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Key: From Way Downtown
With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love on the shelf for the playoffs, the Wine and Gold have struggled to find a consistent offensive threat other than LeBron James. The Cavaliers have topped the century mark just once in the series – and that was exactly 100 in a Game 1 overtime loss.
The next-best offensive option for David Blatt’s shorthanded squad is J.R. Smith, who’s been the team’s top threat off the bench since moving to the second unit in the Second Round. Smith has notched double-figures in three of the Finals’ first five games, but he’s shooting just 30 percent from the floor, including 26 percent (11-of-42) from beyond the arc. On Sunday night, Smith looked like he’d shaken out of his funk with 14 points heading into half. But Smith didn’t dent the boxscore after intermission and Cleveland once again became a one-dimensional offense.
The Cavaliers were one of the league’s top long-distance shooting teams in the NBA over the second half of the season, but they’ve been unable to get untracked against Golden State – shooting just 30 percent from deep in the Finals and hitting just 8.6 treys per contest after averaging 11.7 over the second half of the season.
Smith is Cleveland’s most dangerous threat from beyond the arc, but the Cavs overall –including Iman Shumpert, Delly, James Jones and Mike Miller – need to rediscover their three-point stroke if they’re going to pull off the upset.
Key: Mozgov in the Middle
Starting center Timofey Mozgov has had an unusual Finals series – looking like the best big on the floor at times and lost at others.
He started the Finals with a pair of rock-solid games against Andrew Bogut, averaging 16.5 points and 9.0 boards per contest. Mozgov only notched six points and five boards in Cleveland’s Game 3 victory, but he did lead both squads with four blocks. In Game 4, as Steve Kerr went with his small lineup, the Russian big man was absolutely dominant – finishing with 28 points, going 9-for-16 from the floor and 10-of-12 from the stripe to go with 10 boards.
It looked like Golden State would continue the strategy of playing Timo straight up, but instead they doubled him early, forcing him into a pair of early turnovers and limiting him to 9:19 of action, where he went 0-of-1 from the floor and didn’t grab a single board.
Again, with the Wine and Gold struggling to score – small-ball or not – they’re going to need some production from the center spot. The Cavaliers are still +6 with Mozgov on the floor and he’s still shooting 54 percent from the floor and 72 percent from the stripe. And feeding Timo helps Cleveland control the pace and flow of the game.
Time’s running out on the Cavs coaching staff to re-adjust to Kerr’s moves, but they need every healthy, productive player to end this season on a two-game win streak.
Key: Matthew D. v. The MVP
Matthew Dellavedova made a name for himself this postseason as one of the league’s toughest defenders at the point – helping Cleveland keep a lid on Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose and Jeff Teague as they rolled through the Eastern bracket. But Steph Curry is a different animal, and the league’s MVP has been giving Delly and the Cavaliers fits after overcoming his Finals jitters and figuring out what the Cavaliers are doing to him defensively.
After going just 4-for-21 from long-distance over the first two games of the series, Curry is 18-for-33 over the last three – averaging 28.6 as the Warriors have turned the Finals around.
Delly’s had a Mozgovian series – with moments of brilliance mixed with some serious struggles. Delly went scoreless in nine minutes in the series opener, had a defensive masterpiece against Curry in Game 2, elevated himself into the international spotlight with a 20-point outburst in Game 3 and has come back down to Earth over the last two contests. In Games 4 and 5, the undrafted Aussie has gone a combined 5-for-23 from the floor, including 3-for-14 from beyond the arc.
The Cavaliers don’t need Dellavedova to blow up the scoreboard, but in a recurring theme, they’ll need all the offense they can get to stick with a Warriors club that’s definitely looking like it’s finally found theirs.
Key: Protect This House
One way or the other, Tuesday night’s contest at The Q will be the Wine and Gold’s final home game of the season.
After turning the campaign around in mid-January, the Cavaliers were nearly unbeatable on their home floor, winning 25 of their final 27 games, taking 17 of those by double-digits and holding foes to just over 41 percent shooting from the floor. In the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Cavaliers were just as solid, dropping just a single contest en route to the Finals.
The Cavaliers split their first two games with Golden State at The Q – holding off a furious Dubs’ rally in Game 3 before dropping a 21-point decision in Game 4 – netting only a dozen points in the final period. It’s do-or-die for the Wine and Gold on Tuesday night, and they’ll need every ounce of energy from the home crowd to stay alive in the series.
If the Cavaliers are able to take care of business at The Q, they’ll have a tall order in Game 7 back in Oakland – where the Warriors boast a league-best 48-4 home mark, having not dropped back-to-back games at Oracle Arena all season. But if Cleveland can get Game 6, they’ll take their chances in a winner-take-all game in an arena where they’ve already won once this series.
Key: Homecoming King
Coach Blatt added a bit of levity to an otherwise unhappy postgame press conference when he responded to a question on how much more he can expect from LeBron James in Tuesday’s elimination Game 6 at The Q.
“Well, should I expect more than 40 (points) and a triple-double?” asked Blatt, rhetorically.
But the point is taken: How much more can LeBron James possibly give to will the Wine and Gold to the franchise’s first Championship. On Sunday night, James became just the second player in NBA Finals history to finish with a 40-point triple-double – going 15-for-34 from the floor, 3-of-8 from long-distance – including a 34-foot fourth-quarter bomb that briefly gave Cleveland the lead – to go with 14 boards and 11 assists.
In the series, LeBron is averaging 36.6 points, 12.4 boards and 8.8 helpers through the first five games. When asked why he’s confident heading into a critical Game 6 with a shorthanded squad against the league’s best team, the four-time MVP’s answer was honest and concise. “I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world,” James replied. “It's that simple.”
Anyone who’s witnessed the 2015 playoffs would be hard-pressed to argue otherwise. The only question now is: Can the game’s greatest player pull off the game’s greatest upset over the last two games of the NBA season.