Cleveland Cavaliers: Inconsistency Will Cost The Cavs In The NBA Finals

As we witnessed in Game 1, inconsistency will cost the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals

Kevin Love is healthy. Kyrie Irving is healthy, too. Both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson struggled offensively.

In a much-anticipated beginning of a Finals series rematch which went one way last year, the Cleveland Cavaliers got their rears kicked by the defending champions, Golden State Warriors, as they fell in Game 1, 104-89.

Yes, the Big 3 of Tyronn Lue showed up like the way they are expected to. And yes, the Splash Brothers only made 4 of their 13 combined attempts from downtown – 3 of 8 from Curry and 1 of 5 from Thompson.

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Game 1 of the NBA Finals was a winnable one for King James and the rest of the Cavs. Was. What cost them the chance to steal Game 1 at Oracle Arena? Inconsistency.

Let’s begin with the Cavs’ inconsistency on the defensive end of the court. Yes, they successfully limited the production of the Splash Brothers. In Game 1, Curry only finished with 11 points while Thompson only managed nine.

If they are scoring that low, you should be able to beat the Warriors. Should. The problem in Game 1 was never about Curry and Thompson, though.

Tyronn Lue and his boys forgot to defend the rest of the Warriors, including the guys who came off the bench, and produced decent numbers. Shaun Livingston played the best Finals game of his career, so far, leading the Warriors with 20 points, with most of them coming in the second half.

You don’t commit careless mistakes, allow the other team to score off those mistakes, and expect to win. Not during the Finals

He shot 8 of 10 from the field in 27 minutes of play. The Brazilian Blur, Leandro Barbosa came out alive, too, scoring 11 points. Although the Splash Brothers combined for only 20 of GSW’s 109 points, the rest of the starters picked up the slack. Draymond Green had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists. Harrisson Barnes followed with 13 points while Andrew Bogut finished the night with 10.

The Cleveland Cavaliers failed to shut down the passing game of the Warriors – Golden State finished with 29 assists on 43 made field goals. If LeBron and company want to win Game 2, consistency in terms of defending the entire Warriors team is a key.

Another area of concern which doomed the Cavaliers in Game 1 was their inability to take care of every possession. Turnovers in short. Cleveland as a team, committed 17 turnovers. Although, they score 25 points off GSW’s nine turnovers.

Eleven of the Cavs’ turnovers came from the Big 3. And yet, they’re wondering how Golden State beat them by 15 points?

In the final three minutes, when the Cavs trying to trim down a 11-point deficit, LeBron James was running down the court off a steal. One wrong move, he lost the ball and Curry drained a fast break three-pointer at the other end. After that one turnover by LeBron, the Warriors went on a 6-0 scoring blast, all six points came from the Splash Brothers, both were threes.

You don’t commit careless mistakes, allow the other team to score off those mistakes, and expect to win. Not during the Finals. Not especially against a team such as the Warriors. They’ll make you pay for those turnovers. They’ll pound you. And if the Cavs don’t make any significant changes come Game 2 and beyond, they’d be lucky to win one game during the series.

Game 1 may have gone to the Warriors but this series is far from over. In fact, most people have predicted that this series will be less one-sided compared to last year’s matchup because of the mere fact that the Cavs’ Big 3 is healthy and playing.

Tyronn Lue doesn’t need to smash his panic button just yet and tell LeBron to turn into a one-man beast. Not yet. They still have a chance to win this series and to do that, they will have to work on limiting their inconsistencies on both ends of the court.

Bench production. Turnovers. Defense.

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Limit those mistakes and play like the team that terrorized the Eastern Conference during the regular season. Now, if they decide to play like the team that played during Game 1 of the Finals, this series may be over earlier than most people expected.