It was a game that went from manageable early on, to out of hand in the second half.
The Cavaliers fell in Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, 113-91.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, it seemed like a loss that was entirely avoidable.
At halftime, Cleveland was down by eight, which was a minor miracle given the simple fundamentals that were going wrong.
In the first two quarters, the Cavs turned the ball over 12 times, giving Golden State 10 points.
Cleveland also struggled on the glass in the first 24 minutes, allowing the Warriors to nab 11 offensive boards.
But when the third quarter came around, instead of fixing their two biggest issues, the Cavs seemed even more lax on both ends of the floor than before.
Golden State opened up the quarter on a 13-0 run to extend their lead to 21.
While the Cavs would eventually close the rebounding gap in the third quarter, the turnovers continued to be an issue.
By the end of the night, the Cavs had turned the ball over 20 times, costing them 21 points. The Warriors had just four turnovers, tying a league record for fewest turnovers ever in a playoff game.
Defensive lapses also really began to show Cleveland’s weak points. Blown assignments and miscommunication were evident as players began to point fingers on the court.
The biggest benefit to the Warriors in all of the chaos was easy buckets inside the lane.
Make no mistake about it: Instead of being the team that dazzled from the three-point line in 2016, the Warriors are now a squad that plays inside out basketball.
This is, of course, is Kevin Durant’s bread and butter. He finished the night with a game-high 38 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. That included six dunks in the first half alone.
And while Durant was patrolling the inside, Steph Curry was more than content to manage the offense from deep. He finished the night with 28 points, including six threes.
All of this was incredibly damaging down the stretch, and yet, the Cavs may have been able to overcome the Warriors’ second-half runs (or at least have a manageable deficit to work with heading into the fourth quarter) if they had more players step up on offense.
The Cavs’ Big Three combined for 67 of the team’s 91 points. No other players even scored in double figures for Cleveland (Richard Jefferson was the closest with nine points).
And while Kevin Love had 21 boards, and LeBron James had 15, the rest of the team only had 23 rebounds combined.
To make matters worse, it was blatantly obvious that the Cavs were struggling to play the team basketball that made them successful throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs. That was evident by the fact that the Cavs only had 15 team assists compared to the Warriors 31.
In order to be successful against the Warriors in a best of seven series, the Cavs need to fix all of the above. That starts with taking care of the ball on offense, and avoiding blown defensive assignments.
If they can focus on those two things, the other issues will likely be fixed along with them.
For the better part of three years now, the Cavs have been at their best with their backs against the wall, (which is probably part of the reason why the Cavs stressed how good the Warriors are to the media after winning the Eastern Conference Championship).
They thrive on the underdog mentality. It tends to make them sharper on both ends of the court when they play with desperation. For the third straight year, the Cavs are down 1-0 in the Finals. Let’s see if this adversity fuels them on Sunday.
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