NBA Finals Game 4: 5 Things We Learned

The Cavs couldn’t build off of their success in game 3. The Warriors took game 4 at the Q with a 108-97 win. The series heads backs to Oakland with Golden State up 3-1.

Here’s what we learned from the loss.

1. The Klay Thompson and Steph Curry pick and roll is lethal.

One of the Warriors’ signature plays is the Curry and Draymond Green pick and roll. Teams have a hard time defending this because there are few players in the NBA that are capable of guarding Green while also being able to cover Curry if a switch is required.

The Cavs did an excellent job of shutting down the Curry and Green pick and roll in game 3, with LeBron being forced to cover Green, due to Kevin Love’s injury. With James’s versatility, the Warriors weren’t able to get a matchup they desired. Shutting down this play is a key in stopping the Warriors’ offense.

In game 4 the Warriors came out trying to use the same play, but instead of attacking LeBron with Curry, they decided to attack Kyrie Irving with Green. Irving did a good job of defending Green on this play in game 4. As a result Green was limited to 9 points and like game 3, the Cavs did an excellent job of containing the Curry and Green pick and roll.

What the Cavs didn’t do a good job of defending was the Curry and Thompson pick and roll. With Thompson setting high screens for Curry, this puts the defense in a tough spot. Thompson and Curry’s speed make it hard to execute an easy switch without giving up an open shot.

Irving and J.R. Smith had a tough time defending this play in the second half. They tried to defend it a couple ways, but they did not have much success. They tried to blitz the play and it led to open threes  from Curry and Thompson.

Irving was able to make an adjustments to the Warriors. He read the play and intercepted a pass intended for Thompson. Unfortunately, by that time, the Curry and Thompson pick and roll had burned them.

The Cavs will need to stop this play in game 5. If Green is suspended for a game, then the Warriors will probably use this as their go-to play.

2. There really is “Strength in Numbers”.

The reasons why Golden State beat the Cavs last year in the Finals and have a 3-1 advantage is because of their incredible depth. Role players like Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and Harrison Barnes have destroyed the Cavaliers all series.

While Iguodala, Livingston or Barnes stats don’t necessarily jump off of the page, their advantage over the Cavaliers role players has been the difference.

Tyronn Lue couldn’t trust his role players enough to sub Kyrie and LeBron out of the game in the second half, and it came back to cost him in the end. Both players were completely out of gas in the fourth quarter from carrying their team.

It’s easy to say Lue should’ve just found time to sub them out, but that was never really possible. Cavalier role players like J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson haven’t been reliable enough offensively for Lue to have any faith in them.

Then there’s the catch 22 with Kevin Love. The Cavaliers desperately need his scoring, but he’s a matchup nightmare on defense. He’s put up decent offensive numbers in the 25 minutes he played, with 11 points on 50% shooting, but you can’t trust him down the stretch with his defense.

While the Cavs have made significant improvements to their roster, but it simply hasn’t been enough to compete with the Warriors’ depth. The Warriors stars were still fresh in the fourth quarter, because they weren’t required to carry the scoring load.

LeBron/Kyrie and Curry/Thompson had similar scoring numbers, but they got to them in different ways. LeBron and Kyrie combined for 59 points, on 49 shots. In the second half they took 33 of the Cavs 38 shots. They also had 16 of the Cavs’ 18 second half field goals.

On the other hand, Curry and Thompson combined for 63 points, but it only took them 39 shots to get there. While they did the main bulk of the Warriors scoring, they weren’t required to will their team to victory.

It’s easy to say, LeBron and Kyrie should trust their teammates more, but how could you even come to that conclusion? The Cavs’ role players haven’t stepped up down the stretch all series, why would game 4 be any different? The Cavs are paying guys like Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert far too much to not impact the game down the stretch.

3. Steph Curry is delusional.

Curry is either out of touch with reality, or he’s lying. I’m guessing he’s just lying.

Here are his new signature shoes that Twitter is having far too much fun with.

Even Jimmy Kimmel got into making fun of Curry’s dad shoes.

But when asked about it Curry actually said that his shoes, “were fire”.

How out of touch with reality is this guy?

4. Tyronn Lue might have $25k less in his wallet.

LeBron hasn’t been getting the benefit of the calls all series and Coach Lue has had enough. James has been attacking the paint with much more regularity then he has in years past, and he’s going to the free throw line less than he has at any point in his career. That doesn’t quite add up.

The referees allowed much more contact in game 4 than normall and it hurt the Cavaliers. However, they were consistent with allowing contact both ways.

With the Cavs ttacking the paint with more than the Wwarriors, they outscored Golden State 48 to 20 in the paint. LeBron and Kyrie are at their best when they’re driving to the basket. However, they can be stopped much easier if the defense is allowed to get away with extra contact.

As a result, Kyrire only had 5 attempts from the line while LeBron had 4. Both of those are low numbers considering how many times they attacked the paint.

Coach Lue addressed this in his post game news conference.

"“He [LeBron] never gets calls. I mean, he attacks. Outside of Russell Westbrook, he’s one of the guys that attacks the paint every single play. And he doesn’t get a fair whistle all the time because of his strength and because of his power and guys bounce off of him. But those are still fouls, and we weren’t able to get them. But we’ve got to play through officiating.”"

We’ll see if these comments have an effect on the rest of the series.

5. There is no reason to give up on this team now.

All of the numbers are against the Cavs right now. No team has come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the Finals, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

The hardest game to win for a road team that is down 3-1 is game 5. The Warriors fans will be in a frenzy knowing that their team has a chance to lift the Larry O’Brian Trophy on their home floor.

If the Cavs can steal game 5, then the task doesn’t seem insurmountable. Cleveland would be favored to win game 6 at home. You know that would be the loudest game ever at the Q. The Cavaliers play much better at home and with the momentum from a game 5 win, they would foreseeably win that game. And anything is possible in a game 7, especially when you have the momentum of two straight wins.

The key is winning game 5. This difficult task may get a lot easier if the Warriors have to play without Draymond Green. At the end of game 4, LeBron stepped over Green and Green takes a swing and hits him in the groin.

Both players were assessed common fouls for the incident. If the league upgrades the foul on Green to a flagrant, he would be suspended for game 5. This would be a devastating blow for the Warriors considering much of what they like to do on offense and defense is predicated on Green’s versatility.

The Cavs have an uphill road to climb, but it’s not impossible. They just have to take it one step at a time. We’ll see if they can take that first step in game 5 Monday at Oracle Arena.

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