The Cleveland Cavaliers should be able to defeat the Golden State Warriors

If last night is any indication of the way that the Golden State Warriors will play moving forward, they’ll be dispatched by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had to be watching the Golden State Warriors play the San Antonio Spurs last night because they expect to be playing one of the two teams in the playoffs.

With the way the first half went, they may have wondered if the Warriors would make it out of the Western Conference Finals as they were down by 20 points at halftime and only made a comeback after the Spurs MVP candidate, Kawhi Leonard, went down with an ankle injury in the second half.

Now, with the Warriors up 1-0 and Leonard questionable for Game 2, the Warriors will probably be the favorites to win the series no matter how dominant the Spurs looked in the first half.

The Spurs used ball-movement, post-ups and iso-Kawhi to score consistently and they played strong defense on the Warriors, switching 1-5. That’s something that the Cavs can do with the wrinkle of having a defense that can disrupt the Warriors’ rhythm and take them out of their comfort zone with traps as well as switches.

Watching the Spurs dominate the Warriors should have given the Cavs even more confidence. Their official DJ, DJ Steph Floss, said as much on Twitter:

While we explore this matchup further, let’s look at the weakest links in the Warriors core.

Klay Thompson

Thompson has been shooting 38.8 percent from the field in the playoffs, making 2.0 threes per game on 36.0 percent shooting from behind-the-line. He was virtually invisible yesterday, going 2-11 from the field and 1-3 from three-point range. For a player who said nothing about his game would change with the addition of Kevin Durant, he must have forgotten how hard it is to get the ball out of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Durant’s hands.

With the way he’s been playing, the Cavs can stick LeBron James on Thompson as J.R. Smith exerts the energy it will take to try to corral Durant. This should allow James to keep playing his role of “roamer” in the Cavs defense.

Andre Iguodala

Andre Iguodala entered Game 1 with knee soreness and it limited him to 10 minutes of action yesterday. If this problem persists, the Golden State Warriors will be without their best “LeBron-stopper” or, at the least, Iguodala won’t be able to have as much impact as he could on a fully healthy, and fully rested, James.

With that said, James is likely to run right through or past any other defender the Warriors throw at him. Matt Barnes is too thin to stop James from bullying his way to the rim, as is Durant. Draymond Green doesn’t have the lateral agility he would need to possess to stop James from turning the corner.

The Warriors are likely to foul James on his drives pretty consistently with that being the case. That should play right into the Cavs hands.

The Bench Unit

The bench unit lacks the type of three-point shooting they would need to keep pace with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ second unit, which is led by Kyle Korver and Channing Frye. Last night, there was only one three-pointer that was made between the six players on the Warriors bench who got playing time.

In the Cavs series against the Toronto Raptors, it was Korver who broke the game open for the Cavs when it got close. That should remain the case against the Warriors. Frye, whose lack of mobility has prevented him from making a bigger impact against the Warriors in the past, will be able to keep Javale McGee out of the paint with the threat of his three-point shot obviously. Defensively, the Cleveland Cavaliers could choose to trap the pick-and-roll when McGee is on the floor and that should negate a lot of the easy opportunities McGee could have against Frye.

Of course, if the Warriors make it out of the trap, the Cavs will be vulnerable. However, bodying up the McGee before he gathers for a dunk will largely negate the threat of McGee’s athleticism as McGee isn’t particularly efficient as a scorer. He only makes 50.0 percent of shots with a defender within two feet of the shot attempt, a number that’s pretty low for a 7-foot center whose shots come around the rim.

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Essentially, as long as the Cavs put as much on-ball pressure as they can on Durant, Green and Curry, the Cleveland Cavaliers will look far better on the defensive end than people would expect. Offensively, it’s hard to see the Warriors stopping the Cavs from getting what they want.

The attention that James and Kyrie Irving will get on drives will open up space for shooters and, when James and Irving don’t get all the way to the rim, they can also dump it inside to Tristan Thompson inside for the easy two.

In addition, the positionless LeBron-led bench units have been dominant in both the regular season and postseason. There’s the “shooterpalooza” lineup they used to close out halves and the “jumbo” lineup that the Cleveland Cavaliers broke out in the regular season. Both lineups will give the Dubs’ “Death Lineup” headaches as they switch 1-5, meeting every Warriors punch with a counter.

The difference? The Cavs have players that will have an effect on Durant’s ability to score but the Warriors won’t have anyone to stop James. Though Durant is efficient and spectacular, he doesn’t have the strength or post moves that would make it tough for the Cavs to match up with him. James has strength, post moves, athleticism and now is efficient with his jump shooting. When you add in the threat of James’ passing ability, there’s no way to guard James.

It’s why he’s averaging 34.4 points per game while shooting 55.7 percent from the field and 46.8 percent from three-point range through the first two rounds of the playoffs but also has 7.1 assists per game.

A series against the Warriors wouldn’t be a cakewalk by any means but with the Cavs ball-movement, three-point threats and elite slashers, they have more than enough to outscore the Warriors.

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Do you think that the Cleveland Cavaliers would beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.