Green suspension is a gift card the Cavs need to cash in -- Bud Shaw's Sports Spin
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Draymond Green’s suspension is a gift.
If the Cavs can’t beat a team missing its heart and soul, it will say as much about them as it does about the depth, versatility and greatness of the Warriors.
Golden State thinks Game 5 is a chance to make a statement. It’s a more ripe opportunity for the Cavs.
Win and you take momentum into another home game. Lose and you have so much explaining to do.
The year-long belief that the Cavs would’ve won a title last year if they’d had Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving gets completely exploded if you lose the title in Game 5 to the shorthanded Warriors.
The stakes only get bigger for Cavs, Warriors in Game 5
The theory that playing without Green will sharpen the Warriors’ edge in what otherwise might be an opportunity to relax and lose focus? Not surprisingly, the Warriors are embracing that story line.
“It’s disappointing,” Klay Thompson said of Green’s suspension. “But I’m not going to let it get us down. We had a next-man-up approach all year. Draymond, we know it’s going to kill him not being there, but we’re going to go out there and do it as a team and win for him. Go out there and try to make a statement on our home floor.”
That sounds good, but it might last through the first quarter. Green affects everything the Warriors do, from beginning to end.
This is a lifeline for the Cavs. Green is a bigger loss for the Warriors than Kevin Love’s absence was for the Cavs in Game 3. That’s not a jab at Love, just acknowledgement that Green helps his team’s cause in more ways.
The suspension comes from a play that had no direct effect on the Game 4 winner. That’s one reason why it’s gift.
The Cavs lost a game they were going to lose before Green and LeBron James got tangled up. Now because of it, they have a much better chance to win Game 5 and force the Warriors to take a trip they don’t want to make.
If the Cavs win Game 5, their chances in the series don’t improve dramatically.
Beating the Warriors twice more — with Green presumably available provided he doesn’t get another flagrant foul – would be the stuff of legend.
They would do something no NBA Finals team trailing 3-1 has managed. They would do it against a defending champion coming off the best regular season in NBA history.
That’s a huge climb. Game 5 is the start of it.
And there’s no good reason for the Cavs not to get a toe-hold and take on the mountain again in Game 6.
Green suspension is a gift card the Cavs need to cash in -- Bud Shaw"s Sports Spin
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