Warriors out of sync without Green
The Golden State Warriors had a chance to win the franchise’s third world championship on Monday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers at ORACLE Arena, but came up woefully short.
Golden State was infamously without forward Draymond Green due to his one-game suspension and lost 112-97 with a short bench and jumbled lineup. While Green was across the parking lot taking in an Oakland A’s baseball game, his teammates were busy getting shot out of the gym in a pair of epic performances by guard Kyrie Irving and forward LeBron James.
Irving and James each scored 41 points, becoming the first pair of teammates in NBA Finals history to score more than 40 points apiece in the same game. James, who has been rightfully and loudly criticized throughout the series, put together one of the all-time Finals performances with 16 rebounds, seven assists and three steals to go with his 41 points, while shooting 16-of-30 from the field.
As for the Warriors, they could never get on track. Although the game was tied at 61 when the intermission came, it always felt like the home team was battling uphill. Golden State played poorly on defense with Andrew Bogut hurting his leg early on and Green being out, allowing Cleveland to shoot 53 percent from the field. The Warriors desperately needed Harrison Barnes to step up with Green on the proverbial sidelines, and he was dreadful. The upcoming free agent shot 2-of-14 for five points in 38 minutes.
So what does it all mean? The Cavaliers now get the series to Game 6 for the second time in as many years, this time coming back to Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland will be rocking to support its team, with the hope of forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday night. The Cavaliers are still the heavy underdog and should be, but suddenly the series doesn’t have the feel of being completely over.
Golden State had the series dead and buried after beating Cleveland in Game 4, appearing to have broken its back. Instead, Green got his personal foul of hitting James below the belt turned into a flagrant 1 and an automatic suspension, and the tenor of the matchup changed.
For the Cavaliers to do anything serious, though, the role players absolutely have to play better. James and Irving have been the stars of the show for Cleveland to this point, with nary a peep out of Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, to say nothing of Tristan Thompson. In Game 5, those four combined for 22 points. Shumpert and Love were especially rancid, combining for six points and three turnovers in 59 minutes.
Now, the series shifts back to Cleveland. Can the Warriors regain their momentum on the road with Green’s return, or will it all come down to Game 7?
