Sports on Draft

While LeBron James is blessed to make his 6th straight NBA Finals appearance, the 4-time MVP   is still reluctant to pay a king’s ransom for it – The Warriors early momentum in the NBA Finals rematch creates controversy and chaos in Cleveland. With all eyes on the King and his team to respond to the early 1-0 series Warriors’ lead, many are wondering if this an end of an era, or if it is the mark of a new beginning.

Will the headlines of Game 3 seek a Cavalier Comeback or Curse in Cleveland?

For many to believe that this is the time for Cavaliers to win a championship, the will be several questions in Cleveland if they fail to capture that chance at the title once again. Game 2 of the Finals entailed a great amount of pressure for the Cavs – The Warriors “Splash Brothers” were completely off Game 1, and still won convincingly.

Curry and Thompson not being the X factor for the first half of the series means bad news for the Cavaliers, the Warriors will be even more of an arsenal to the Cavaliers, as the Warriors’ bench had solely won the opening game of the Finals.

Draymond Green’s stellar 28-point performance last night at Oracle Arena shows how deep of a threat this Warrior team is. Tyron Lue’s game plan for the Warriors All-Star was ineffective to say the least; Golden State’s big man lighted up the Cavaliers, hitting five 3-pointers to give his team the spark they needed.

The Warriors incredible ability to extend the lead from 12 to 30 points in such a short amount of time is scary for teams, especially for the Cavs, Warriors put the game out of hand in just a blink of an eye, forcing Cleveland to throw the towel in the 3^rd quarter.

After just watching the first half, and seeing all of the early struggles from the Warriors reflected the or portrait of the series; Cleveland has to play absolutely perfect just to be a close game – the Warriors early 7-0 turnover differential in the 1^st quarter, did not translate to any demanding lead for Cleveland. The Cavaliers inability to take advantage of the early turnovers from then Warrior’s mistakes was a huge impact on there loss,
because once Golden State has that momentum backed by its hostile environment, the team is almost impossible to stop.

Green jumpstarted the Warriors quickly after the early struggles in the game, electrifying the team to a 20-2 run in the 2^nd quarter, breaking the game right open. Cavaliers were not able to respond to Golden State’s weapons; the damage done to the Cavaliers became even more alarming as the MVP was not a factor again in Warriors’ blow out win over Cleveland, sitting on the bench watching his role players easily take care of there opponent.

One thing is for sure the Cavaliers need to change next game in Cleveland, their “Big 3” needs to show up.

Irving, Love, and James were only combined for 34 points the entire game, Draymond Green almost had those many points just himself. The way that the Cavaliers had lost was not only evident, but shocking; the dumbstruck body language presented by Cleveland did not go unnoticed, and was questioned specifically after the game.

During the post game conference, Henry, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area reporter, had asked LeBron on wether he was frustrated or disappointed in his teams’s performance. The King had surprisingly had denied any of those emotions.

“Not disappointed in our guys or frustrated, we just got to do a better job,” said James. “We got to do better in all facets of the game, both offensively and defensively, and physically and mentally.”

Shortly after the post game conference, NBA Analysts Stephen A. Smith, Chauncey Billups, Michael Wilbon, and ESPN’s Stan Verrett commented on the Cavaliers surprisingly disengaged performance and LeBron’s post game comments.

First Take host, and well-known NBA Analyst, Stephen A. commented on the disappointment in LeBron’s post game analysis and how the superstar was nether discontent, or frustrated with both losses. Smith had mentioned this had been one of the worst NBA Finals performances he had ever seen.

The frustration presented by Smith reflected the mutual feeling of LeBron supporters and fans of the game in general: LeBron should be anything but content in a looming chance is losing another NBA Finals.

Obviously we know the greatness of LeBron and his legacy to continue is greatness, but one has to wonder if this is an end of an era – or at least in Cleveland.

Despite their collective effort in there back to back NBA Finals run, the Cavaliers were dis-oriented in Games 1 and 2 of the championship. The basketball community is wondering I the King and his well-respected Cavaliers can flip the switch.

Can the Cavaliers turn this around?

Anticipating another hostile environment, now in Cleveland, will entail and define what we will learn about these two teams in this series. If Cleveland can defend home advantage, in both games, will show a resilient and new perspective for the Cavaliers; for now, they remain somewhat questionable at the time being.

The good thing for LeBron and company, the entire state of Ohio will be behind there back in Games 3 and 4 of the Finals. The future Hall of Fame player is expected to rise to the occasion, and save his team from being behind 3 straight games in the series.

Photo By Erik Dorst [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons