How Cleveland Cavaliers react in Game 5 will say a lot about team's character -- Terry Pluto (video)
OAKLAND, Calif. — What Cavaliers team will show up for Game 5 of the NBA Finals?
I’m really curious about that.
Will the Cavs play hard and with poise? Will they make a serious attempt to force a Game 6?
Or will Golden State run them out of Oracle Arena, as the Warriors have done to so many teams this season.
That is a legitimate fear. The Cavs can easily decide, “We’re not going to win a title this year, let’s get it over with.”
Other teams have done just that, and been embarrassed.
“My mindset is get one,” said LeBron James. “We’ve got to get one. It’s not about overlooking this. It’s about getting one on their home floor where they’ve been very successful.”
Like James, most Cavs fans know the score. Their team is down 3-1 in the best-of-seven NBA Finals. In Finals history, there have been 32 teams that were behind 3-1…
None came back to win.
So that’s 0-for-32.
James has been involved in the last two Finals where a team was down 3-1.
In 2014, James was with Miami. The Heat were down 3-1. They went to San Antonio and were wiped out 104-87, a game that wasn’t even that close.
In 2012 also with Miami, James and the Heat were in front, 3-1. Oklahoma City came to Miami and lost 121-106. That also was a blowout.
So not only is history against the Cavs, it indicates the Warriors are likely to win their second consecutive title in a rout.
That’s especially true at the Oracle, where the Warriors are 10-1 in the playoffs after a 39-2 regular season home record.
“If you don’t think we can win, don’t get on the plane,” Tyronn Lue said. “I just think we have to come back anyway, so we might as well come back and play (Game 6 at Quicken Loans Arena).”
The Cavs coach said that was the message he gave his team after Friday’s loss to the Warriors.
A STRANGE TEAM
The Cavs have been a very good team this season, but a strange one.
Part of the reason general manager David Griffin fired former coach David Blatt at midseason was the funky mood of the team. Griffin called it, “the temperature in the room.”
Too often, the players seemed distant and disconnected — even with the 30-11 record under Blatt.
Griffin never said it, but many of the players had major doubts about Blatt. One of the factors in the firing of Blatt was to take away the coaching excuse from the players.
They liked Lue and believed he was ready to be the head coach.
And all was well until the Cavs ran into the Warriors.
Lue did a good job rallying the team after it lost two games in Toronto, making the Eastern Conference Finals 2-2. The Cavs won the next two games decisively.
But the Finals have been discouraging. The Cavs had a powerhouse performance in Game 3’s 110-77 victory at Quicken Loans Arena. But that’s been the only bright spot.
The Cavs returned to many of their early season bad habits in Game 4’s 108-97 loss to the Warriors.
Isolation basketball led to stagnation on offense, and it also seemed to carry over to defense. The Cavs were outscored, 58-42, in the second half on their home floor.
The team was very depressed after the game, knowing the opportunity that was lost.
A REAL TEST
Steve Kerr has been warning his team about this game.
“I’ve already told our guys that Game 5 will be the hardest game of the series,” said the Golden State coach. “Every closeout game is difficult. But when you’re at home, for a strange reason, it’s even more difficult. You’ve got everybody in your ear. You’ve got friends and family who want to come to the game and want to discuss everything. We have to understand that this series is not over.”
If the Cavs can pull a major upset and win this game in Oakland, it will say a lot of good things about Lue and the veteran player leadership.
“We already got to take a flight home back,” said James. “We might as well come home with a win and play on our home floor again. Being a confident bunch, we feel like the chips have been stacked up against us all year anyway.”
Not sure what James means about the “chips have been stacked against us all year anyway.”
Yes, the Cavs have faced some adversity, but much of it was self-created. This is not like the 2015 playoffs where the Cavs were without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving for many of the games.
The inability of Irving, Love and James to blend together some nights isn’t any chips stacked against the Cavs. It’s a struggle for talented players to figure out what is the best way for them to play and win.
Will that be an issue Monday?
Will the Cavs play like they wish they never had to take their charter flight to Oakland? Do they just want the season to be over?
It’s very tempting for players in the Cavs position to say, “We’ve made The Finals. We’re not going to win it this year. We’ve played 101 games (regular and post season). Let’s go home.”
It’s up to James to rally the key players, and for the Cavs to show that’s not their attitude. Because if it is, they are farther from a title than even they know.
How Cleveland Cavaliers react in Game 5 will say a lot about team"s character -- Terry Pluto (video)
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