The NBA Finals get real but stay absurd

The NBA Finals get real but stay absurd

Heading into Game 4, both the Warriors and Cavaliers have some decisions to make.

CLEVELAND -- Basketball is such a weird game. Could it be that the presence of Richard Jefferson, a 15-year vet who was once part of a massive salary dump that allowed the Warriors to sign Andre Iguodala, really play such a fundamental role in shifting the entire momentum of a series? At the risk of calling the man clairvoyant, Steve Kerr had a feeling before Game 3 that things would be different for his team once he learned that Jefferson would be starting for the Cavaliers in place of Kevin Love.

"Well, they had good spacing with Kevin, and they'll have good spacing with Richard," Kerr said before the game. "The difference is just the speed, the ability to get to the rim. Richard is more of a three, obviously, than a four. So they're really going to spread us out and it should give them more driving lanes and more room for LeBron (James) to operate.

"We're going to have to try to do what we've done the first two games, which is cover the three-point line and also try to cut off LeBron's penetration and keep him from getting all the way to the hoop. It's a lot easier said than done, and I think it may be more difficult tonight, at least, to start the game with that lineup."

Um, yeah.

Right from the opening tip the Cavs blitzed Golden State, scoring the first nine points of the game and then building a preposterous 33-10 lead in the first quarter. LeBron finished with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, Kyrie Irving added 30 and the Cavs finally busted loose from behind the arc making 12 of their 25 attempts. The lineup switch also put LeBron at the four defensively and that helped blow up the Warriors' vaunted 1-4 pick-and-rolls that feasted in the opening two games.

Clearly Kerr was on to something. Of course, he also thought his Warriors would play with an edge and well, that didn't happen at all. With the notable exception of the second quarter when Golden State fought back to make it an 8-point game at the half, the Cavs were in complete control, eventually winning 120-90 and putting themselves right back in the series.

"We weren't ready to play," Kerr said. "Obviously they just punched us right in the mouth right in the beginning. We're turning the ball over like crazy. Soft, we were extremely soft to start the game, and then they set the tone with their intensity."

Or as noted philosopher Draymond Green put it, "They came out and played like a team with a sense of desperation, like their season was on the line. And we came out and played like everything was peaches and cream."

Credit Cavs' coach Ty Lue with the lineup switch. Credit LeBron with having a signature game when it was needed most. Credit everyone in Cleveland, with the exception of poor Kevin Love who will now have to endure another 48 hours of talk about how he's the problem.

"Let's slow down with that," Jefferson said. "At the end of the day, we protected once. We protected home court. We have a lot of respect for our opponent. Kevin wanted to be on the court. I saw how pissed off he was when he wasn't able to be cleared in time. We're in this together. We've all picked each other up. You have to go with the next-man-up mentality. He is definitely one of the top players in this league. It's our job to just hold on until he can get back."

Jefferson is right on the merits, but this is also a game of context and contextually he may very well be a much better fit for what the Cavs want to do in this series. He was once a high-flying scoring threat on some really good Nets teams, but now he's a grinder and the Cavs need grinders who can muck things up on the boards, clog up the paint and switch defensive assignments. They have enough scoring with James, Irving and J.R. Smith.

Contextually, the Cavs may be better off with Jefferson and now they have an important decision to make. Love will be reevaluated throughout the day on Thursday as part of the league's concussion protocol. Do they go back to him if he's cleared, or ride with what worked so well in Game 3?

"Putting Richard Jefferson in the starting lineup, I just think he gave us speed," Lue said. "I thought he gave us the physicality on Harrison Barnes, and that we were able to slide LeBron over to Draymond Green, which helped us out a lot. We were able to switch pick-and-rolls and things like that. So just being able to get up the floor offensively, pushing the ball, pushing the tempo, and RJ's aggressiveness on the defensive end."

Pressed on whether he would start Jefferson again if Love was cleared, Lue demurred. That was pretty much Kerr's stance, as well, when asked if he would downsize to start Game 4 by lifting Andrew Bogut from his starting lineup.

"We thought Boges played well," Kerr said. "Boges has done a good job for us in the series. We didn't feel like we had to match what they were doing because of their change in their starting lineup. We can always make a quick substitution. So I don't think that had anything to do with losing the game. It wasn't lineups. It wasn't substitution patterns. We just got our tails kicked."

Meanwhile, Steph Curry continued to struggle to do much of anything. The two-time Most Valuable Player had a couple of defensive breakdowns early and then compounded his errors by getting himself in foul trouble with some ill-timed reaches. Save for a handful of brief flurries, he's been unable to get himself going in this series. Kerr even pulled him late in the second quarter, which never happens.

"Unfortunately, it was all me," Curry said. "They were playing aggressive defense and they came out with a big punch. I didn't do anything about it or play my game, and for me to do what I need to do to help my team, I have to play a hundred times better than that, especially in the first quarter, to kind of control the game, and I didn't do it."

As much as we want to make this into a battle of superstars, and as much as we want them to put their imprint on this series and complete their narrative arcs with some kind of satisfying conclusion that ties everything together and makes sense of this strange game, context keeps muddying the storyline. The Cavs are gearing their defense toward slowing him down and as yet he's been unable to find an effective counter. LeBron found his way with yet another brilliant performance and now we look to Curry to do the same.

This game is more complex than that. That's not a brilliant insight, but it will have to do in a series that has lacked for any kind of a compelling dramatic arc. When Richard Jefferson is the answer all we are left with are more questions.

source: sbnation