Great first game. But it kind of shows the problems the Cavs would have had anyway. Simply not enough depth to match up with the Warriors and without kyrie that one at least minor chance they had is now gone.
he didn't play great tonight, 2/8 from deep, 10/22 from the field but...yeah that's 23 points, 7 boards, 6 assists, 44 minutes they now have to account for
and they only played 8 dudes tonight. 6 of whom scored. 5 if you don't count Thompson's lone field goal
This is why I didn't buy into the bench/supporting cast. I always felt them getting to the finals said more about Lebron than it did about them as a "team". Thompson is a good rebounder but offensively limited. JR smith on offense is the most predictable thing ever. It's always an iso stepback jumper. Shump is a good defensive player but offensively limited other than for wide open 3's. Mozgov is a good center so that's nice but its not a difference maker at least when they have bogut and other players on the other side who match up relatively well. Then you have a lot of utter crap. James Jones shouldn't be in the league anymore. Marion seems to have completely fallen into the doghouse or is just considered washed up although I'd much prefer his defense to whatever Jones throws out there. Mike Miller was a wasted signing. Perk was a wasted signing. Delladova is what he is but against the Warriors he's a horrible matchup. He's awful defensively and needs help to get his shot. The rest of the bench isn't worth mentioning.
With a healthy kyrie and Love it would have been a fun series and I'd probably favor them. But it always felt like they had no chance once everybody got hurt. Hell I think they should be proud. This might be the best game they play this series but its not going to be enough.
It's a nice story to celebrate them getting to the finals in the East. And it takes nothing away from Shump and JR smith because they are giving it their best. But they are outmanned and outgunned except for Lebron. Maybe next year. They need a deeper bench obviously. Cut most of those guys. And establish something on offensive other than Lebron iso, because while that's a really good thing to have, it doesn't work against a complete team in a series in the finals. It's been demonstrated so often now.
It will be Year 2 for Blatt. Let's see that offense he was supposed to excel at, otherwise it might as well be any other random nba coach. It can't be just enough to get through the east because this is the 2nd year in a row it's not going to work. You have to match up with what the best of the western conference teams are doing. They need a style change.
