Remember when The Undertaker used to lay on the mat, seemingly too hurt to get up and we sat back and watched and waited for the Dead Man Walking to get back up. Amazingly, eyes rolled to back of his head, menacing scowl across his face, he’d pop up quickly and petrify the opponent. Then in a glorious comeback he’d come back and win the match?
Well, Cleveland. We’re back!
Kyrie Irving is a one-on-one nightmare against any matchup, as he hit contested shots from all over the floor. What we just saw in Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals was one of the greatest performances in NBA history. He put the Golden State Warriors on ice and was the primary playmaker for the offense. With three straight 30+ point games he could be making a case for Finals MVP, or at least co-MVP, should the Cleveland Cavaliers pull off the unimaginable. I once wrote about Kyrie Irving reminding me of the Winter Soldier, the brainwashed assassin. On the court, he was an assassin. Off the court, he was carefree and lighthearted. It was actually kind of scary.
LeBron James is the greatest player in the league. He and he alone has his combination of abilities. It’s like, sometimes he doesn’t know who he is. Until he has complete focus, exudes an emotionless and serious aura with a blank face and remembers who he is. He was the scorer and physical, versatile force we know him to be. He hit jumpers from his sweet spots. Kyrie did what we know he can do nightly on offense. LeBron suprised us with an inspiring performance from the outside, hitting his first two shots from three out the first four (the first two were Kevin Love-like post-up shot attempts against Andre Iguodala). He mixed it up masterfully going one-on-one against the right matchups, catching and shooting, and pulling up in open areas in the midrange, but never forgetting to go the rim and attack on his way to 41 points. Down the stretch he was the primary playmaker in the fourth, racking up 6 assists to get him to 7. He was the top rebounder from either team, with 16 rebounds and 4 offensive. This was statistically his best playoff game ever. You wanted Jordan, this wasn’t Jordan. You wanted Magic, this wasn’t Magic. You wanted Malone, this wasn’t Malone. This was LeBron.
Kevin Love is pretty good, yet this series is not a good look for him. What he can do is be a team player, accept his role and in the grand scheme of things, be a role player for this series. There was a reason Channing Frye received a DNP-CD in this game besides the overall flow and performance of Kevin Love, who played a game that reminded me of Chris Bosh in Game 7 of the 2013 Finals. Coach Lue showed a willingness to take him out of the game and to put him in. I don’t see his role being a problem moving forward in this series.
That was easy to see, but what worked for the Cavaliers as a whole?
Isolating Stephen Curry as a defender was effective. Steve Kerr constantly took his MVP out of the lineup because of his performance on defense more than offense. Kyrie Irving had his number all night, along with JR Smith. Curry played good team defense, but mano y mano, he failed his team. Iguodala had a tough game against LeBron all night and Draymond Green clearly is needed because of his ability to contest shots. When he returns, the gameplan likely won’t change except for more passing from LeBron on kickouts, so Love will have to shoot well from deep or give way to Frye or Jefferson.
Kyrie and LeBron figuring out a formula, for at least one game, was evidence of why LeBron returned to Cleveland. The King was fearsome in tandem with Dwyane Wade in transition or in the halfcourt. They worked out a cadence seemingly, who would get the ball when. Who would shoot where, go where, do what. We know where LeBron will go and what LeBron will do. He made more of an effort to shoot from the outside when the defense left him open. The shot distribution across the court for Kyrie was beautiful, as his playmaking across three quarters was effective. His shot-making down the stretch led LeBron to give him the ball and tell everybody to get out of the way. Take a look at his shot chart from Game 5:
They figured out rotations it with Kevin Love starting, but giving way to as many minutes as he will need to Jefferson for small ball purposes and Frye if he’s defensively exposed. Iman Shumpert is the main guard off the bench because Kyrie is needed for his playmaking and Dellavedova seems fatigued. With Bogut out for Game 6, possibly, and Draymond back in, do the Cavs use more bigs to take advantage of the lack of size like they did in Game 5? Do they go small? Love and Jefferson have to be ready to contribute in big minutes in either case because Kyrie, J.R., LeBron, Thompson, and Shumpert, are all playing heavy minutes regardless.
They created turnovers because without Draymond, the offense didn’t function as well. Often, they got turnovers simply from pressuring LeBron. There is no player better in transition than LeBron and Kyrie isn’t bad under the rim, either. Turnovers definitely help the cause of scoring more than the other team, no matter how the defense holds up against a spectacular team. On the other side of the ball, they held onto it more than they have been. They’re continuing their steady improvement in executing the offensive gameplan. Playing against a subpar defense got the Cavs in a rhythm. Playing a Warriors team that poor on defense when it was only missing Draymond gives the Cavs confidence moving forward.
This isn’t officially number five. I just would like to say, Anderson Varejao is either a double agent or a traitor but either way, what it gives the Cavs helps. Varejao did literally nothing that helped the Warriors win Game 5. In fact, played so badly, I had to wonder if Steve Kerr had been wondering if Anderson Varejao was tossing the game. In all seriousness, on other teams Varejao’s game seems both beneficial and ridiculous while Oscar-worthy. I hope he plays more with Bogut out, possibly, in Game 6.
The Cleveland Cavaliers come back home with a chance to force a Game 7. They don’t need two forty point games, but they do need to play to their winning formula. The Golden State Warriors aren’t undefeatable supertalented Martians. The Cleveland Cavaliers have their MJ, their Bill Murray, who was nice with the assists, and the fun-loving role players, the Toons. This is basically live performance of Space Jam.
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