The presence of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were supposed to provide King James with the complementary pieces needed to give Golden State a real run for its money. So far in these highly anticipated NBA Finals, the Warriors have proved to be a team that is much improved over last season as well. In fact, Sundays 110-77 Game 2 victory over Cleveland all but put the nail in the Cavs coffin despite there being five potential games still left to play in the series.
Cleveland was supposed to possess a Big Three that can match up with Chef Curry and the Potcookers abundance of veteran talent. On paper, this clash was to be a battle of two prime time teams meeting at full strength. The game within the game features the NBAs deadliest pill pusher in LBJ vs. its new chosen son, Steph Curry.
In reality, this hasnt been much of a challenge at all for the mighty Warriors, who are back to dismantling teams as they did enroute to winning 73 regular season games. As I mentioned previously, Steve Kerrs clan is stronger than ever since facing playoff elimination against OKC and rebounding from a 3-1 WCF deficit to become the 10th team in history to do so. I also wouldn’t bet against a coach who has won 30 of 40 playoff games tying the great Phil Jackson. Those numbers suggest Kerr is in his element right now.
Kerr has his guys cruising and bruising like a well-oiled machine. So efficient in fact, that Curry has been chilling in these first two victories of the series scoring a modest but effective 29 points. Unfortunately, so has LeBron James. Misleading metric stats aside (19 points, 9 assists, 8 boards, 7 TO’s) LeBron has taken this Magic Johnson thing a bit too far, failing to score in the first quarter of a must-win Game 2. He surely had fans scratching their heads as the Cavs fell behind by double digits.
By the time he started attacking the rim and stopped dishing and kicking out to ice cold chuckers, his 14 second quarter points could only help keep the score a respectable 52-44 at the half.
By the end of the third quarter, Golden State — led by any number of different performers — built an 86-62 lead, this time on a trey by Klay Thompson. Curry, who has been a facilitator: of sorts himself this series, sank a vintage 28-footer to begin the fourth and the onslaught only got worse for Cleveland from there. Draymond Green, the subject of a lot of disrespect on social media the past few weeks, scored a game-high 28 points. His performance was blunt just like King James’ post game comments.
“We’re all frustrated,” James said after the game. “We have to do a better job…We didn’t win any facet of the game,
With 4:00 left in the game, Golden State led 110-73 and one by one the cameras flashed on LBJ, Richard Jefferson and then Kyrie Irving and they all shared the same dumbfounded and dejected expression at one point. They look as shocked as most of the NBA world is.
(Photo Credit inflexwetrust.com)
Theres still plenty of time for the great King James to get his cronies in order and make an historic comeback, but the odds arent in their favor as the Cavs have now lost seven consecutive games to the Warriors.
The city of Oakland is popping champagne early this NBA Finals. They shot 54 percent as a team and won their fifth straight playoff game since stealing OKC’s heart and destroying what could have been a perfect farewell tour for Durant and Westbrook. Until LeBron and The Invisibles give us a reason to think otherwise, a sweep is looking like a real possibility.
