Kasler: Clearly, Cavs must dig even deeper
Pondering the Cavaliers' 104-89 Game 1 loss to the Warriors one day after has me firmly in the "Cavs gave one away” camp.
That and other quick thoughts below
1. I was born and raised in Cleveland. So it’s foolish to pretend I’m not emotionally invested in the Cavs' championship run. But I don’t think it precludes me from offering objective, if at time admittedly knee-jerk, commentary on what I see.
2. My first thought today is the Cavs gave the first game away and missed an enormous opportunity. I’m basing that on a few things, not the least of which is Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combined to score just 20 points on 8-of-27 shooting.
3. Forget every other stat from the game. Forget you even watched the game. If I showed you Curry's and Thompson’s box score, would anyone think the Cavs lost? I would have guessed they won by 15 or more, to be honest.
4. And yet they lost by a convincing margin. Shooting 38 percent from the field didn’t help. J.R. Smith playing 36 invisible minutes didn’t help. But perhaps the biggest factor in this loss was the Warriors' bench scoring 45 points. That was a lightning strike no one anticipated.
5. Even with the Warrior bench shooting a red-hot 59 percent (19-of-32 from the field), the Cavs needed to capitalize on the struggles of Curry and Thompson because I highly doubt those two stay cold for much longer. Instead, the Cavs missed an array of point-blank shots at the rim and spent much of their time on offense with stagnant isolation plays.
6. Sidebar: Much is made, and for good reason, of Cleveland’s championship drought and its fans’ general state of mind that if something can go wrong, it will. I think the fans’ mindset is actually more nuanced than that. I think Cavs’ fans and Clevelanders expect not that things will always go wrong, but that it will always be the other team playing above their ceiling.
7. Game 1 was a perfect example of that. Shaun Livingston shot 8-of-10 from the field and scored 20. Leandro Barbosa was a perfect 5-of-5 in just 11 minutes. Andre Iguodala sees Wine and Gold and suddenly turns into a monster -- he shot 5-of-9, scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists in 36 fantastic minutes.
8. In contrast, J.R. Smith played the same minutes as Iguodala but scored three points on 1-of-3 shooting. He picked up five personal fouls and only grabbed a single rebound. The Cavs' bench was an absolute non-factor, too, scoring a combined 10 points in 54 minutes.
9. So it’s not doom that Cavs’ fans expect, but I think there is a palpable resignation that it will always be the other team reaching new heights and ultimately making more winning plays.
10. At first glance, it’s difficult to fault the Cavs’ Big Three for the loss. LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love scored 66 points, grabbed 28 rebounds, and had 15 assists. That should have been good enough when contrasted with the numbers Curry and Klay posted.
11. Of the three, I thought Love played the best game. He was aggressive and tough on the boards. Missed some shots in close, but generally played well. Irving was great from the line, knocking down 11 of 12, but he was just 7-of-22 from the field and had nearly 10 possessions where the ball never left his hand. Not once.
12. James was one assist shy of a triple double, notching 23-12-9. So how do you criticize his game? I don’t think you can except to say the Cavs probably need two vintage games from him, games where he singlehandedly engineers a win. Thursday was ripe for the picking, and while he played outstanding by the measures applied to any other player, Game 1 was probably a missed opportunity for him.
13. James could have and should have put his stamp all over Game 1. Instead, he was just kind of plainly great. I guess it speaks to where this guy resides on the totem pole of all-time legends when it’s a criticism to label his game as “plainly great.”
14. What happens in Game 2? Let’s start with this: the Cavs must win this game. No caveats. If they go down 2-0, it’s impossible to dream of an outcome that has them winning four of the final five games. Not against the Warriors. Going down 2-0 also means the Cavs will have lost seven straight to Golden State. At some point, the belief may set in that the Cavs simply cannot beat this Warrior squad.
15. Another problem when looking at Sunday’s game: Curry and Thompson will be better. I’m not on a ledge in suggesting that. Sure, Livingston, Barbosa, and Harrison Barnes won’t play as well. But if you’re the Warriors, you’d trade a cooled off bench crew for the top-end output usually delivered by your backcourt.
16. But the Cavs certainly have a chance. I think the odds are long. But they have a chance. And it will require them to defy the mindset of most Cleveland fans, the mindset that their teams are never the ones that break through a ceiling on the biggest stage. J.R. Smith will need to be electric. James will need to somehow be better than the near triple-double performance in Game 1. And someone on the Cavs' bench -- maybe Channing Frye, who inexplicably played only seven minutes and attempted one shot -- will need to be great.
17. Final thought: Even if the opponent weren’t the greatest regular-season team of all time, titles are not won by adhering to status quo. Episodic and unexpected greatness is a key ingredient, and the Cavs will need someone to step outside of themselves and lay the first brick of a legendary tale.
