Sunday, June 7, 2015

Game 2 Halftime Post

Score: CLE 47 GS 46

Welcome in to the halftime post for game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors where the Cavs cling to a one point, 47-46 lead to close out the half.

(+)

GS: Klay Thompson, 20 points, 9-13 shooting. He didn't have that good of a game 1, but Thompson has got his shot going this game. I thought he was disappointed so far into the playoffs, but he has rekindled some of that form and the Cavaliers don't have an answer for him as without Kyrie Irving, the Cavs can't account for both Curry and Klay. Good job by Klay Thompson to exploit Irving's void.

CLE: LeBron James, 20 point, 6 assists, 7-13 shooting. Another finals game, another great start for LeBron James. If the Cavs want to get back in this series overall despite a demoralizing injury to Kyrie, LeBron just has to start hot and finding the open man to distribute to like a Timofey Mozgov.

CLE: James Jones, 8 points, 3-4 shooting. Jones has been the forgotten man as we forget he's also in his fifth straight finals as him and LeBron were teammates in Miami. What James Jones brings is somebody for the Cavs to stretch the floor and put some stress on the Warriors' defense to account for the outside shooting. Like I said, the Cavs needed someone to pick up the slack and James Jones has answered that.

(-)

CLE: The rest of the supporting cast. With Kyrie and K. Love, the rest of the Cavaliers has to be a mixed bag and some of them have to contribute in a big way. James Jones has exemplified that offensively, Dellavedova has exemplified that defensively with the way he's guarding Steph Curry, now it's time for guys like J.R. Smith, Shumpert, and Tristan Thompson to step up.

GS: Stephen Curry, 8 points, 2-10 shooting, 3-7 three point shooting. An uncharacteristic start for Curry, but you gotta give credit to the defense of Matthew Dellavedova as he has been a "sick 'em" like player defensively. What Curry has to do is to facilitate more as he only has 2 assists in the first half and when "Delly" is gone, Curry should exploit that and get his offense in rhythm.

Bottom Line

Like I said in the full recap, LeBron James-led teams have a 3 game winning streak in the finals when they're down 0-1. If they're going to steal home court advantage, they need all of their supporting casts to step up and deliver surprising performances. For the Warriors, they need to keep feeding the ball to Thompson while he's hot and once Curry gets his offense going and the bench continues to play at a high level, they have a chance to rally and take a 2-0 lead heading into Cleveland. Let's see what happens.


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