NBA Finals Recap – How Surprised Should We Be that Warriors defeated the Cavs?
Written by Jarrett Adams on June 14, 2017
Before we jump the gun and anoint Kevin Durant the best basketball player in the world, lets recap the 2017 NBA Finals. For starters, the 2016-2017 NBA season with all of its luster and great performances from the likes of Westbrook, Harden, Kawhi, and Isaiah Thomas was constantly overshadowed by the elephant in the room; that being the two super-teams in the East and West on a collision course for the first 3-peat matchup in the NBA Finals.
The Cavs practically walked through the regular season and Eastern Conference playoffs. The Warriors, in the West, hit some turbulence with a mid season KD injury, only to regain their form to hold on to the league’s best record, despite a scare from the San Antonio Spurs. Lets face it – the Warriors and Cavs are clearly the league’s best and top-heavy teams, with multiple all-stars per team and savvy veterans in key roles off the bench. The main question behind the 2016-2017 NBA regular season remained whether KD could assimilate with the 2015 NBA Champions to win it with Golden State in his first year.
On paper, the Warriors clearly outmatched the Cavalier’s roster this year. Despite trades that netted them players like Kyle Korver, and pickups that tried out an assortment of players like Deron Williams, Andrew Bogut (injured in first game with Cavs), and even Larry Sanders (out of retirement), the Warriors simply have 4 of the top 15 players in the world in their starting lineup. Depending on how you rank the NBA’s best, the Warriors easily have 2 top 5 players in the world and Durant and Curry. That alone makes them the best one-two punch in the NBA. Add in Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, who are easily top 15 players in the NBA, and we could be talking about the best starting lineup ever assembled. Sure, for arguments sake, the Cavs have Lebron, Kyrie, and Kevin Love, but the Warriors still outmatch that on paper. So as the 2017 NBA Finals began, it was finally time for NBA fans to unwind and enjoy the matchup and series we’d all been waiting for.
Still, much uncertainty remained as the legacies of Lebron and Durant crossed paths for the second time in the NBA Finals. For Lebron, if he could pull this off, it would be topping what he had accomplished in the 2016 NBA Finals, his proudest moment to date on the basketball court. Leading the Cavs back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the defending champion Warriors was an eye-opener to anyone still doubting the greatness that is King James. That drama certainly trickled over into the 2017 NBA Finals, because like the previous year, Lebron was the underdog and everyone counted them out when down 3-1.
Despite this, there existed a glimmer of hope with questions like, “Could Lebron and Kyrie still do this?” and statements were made that resembled, “If Lebron defeats the Warriors this year, he’s the greatest of All Time”. Kevin Durant, on the other hand, faced a different type of pressure. It’s the same pressure any favorite has over the underdog in a sporting event: the pressure of coming up short. Kevin Durant had already come up short to Lebron James in the 2012 NBA Finals, with the Heat defeating the Thunder in 5 games.
Questions lingered like, “If the Warriors lose to the Cavs, was Kevin Durant going to Golden State the wrong decision?”. A Warriors loss would mean a PR disaster for all parties involved in Golden State. Kevin Durant would have undoubtedly shared most of that blame for “messing up the chemistry” of the Warriors, despite being personally recruited by Draymond Green after the Game 7 loss of the 2016 NBA Finals. At the same time, these finals presented the perfect opportunity for Golden State to get revenge on Lebron and the Cavs in more ways then one. The addition of Kevin Durant simply put more fuel to that fire, as he was still without a championship ring on his resume.
Warriors Take Care of Home Court with a Scoring Assault in Games 1,2
Game 1 at Oracle Arena started off with a bang of highly competitive back and forth action. The Warriors took a 7-point advantage into halftime of Game 1 with the Cavs still in striking distance. A quick glance at the stat sheet shows poor performances from key role players like Tristan Thompson (zero points, 4 rebounds) and JR Smith (3 points). The Cavs big three all had solid performances in Game 1 but the lack of support from role players doomed the Cavs in the second half. Kevin Love finished with 15 points and 21 rebounds, Lebron managed to end with 28, 15 boards and 8 assists, and Kyrie posted a respectable 24 points.
However, the Warriors jumped all over the Cavs in the second half of Game 1, winning the 3rd quarter 33-20, and extended their lead to 20 before the start of the 4th. Warriors showcased their excellent passing and shooting in the 2nd half we all have been accustomed to seeing. One thing that stuck out was the lack of rim-protection from the Cavs, and the inability to stop the ball during fast breaks. This would be a re-occurring theme in the 2017 NBA Finals.
Kevin Durant led all scorers with 38 points to go along with 9 boards and 8 assists. Steph Curry was the only other scorer from the Warriors to end the game in double-digits, ending the game with 28 points; hitting 6 three’s in the process and racking up 10 assists. Under the tag team punch of Durant and Curry, the Warriors withheld the Cavs in Game 1 with an overall great team performance. The only Warrior that did not score in Game 1 was rookie Patrick McCaw.
Game 2 saw a shift in the narrative that the Cavs generally needed more involvement from the 2016 Finals X-Factor, Kyrie Irving. As far as the media was concerned, the key for the Cavs had to be Kyrie catching a hot streak and matching the Warriors barrage of scoring and deep shooting threats. However, Kyrie posted his worst game of the 2017 Finals in Game 2, scoring only 19 points in 40 minutes of action, and shooting a measly 34% from the field. Overall Game 2 consisted of better all around team play from the Cavs role players, but missing in action was JR Smith again, scoring zero points, while taking just two attempts in 14 minutes. Lebron did his job with a Finals triple double, ending with 29, 11 boards and 14 assists. Kevin Love showed up with 27 points, but it also should be noted that Tristan Thompson only grabbed 4 rebounds in 21 minutes of action.
The high scoring affair in Game 2 ended with a finals score of 132-113, another blowout victory for the Warriors. It was evident that the Cavs have a tough time matching up with the Warriors ability to spread the floor and ability to run successful fast breaks, despite committing 20 turnovers to the Cavs 9 in Game 2. The difference in Game 2 wasn’t necessarily bad execution on offense for the Cavs, but inability to keep up with the three-point output from the Warriors, who ended the game making 18 threes on 43 attempts. In comparison, the Cavs took 29 threes while only hitting 8. The Warriors Big 3 of Klay, Steph, and KD combined for 87 points, and every Warrior scored except for Matt Barnes.
KD Silences Quicken Loans Arena with Clutch Moments in Game 3
As the series shifted the Cleveland, NBA fans knew Game 3 would be a deciding factor for how the rest of the series would turn out. The Cavs simply had to play better defense and slow down the Warriors offense if they had a chance. Game 3 was a back and forth affair for the majority of the game, heading into halftime with the Warriors ahead 67-61. Cleveland was able to have a strong start to the second half, wining the 3rd quarter with solid team play 33-22, and took their first lead going into the 4th quarter in this series.
What would happen next could have been described as Kevin Durant taking the mantle of the world’s greatest player away from Lebron James. In the waning moments of Game 3, the Cavs still had a slight advantage on the scoreboard over the Dubs. Down by 4 with 1:20 left, the Warriors looked to none other than KD to get them a bucket. Somehow the Cavs left Tristan Thompson on Durant, so KD drove for the easy floater to cut the lead to two.
After a Cleveland miss next position and a rebound by Durant, KD quickly rushed up the floor to take the go-ahead three pointer to take the lead. This was a gusty move by Durant considering there was just 47 seconds left in the game and still early in the possession with 19 seconds left on the shot clock. It did not matter; the go ahead three was good and the Warriors regained the lead. After some mental mistakes from both Lebron, Kyrie, and head coach Tyron Lue, the Warriors would retain the lead and take the series lead 3-0, winning 116-113.
Game 3 was probably the biggest performance in KD’s career, and here’s why. That clutch floater and go ahead three cemented his decision to go to Golden State in the first place. NBA fans questioned whether he would ride the coattails of the Splash Brothers, but his performance in the 2017 NBA Finals proved otherwise. He was the deciding factor to put the Warriors over the top. Mind you, Game 3 was a back and forth game from the start to finish, and the only time the win was certain was after the final buzzer. Quite frankly, KD has not had a bigger moment on a bigger stage.
Cavs Fight off a Sweep on their Home Floor in Game 4
As Game 4 approached in Cleveland somehow there were still rumblings that the Cavs were down but not out of this series. Sure this year there was no Draymond suspension and the Cavs still had no answer for KD, bad rim protection and inability to stop the Warriors onslaught of scoring, but the Cavs performance in Game 3 served as a reminder that they could at least belonged on the same floor as Golden State.
Thus Game 4 was a bit of a role reversal of what we’ve become accustomed to seeing from both teams, as the Cavs pounced on the Warriors from the gate. Looking at the box score from this game a few stats jump out, including the Cavs hitting 24 threes to the Warriors 11. Also, Kyrie followed a great Game 3 performance to drop 40 in game 4. A quick glance at the line score shows the Cavs had the best performance in a quarter in these Finals, ending the 1st quarter up 49-33. Game 4 also was the only game this series which the Cavs outscored the Warriors in every quarter, winning easily 137-116.
Lebron James also had another triple double, ending with 31 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. I think Game 4 was very important to see from NBA fans. I speak for everyone when I say a Finals sweep would have left a really sour taste in my mouth. It just wouldn’t have felt right. But seeing the Cavs handle the Warriors like that to fight off elimination brought new energy and excitement to this series. The Cavs finally played to their potential and everything went right for them on the offensive end. Even JR Smith before Game 4 tweeted out, “Cavs in 7” which was ok considering he had a solid performance with 15 points off 5 made threes.
Warriors Take the NBA Championship in Game 5 at Oracle
Some NBA pundits suggested that immense pressure arose for Game 5 as the series shifted back to Oracle Arena. “If they don’t win this, they’re in trouble,” was the sentiment most people felt considering what happened in last year’s finals. Remember the aforementioned pressure any favorite has over the underdog I mentioned before, well that pressure was alive and well from the opening tip of Game 5. Any mishap or mistake would be glorified and Cleveland had to look to take advantage of it. The Cavs came out extremely strong from the opening tip, winning the first quarter 37-33 while making some splash plays.
However, a barrage of threes and easy looks doomed the Cavs in the second quarter, giving up 38 points while only scoring 23. The lead at the half was 11 for the Warriors, up 71-60. If the Cavs were to fight off elimination, they had to play better defense, and 71 points in the first half was not going to cut it. One thing that stuck out in Game 5 were the timely buckets of Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. Anytime the Cavs were in striking distance, clutch baskets by either Durant or Curry helped maintain a healthy lead.
For example, Lebron had his best output scoring wise trying to shift this series back to Cleveland, but to no avail, ending with 41 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists. Kyrie Irving dished in 26 but could have played better, while JR and Tristan Thompson both had solid to great performances considering the stakes. Missing in action in Game 5 was Kevin Love, who ended the game with 6 points albeit with 10 rebounds.
Speaking of Kevin Love one moment that stuck out was the scuffle between David West and Kyrie Irving in the second quarter. On one replay angle, Kevin Love has a direct line of sight to the conflict between the much bigger David West and all star point guard Kyrie Irving. I thought it says a lot about Kevin Love that he did not aide Kyrie Irving but the other 3 teammates on the floor all jumped in to diffuse or escalate the situation. Kevin Love is clearly seen lackadaisically unbothered by the situation where both teams wanted to get a little physical. This said a lot about Kevin Love in the heat of moment facing elimination of the NBA Finals. If he can’t get in the scuffle and at least show that he’s there for his teammate, how can he be trusted to win championships against this Warriors squad in the future? If I were Dan Gilbert, the Cavs owner, Kevin Love wouldn’t have played another game in a Cavalier uniform. That moment was a disgrace to the toughness that existed in Kevin Love. Whether he has the toughness or not, David West took his heart and K Love wanted no problems with the big fella.
Despite efforts to cut the deficit and force a Game 6, the Warriors were simply too much for the Cavs at home. Kevin Durant finished with 39 while Steph Curry added 34 points and 10 assists. A huge factor off the bench in Game 5 was Andre Igoudala, who aided with 20 points. Kevin Durant easily won Finals MVP as he led the Warriors in scoring with an average of 35 points a game with 8 boards and 5 assists. Steph Curry ended the series averaging 26 points and 9 assists. Its hard to blame Lebron James for this finals loss after averaging a triple double in 5 games, finishing with 33, 12 boards, and 10 dimes. Kyrie ended the series averaging 29 points with 4 assists.
What did the NBA Finals Mean in the Grand Scheme of NBA?
Looking back on how it all went down and the pretense under the 2017 NBA Finals was played, no one should be surprised the Warriors overtook the Cavs in just 5 games. Even in this column, I recapped the whole NBA Finals without mentioning Draymond Green too much. That is because Draymond simply did his job; how he put his stamp on this series did not show up in the stat sheet. Yet he did end up averaging 11 points and 10 rebounds in 5 games, while being great on defense and being the emotional leader when the team needed it. This series should be remembered by the steady performance of KD and his go-ahead three pointer in Game 3. Quite frankly, the Cavs had no ability to matchup with Durant. On plays they did, consider they still had to keep tabs on Curry, Klay, and Draymond. This fantastic four should be in contention for the next 3 or 4 titles if the Warriors players decide to stay in Golden State in the future. We are already witnessing the Warriors dynasty; and the 2017 championship was just the first with KD. Now it’s up to other GMs and NBA players themselves to solve the Golden State puzzle, but it won’t come easily.