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Cavaliers Down 0-2 in NBA Finals but Optimistic

LeBron James surprised reporters by not speaking from the NBA interview room.  He stayed in the locker room but would not say why, other than it was not about winning or losing.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming home with a two game deficit in the best-of-seven NBA Finals.   The Golden State Warriors romped over the Cavs with a 132 to 119 drubbing last night in Oakland.   But the Cavs certainly don’t sound demoralized.  

 

Maybe it’s the fact that the Warriors had a 2 game lead last year and Cleveland managed to win it all.  But the Cavs players are optimistic about finding a way to stop Golden State when they get home.

 

Cleveland Coach Ty Lue has one idea.

 

“Defensively,“ he answers. “I think that having awareness, we can't relax, can't fall asleep. This team, their offense is constant movement, so you got to be locked in, you can't take a peek somewhere and lose your man, so they make you pay.

 

The Cavs forced the Warriors to make 20 turnovers but Golden State was able to make 18 3-pointers while the Cavs had just 8.   Warriors coach Steve Kerr said they survived by sheer talent.

 

“We had a lot of guys who played exceptionally well individually, and we played with great energy.  But heading to Cleveland, we're going to have to be a lot smarter. We play that same game in Cleveland, there's no way we win.”

 

LeBron James and Golden State’s Steph Curry both had triple–doubles – the first time ever that 2 players earned that in the same Finals game.   

James and Kevin Love made better than 50 percent of their shots but Kyrie Irving went just 8 for 23.  James says he tells Irving to just keep asserting himself.

 

“He’s been such a big piece of our success the last three years, obviously. We can do better job of getting him going early. He missed some chippies – ones he’s so accustomed to making. Y’know we’ll do a better job of that in Game 3 as well.”  

 

Can the Cavs reverse their fortune as they did last year?   Kevin Love said one thing is different this year,  “I don’t have a concussion.”

 

Love had to sit out Game 3 last year but Cleveland still won. 

 

Of course the biggest presence this year is the addition of Kevin Durant who scored more than 30 points in each of the first two games for Golden State.

Steve Kerr made a surprise appearance on TV after missing the playoffs due to a back injury.  Kerr had been watching the games from the locker room.

Kerr recovered from health issues to coach his first playoff game this year and

said the talent on the floor from both teams was unbelievable.   

 

“You know trying to stop LeBron and Kyrie, Kevin Love was tremendous tonight. It really is a series that's just loaded with high-powered weapons all over the floor. The game changed quite a bit tonight from Game 1. They made a lot of adjustments. They put us on our heels, and we were able to respond.” 

 

His counterpart, Lue,  says the presence of KD means the Cavaliers cannot do the same things defensively that they used to do.

 

“They make it tough and they put you in some tough situations but we got to be better as far as not relaxing, not falling asleep, the loose balls 50/50 balls, we got to get to those. And when you don't get to them, they make you pay. Every mistake you make defensively - they make you pay”   

 

Game 3 is Wednesday night at 9:00 at the Q.