NBA Finals: Warriors, Durant put Cavs on skates
The Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t on the brink of elimination yet, but it’s starting to feel like the rest of the NBA Finals are a waste of competitive time.
In Game 2 at ORACLE Arerna, the Golden State Warriors blew out the Cavaliers by a 132-113 margin, in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicates. Cleveland kept it close throughout the first half, but they was blown out of the building in the third quarter. The Warriors began to pull away with easy shots in close and long bombs from the three-point stripe, forcing the Cavaliers to start jacking up ugly perimeter shots in an effort to catch up.
When the smoke cleared, it was once more a fantastic effort by Kevin Durant that led to a victory. Durant, who many felt was simply a cherry on top for the Warriors when he signed with them this summer, has thus far been the Finals MVP. After scoring 38 points in Game 1, Durant came out and dominated the Cavs on Sunday night, pouring in 33 points with 13 rebounds and six assists.
Durant had plenty of help from his teammates. Steph Curry notched the first triple-double of his postseason career, scoring 32 points with 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Curry was brilliant in the second half, hitting three-pointers from different zip codes.
In defeat, LeBron James was once again terrific. He also had a triple-double with 29 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t near enough. Kevin Love totaled 27 points and seven rebounds while Kyrie Irving had 19 points and seven assists. Still, Cleveland finds itself in a 2-0 hole heading back to Quicken Loans Arena for Game 3 on Wednesday night.
Should the Warriors somehow go into Cleveland and win both of the games there to complete the sweep, they could be argued as the greatest single-season team of all time. The Warriors are already the first team to go 14-0 to start the playoffs, and have done so with the largest margin of victory in NBA playoff history. Considering there are four Hall of Fame players on the team and perhaps a Hall of Fame coach on the bench, there is no shortage of star power to remember them by.
As for the Cavaliers, where does that leave them? Cleveland has been to the Finals in three consecutive years and had one of the most memorable titles of all-time in 2016, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat a 73-win Warriors team. However, a loss in this year’s Finals makes the Cavs 1-2 in that stretch and has James sitting at 3-5 for his career on the league’s biggest stage.
For now, we wait and see if Cleveland can turn it around at home. Don’t forget last year … yet.
