 4 is like comparing day and night. Smith has proven to be capable of knocking down impossible shots from deep. As a Laker fan, I've witnessed tons of that when he was playing with the Nuggets. If he carries this over on the road, he might be one of momentum shifts the Cavs need to do the impossible.
Tristan Thompson, 5 points, 10 rebounds. Hello Tristan Thompson, welcome to the 2017 NBA Finals. Thompson has not shown the hustle activity in the first three games, but he woke up here. He's gonna have to carry this game over and rekindle what he did in the 2015 and 2016 Finals if the Cavs want to do the impossible of coming back from a 3-0 deficit.
(-)
Not a lot of negatives to point out on the Cavs' game tonight. The scoreboard could indicate defense, but they played pretty solid defense on the Warriors and they responded with timely shots to keep the scoring barrage going.
Conclusion
Warriors fans hate the scoreboard in these series, 3-1. But, here's the catch, the Warriors have Draymond Green this time around and like I said in game 3, Kevin Durant is not Harrison Barnes. With the performance the Cavaliers had in this game, it's going to be absolutely hard for them to duplicate this kind of performance in Oakland. So, there's some optimism that the Warriors won't blow a 3-1 lead this time around. But, overall, tonight was the Cavs' night. This was their game to lose and they never look back in a wire-to-wire victory over a star-studded Warriors squad. All credit in the world to them for coming out swinging with their backs against the wall. There will be an extra game here in the Bay Area! I'll see you guys on Monday for Game 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment