It’s clear as day that the Cleveland Cavaliers were outgunned in the 2018 NBA Finals, and Golden State Warriors president and general manager Bob Myers’ recent comments show that.
It was evident that the Cleveland Cavaliers did not have much of a real chance in the 2018 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, who ended up sweeping the Wine and Gold in that series.
We all remember how J.R. Smith had a blunder at the end of Game 1 after getting an offensive rebound and passing up an interior shot, then dribbled it out and didn’t get a shot off or pass it to LeBron James.
Smith then passed the ball to George Hill in the corner, whose three-point look was partially blocked by Draymond Green, and it was a wild attempt anyway and the Cavs didn’t get a shot off at all, and then Golden State dominated the Wine and Gold in the overtime of that Game 1.
It was so unfortunate that after LeBron had a 51-point, eight-rebound and eight-assist game in that Game 1 and the Cavs could’ve stolen one, that that got away. The Wine and Gold had a good opportunity to at least get back in the series from there in the Game 3, but the MVP of that series, Kevin Durant, was well…..Kevin Durant.
KD willed the Warriors to a victory then, finishing with 43 points and hitting a dagger triple over LeBron in secondary transition, and factoring in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond and others, such as Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, the Cavs were over-matched.
While Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA fans clearly knew that, Golden State president and general manager Bob Myers‘ comments reiterated how LeBron and the Cavs did not much of a shot.
Here was Myers recently had to say in regards to that, and essentially alluded to how the Dubs weren’t really all that pumped after their sweep of that inferior iteration of the Cavaliers, via ESPN’s Nick Friedell and as was h/t Cavaliers Nation’s Justin Benjamin.
"“The second time with Kevin [in 2018] if felt like, ‘Well, we just did what we were supposed to do, and great job,'” Warriors president and general manager Bob Myers said of the last time the Warriors won a title. “It wasn’t joy."
As the aforementioned Benjamin touched on, James did his part, as he had “34.0 points, 10.0 assists and 8.5 rebounds per game during the series.”
Unfortunately for the King and Cavs then-head coach Tyronn Lue, there simply was not enough consistency outside of James, and while Kyle Korver had big moments in other series’ leading up to then, Golden State’s ability to switch through with their length and quickness made it really tough for Korver to get going. He had just 1.5 points per game and was clearly out of sync and frankly, the Cavs desperately needed catch-and-shoot production from him.
At the other end, Kevin Love, as also was the case in the 2016 and 2017 Finals versus the Dubs, had a world of trouble matching up with Golden State’s firepower and Love has never been switchable, which hurt the Cavs considerably in 2018, too, considering Cleveland desperately needed him to space the floor and help James inside.
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Granted, according to Basketball Reference, Love did have 19.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game, but he did only shoot 32.1 percent from three-point range and 40.6 percent from the field in the 2018 NBA Finals.
Needless to say, Golden State’s length and switchability, coupled with their pace and offensive multiplicity, made it particularly difficult for Love and others, such as George Hill to a large degree, who had a near-impossible task having to be in the same ballpark as Curry.
Steph had 27.5 points, 6.8 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per outing in the series, for context.
Clearly, there was no Kyrie Irving in that 2018 series and while the Cavs lost in five games the previous season to the Dubs in their first season with Durant following the Cavs winning the title via 3-1 comeback in 2016, Cleveland was very competitive and had a legitimate chance to win three of those 2017 NBA Finals games that were L’s.
The Cleveland Cavaliers again, as Myers’ comments highlighted, had little to no real chance to beat the Warriors in that 2018 NBA Finals. It was not remotely in the same stratosphere of a title W of the Cavs’ two seasons prior, for example.
I do give Curry and the Warriors credit for a valiant effort in extending the 2019 NBA Finals versus then-Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet and others to six games being without Durant and sans Klay Thompson in Game 6, though.
Hopefully Durant, who is now a Brooklyn Net, is well on his way toward a true full recovery from a torn Achilles suffered after briefly playing in that series, and Thompson is from his ACL tear in the Game 5 of that series. It’s a relief that KD has since reportedly recovered from his bout with the novel coronavirus pandemic, though.