NBA Finals: East Finals Provides Cavs Blueprint

What a difference 1 or 2 points make, especially in the NBA Finals. The Cleveland Cavaliers were one inch on an Iman Shumpert putback, a better shot by LeBron James before that putback or a correct call on Timofey Mozgov‘s layup with less than 2 minutes to go from being up 1-0. They would have taken home court advantage, would have a healthy Kyrie Irving and would be the talk of the NBA world.

Instead none of that is true. In fact, revisionist history has taken place rather quickly. Reading, watching and listening to pretty much everyone and they will have you believing that the Cavs were not even close to winning Game 1. The Cavs were dominate for stretches and seemed to have the game in hand at times. Yet here we are, going into Game 2 of the NBA Finals without Irving, down 1-0 and most people counting the Cavs out.

Should we though? First lets take a look back at the facts about Game 1:

The Cavs held the vaunted Warriors offense to 98 points in regulation.
The Cavs “won” the 1st Quarter by 10 points, biggest quarter difference including overtime.
Only 3 Cavs scored in double digits.
Stephen Curry was hassled for most of his shots, leading to 2-6 from deep.
The Cavs were outrebounded 48-45.
Cavs shot 29% from deep.
The Cavs were close to winning Game 1.

So given all that, with the loss of Kyrie Irving, the Cavs have been given zero chance to compete and win the NBA Finals. Yet we don’t have to look too far to see a blueprint for the Cavs winning: The Easter Conference Finals.

Against the Atlanta Hawks, a good team but not on the same level as the Warriors, the Cavs were able to sweep even without Irving for most of the series. While Golden State is much better than the Hawks, there are things about the Hawks series that should give us glimpses of hope:

Game 1

Irving only played 27 minutes, on the road, and the Cavs were able to win 97-89. Some important notes:

Held the 10th ranked regular season offense, Warriors are #1 by a lot, to 89 points. Defense wins, defense travels.
Outrebounded the Hawks 49-30. Rebounding wins, rebounding travels.
5 Cavs, including Irving, scored in double figures. Team basketball wins, team basketball travels.
J.R. Smith scored a whopping 28 points. J.R. Swish can get hot at any time.
Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson both had double-doubles with points and rebounds. Cavs have a size advantage on the Warriors as well.
The Cavs only played 8 players, with Irving only playing his 27 minutes. Cavs can win with a short bench.

Game 2

Irving didn’t play at all in Game 2, also on the road, but the Cavs cruised to a 94-82 victory. Some important notes:

Cavs defense again played great. Defense wins.
Cavs outrebounded the Hawks 47-39. Effort and hustle wins.
4 Cavs scored in double figures with 2 others scoring 9 points. The Cavs have depth that can score.
J.R. only scored 9 but Iman Shumpert scored 16 and Matthew Dellavedova scored 11 to balance the load.
Thompson had 16 boards. He changed the game even though he only scored 7 points on 6 shots. He can do that again.

Game 3

Again no Kyrie Irving, but the Cavs were able to scrap for a win in OT 114-111. The Cavs can win tight, emotional games. Some important notes:

Outrebounded Hawks 56-42. It can and will happen again.
Balanced scoring with 5 in double figures and 2 others with 9 points.
Delly, Shumpert and J.R. combined for 49 points with each having 15 or more points. The Cavs have players who can score.
LeBron had 37 points, on 37 shots, but was also able to get his teammates involved.

Game 4

With Irving returning, and playing 22 minutes, the Cavs closed out the series in impressive fashion, 118-88. Final interesting notes:

Held Hawks to 88 points.
6 players in double figures, including Irving.
Outrebounded the Hawks 56-39.
Forced Hawks to shot 16% from 3 point land.
TT and Timo both in double figure points along with 11 boards by the Dennis Rodman like Thompson.

Why go through all of that? Why so many repeat stats for each game?

Simple, the Cavs can beat the Warriors and have shown how they can. Rebounding, defense and some balanced scoring. While the Warriors are a much better team than the Hawks, the Cavs almost beat them in Game 1. They did so with good defense but the other two keys were not there. The Cavs were outrebounded and only LeBron, Irving and Mozgov scored in double figures.

The Cavs will have to keep up their defensive intensity that they showed in Game 1. Holding the Warriors to 98 points, on their homecourt, only happened once during the Regular Season. The Cavs did it in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

The Cavs barely lost the rebounding battle but will need to dominate it the way they did against the Hawks. Not only will this stop second chance points but it can get the Cavs out in transition as well as give them a chance to get 2nd and 3rd shots.

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Finally, and most importantly, the Cavs have shown that they can win with balance. Some games it is J.R. Smith going off, others it is James Jones hitting 3 or 4 shots from deep. Still other times Matthew Dellavedova, Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson will chip in with double figures. In Game 1 it was LeBron, Irving and Mozgov. Without Irving, the Cavs will need, and history says will get, one or two other players to step up their scoring.

The NBA Finals are far from over. No one would be shocked if the Warriors win in 5 games. On the other hand, the Cleveland Cavaliers have shown that they can win without Irving against a good team. They almost beat the Warriors in Game 1 without winning the rebounding battle and with very little help from the rest of the team scoring. Change both of those going forward and we have ourselves a series.

Does the East Finals against the Hawks give you some hope for the Cavs in the NBA Finals?

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