What the Cleveland Cavaliers needed was for this dream season was a snooze button to make it last a little longer. The Golden State Warriors eliminated the Cavaliers Tuesday in game six of the NBA Finals 105-97, making the Warriors the 2015 NBA Champions.
Two MVP’s
Golden State forward Andre Iguodala, a regular season bench player, was awarded as the finals Most Valuable Player. In game 6, Iguodala scored 25 points, had five rebounds, five assists and was given the task of guarding LeBron James throughout most of the series. Iguodala didn’t start a single game this season until game four of the finals, but his performance lead Golden State to its first NBA Championship since 1975.
The regular season MVP, Stephen Curry, also scored 25 points for the Warriors with eight assists and five rebounds.
The Help
James had another stat-piling night leading all scorers with 32 points, grabbing 18 rebounds and was one assist shy of a triple double, but after losing games four and five of the series, the Cavs’ biggest issue was figuring out who would play a bigger scoring role alongside James.
Cleveland’s starting backcourt of Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellevadova combined for just nine points on 1-9 field goal shooting. The Cavaliers seemed lost at times, timid to take shots and constantly looked for James to make a play instead.
The Cavs bench scored just 24 points, and only between two players, guard J.R. Smith with 19 and forward James Jones with five. Smith’s 19 were his series high, but the number was padded by a late push in the fourth quarter where he made four three-pointers. Before making those four shots, Smith was 1-11 on field goals. Forward Tristan Thompson recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
“Tonight we had our chances, but you know, we ran out of talent. We ran out of talent tonight. We gave everything we had. The guys played as hard as we could, as long as we could,” James said.
Help was easy to come by for the Warriors. Forward Draymond Green recorded a triple-double on 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Guard Shaun Livingston and center Festus Ezeli each scored 10 points off the bench.
No Rhythm, Just Blues
From the beginning of the game, the Cavaliers never looked comfortable offensively and the Warriors found a rhythm early and easily. The Cavaliers turned the ball over nine times and the Warriors scored on 11 assisted field goals in the first quarter. The smooth ball movement continued for Golden State as they out-assisted the Cavs 28-14 throughout the game.
The Cavs failed to take advantage of momentum changing moments. One moment in particular happened with five minutes left in the first half. The Cavs were down five points with the crowd noise building. James drove toward the basket and passed to center Timofey Mozgov who wasn’t ready to catch the ball. That miscue put the Warriors in fast-break mode. Warriors forward Harrison Barnes made a three-point shot to bring the lead back up to eight. Breaking down that lead was a hill too high for Cleveland to climb.
Despite the miscue, Mozgov was a bright spot for Cleveland scoring 17 points on 5-8 shooting, grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking four shots. Barnes scored nine points, all of which came from three-point shots and 3-4 shooting.
However, even with the momentum in favor of Golden State for most of the game, the Cavs cut down the Golden State lead at halftime, 45-43, ending the first half with a two-handed Thompson dunk that shot the crowd onto their feet. Cleveland managed to get the lead early in the second half, but it didn’t last as the Warriors had their way running their pick-and-roll offense.
The Warriors quickness and chemistry fooled the Cavaliers on defensive switches. The worst defensive switch for the Cavs came in the third quarter. Curry found himself guarded by Mozgov after the pick-and-roll, leaving the key without a rim protector and free space for Curry to sprint by Mozgov and score on an uncontested layup.
The Warriors also played a much more efficient game beyond the three-point line with a shooting percentage of 38.2 compared to Cleveland’s 23.1.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m playing in Miami, or playing in Cleveland, or playing on Mars. You lose in the finals it’s disappointing," James said.
LeBron Era 2.0
The Cavaliers’ season had plenty of lows—starting the season 19-20 and losing Anderson Varejao, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to injury. However, there were plenty of highs—winning the Eastern Conference title for the second time in franchise history and making it further into the playoffs than even before, but possibly the highest moment came a few months before the regular season began, that moment being the decision by LeBron James to sign with the Cavaliers, his former team before taking his talents to the Miami Heat, where he won two championships.
With the “ Kid from Akron” choosing Cleveland and the team that drafted him, the team that’s a short drive from his hometown— and after being one of the worst teams in the NBA for the past four years, starting the season with a losing record, but to still finish as a number two seed in the Eastern Conference and make it to the finals, the Cavaliers’ season seemed like one that could only be from a dream, but the Warriors, the team with the best record in the NBA, woke up the city of Cleveland from this dream like an alarm clock on the first day of school.
