Do the Golden State Warriors ease up tonight to take it back home and win in Oracle? I take a brief look into a potential “punt game” for them tonight
I don’t know who coined this term but over the last few years a specific phrase has been used to describe a team winning on their homecourt in Game 5. A “gentleman’s sweep.”
Winning the first three games, losing the fourth, then winning on your homecourt in Game 5 to bask in the adulation of the home fans. Of course, there is nothing gentlemanly about purposefully losing a game to your opponent just to rub it in their face at home. Their phrase not mine.
However, I have a phrase, that I have adopted from Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons’ recent podcast together, that accurately describes some abnormally lopsided games. A “punt game.”
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Do teams purposefully lose a game to go back home with better odds? Do some teams purposefully rest and lay-back on teams in games where they know they have a lower chance of winning? Is this a ”tactic” (I use that term loosely because what kind of tactic is that?) that will be used by the Warriors tonight?
I can point to a couple games this postseason that have a serious “punt game” stench. Game 6 of the first-round matchup between the Indiana Pacers and this Cavs team stunk. The outcome was a 121-87 blowout in Indianapolis where the Cavs leading scorer was LeBron with 22 and most of the starters sitting a good majority of the fourth quarter.
The second being Game 4 of the first-round matchup between the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs. In San Antonio, the Spurs won a breeze of a game by 13 that was never really close. This let the Warriors get back to Oakland and close it out in five. Another “gentleman’s sweep.” You can also argue that Game 3 of the Warriors matchup with the N.O. Pelicans could have been another one, a game in which the Warriors lost by 19 in Nola and was never close after the first quarter. That one might be a bit of a reach but signs to point to the Warriors having a history of this.
Last year’s Game 4 stunk of an attempt at a gentleman’s sweep by the Warriors. After the first quarter they were already down 16 after giving up 49 first quarter points. Sixteen points to the Warriors is like being down two, but the Cavs never let the game get remotely close and ended up winning by 21, 137-116.
The Warriors in this game shot abysmally compared to how they usually do – 44 percent from 2, 28 percent from 3, 75 percent from the line and allowed the Cavs to obtain four different finals scoring records in the process. The Cavs achieved: The most points in a half, for a Finals or playoffs (86), the most 3’s in a half (13) and most points in a quarter (49).
Obviously, defense is not the Warriors strongest suit but man, that is brutal. Was this a symptom of the Cavs playing lights out on their homecourt, or lack of effort from the Warriors?
Tonight, could be a different story, or it could be more of the same. I’m sure that every player and coach in that locker room would like to close this series out tonight and not have to deal with playing the second-best player of all time again, but they have to have the utmost confidence they can go and close out a Game 5 in Oracle.
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All signs are pointing to a sweep, but will the Warriors let the Cavs back in just to crush their souls in Oakland in front of the home crowd? If I was a betting man (I am a betting man), my money is on the Cavs tonight by a decently wide margin.