OAKLAND — Tyronn Lue had that “aw shucks” look on his face when he walked into his press conference after a 113-91 Game 1 loss in the NBA Finals.
Kevin Durant scored 38 points, dunked the ball 422 times, was left unbelievably open for portions of the night and committed zero turnovers. He blistered Cleveland’s defense and Lue had some explaining to do postgame.
“Yeah, we kind of did something,” Lue said. “One of our game plans was kind of backwards.”
The honesty is appreciated, Ty. But the coaching gaffe deflated your team, right from the get-go. This was KD’s game from the start because the Cavaliers set it up that way. Cleveland barricaded the 3-point line and left the lane wide open for Durant to feast upon. The examples of defensive breakdowns were littered throughout the action on Thursday. By the time the Cavaliers tried to adjust, the damage had been done.
Early in the third quarter Durant was pushing a fast break down the floor. He was gliding untouched to the basket. The Warriors were beginning to run away with Game 1. LeBron James, in a frantic state, had a choice to make. Leave Steph Curry wide open at the 3-point line or chase down Durant?
Pick your poison.
Durant caught James barreling down out of the corner of his eye, flipped the ball back to Curry, who drained the wide open 3. Never have Curry and Durant played this well together, simultaneously. It was breathtaking. At one point, Kyrie Irving was running to get out of the way of Durant.
“They played a hell of a game,” LeBron conceded afterwards.
Don’t you ever count out LeBron. The Bay Area learned that the hard way in 2016. Golden State also cruised to Game 1 and 2 victories last June. And chatting with some media members, most of us agree that Cleveland has become the tougher arena to play in.
But circumstances have changed drastically. Durant deserves as much credit as the Cavaliers do for bungling their handling of the superstar. In games where the spotlight has been shining directly on him this season — the OKC games in particular — KD’s put up monster numbers every single time.
“I’m probably going to say this a lot over the next couple days, we’re just trying to stay locked in, man. That’s all it’s about,” a relaxed Durant said afterwards. He’s in such a good place emotionally right now. This 38-point performance is only going to help his confidence.
So, the burning question Lue must answer: what can the Cavaliers do defensively instead? Leaving Klay Thompson open and doubling-down on Durant has to be considered. Thompson’s shooting funk (3-for-16 in Game 1) has lasted close to a month. Clogging the lane and leaving the Warriors open from deep also has to be considered. Cleveland has the long-range snipers to go tit-for-tat in a shootout.
LeBron had his own suggestions.
“First of all, we got to stop the ball in transition,” James said. “There was a few times where we fanned out to the 3-point line and let guys just go right down the middle for a dunk. And I know, I believe, K.D. had two or three of those. So when you turn the ball over, you got to know that that’s their best. That’s when they become very dangerous because those guys, they sprint down the lane, they sprint to the 3-point line, they put a lot of pressure on your defense.”
Not only was Cleveland ill-prepared for the Durant factor, the Warriors predicted they would be. Steve Kerr advocated Golden State begin the game attacking the paint with their 7-foot wing. Kerr continues to design backroom strategies that come to fruition for his basketball team.
“Steve suggested we try to get the ball in his hands right away and put him in position where he can attack downhill,” Mike Brown said. “It worked out well.”
Obviously, it was more than a defensive strategy that did in the Cavs. The Warriors set a franchise-low with just 4 turnovers. They attempted 20 more shots than Cleveland, an unheard of amount in a championship. The Warriors eliminated Tristan Thompson (zero points, 4 rebounds in 22 minutes). Curry had 10 assists, Durant posted 8 rebounds, 8 assists and zero turnovers. Andre Iguodala was fantastic off the bench. Golden State did everything correctly. Everything.
The bottom line: LeBron has not been challenged like this in NBA Finals since Kawhi Leonard took him down in 2014. He himself played pretty well (28 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists).
It’s becoming clear stopping Durant is not going to be an option. Golden State is going to relentlessly attack James on defense, hoping that it impacts him on the offensive end. The series is still young, but Cleveland has to strategize a better way to slow him down.
