For Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue, the physical turn the NBA Finals took in Game 4 is just what he wanted and is the recipe he hopes the Cavaliers will follow for the rest of the series against the Golden State Warriors.
The Cavaliers set all types of records in their Game 4 victory over the Warriors and, while it's unlikely that they repeat any of those accomplishments, there were some troubling signs from the way Golden State played.
You could say it's same time, next year, but in truth, Game 5 of the NBA Finals Monday night at Oracle Arena is a wholly different beast from Game 5 between the Warriors and Cavaliers a year ago.
Golden State would rather forget that monumental collapse previous year, when Green's absence for Game 5 because of flagrant foul point accumulation helped swing the series.
The Cavs have the confidence they can do it given that they came back from a 3-1 deficit last season.
"You never want to be in those moments of elimination games, but when you are, you want to be as prepared as possible".
India wins it easy over South Africa in Champions Trophy
Kholi's side avoided the embarrassment of an early exit as they survived a do-or-die showdown to advance from Group B in style. Another aggressive shot from Sharma proved his downfall as a mistimed slog was caught behind by De Kock off Morne Morkel .
The Cavs won it 137-116 [VIDEO] behind a triple-double from LeBron, and 40 points from Kyrie Irving. Elgin Baylor did it twice in the 1960s and Wilt Chamberlain did it in 1970 for the Lakers.
"They (Arsenal) have a replay against Chelsea and if they win it they would face a semi-final three days before playing us in the league. And for the rest of us, we have to do everything else". He was hot-tempered at times on Friday and was thought to have earned an ejection with a second technical foul at one point. He has been the barometer for Cleveland the past two years around the constant greatness from James.
In the first three games of the series, the Warriors' backcourt had mostly outplayed Cleveland's.
That was especially evident in the Game 4 win when Irving hit seven of Cleveland's record-setting 24 3-pointers.
Where can I watch the live stream? "But when he's extending the floor and hitting those threes, it widens the whole floor for everybody". You have a three-zero team (Warriors), we're the greatest thing since sliced bread, and everyone is fantastic. As mentioned above, the Warriors have been a stalwart on defense, but oddly enough their defensive rating (DRtg) has dropped (significantly) over each of the four games of this series. From the floor, the Cavs held him pretty much in check, shooting 41 percent from the field, including 2-of-9 from long-range. Monday's game ended after this edition of The Times went to press. He scored 38 points in the Game 3 loss before his big Game 4 performance.
"We'll just come and play our game, continue to build on what we've been doing since Day 1 of training camp", said Warriors star Kevin Durant, attempting to brush all distractions aside. "Thinking about previous year does you no good". I have to be implementing in those opportunities, and the way to do that is just being an open screener, being just a willing sacrificer, and the opportunities will come. With James more than capable of initiating the offense, Cleveland let him bring the ball down the floor and then use off-ball screens and cuts to get Irving separation from Thompson.
Comments