LeBron James hammering Golden State’s beautiful game – but Warriors are still favourites

Two games and two overtimes into the NBA finals, and things have yet to look particularly splashy for the Golden State Warriors, writes Jonathan Raymond.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors reacts in the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game 2 of the 2015 NBA Finals on June 7, 2015 in Oakland, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Two games and two overtimes into the NBA finals, and things have yet to look particularly splashy for the Golden State Warriors.

They escaped with a victory in Game 1. They could not repeat the feat in Game 2, as their offence, belaboured in the opener, declined into malaise as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers won 95-93.

Against all odds, they still managed to overcome a late 11-point deficit and force another overtime against the Cavs on Sunday night. But where LeBron overshot his Game 1 end-of-regulation attempt, this time the Warriors were the team tasked with hitting the winner. Stephen Curry took a step back jumper from just inside the three-point line, not too far from the spot James missed on Thursday night, and caught nothing but air.

It was an appropriate and representative ending. Curry was dismal in a way he maybe hasn’t ever been. The MVP was 5-of-23 shooting, the worst shooting performance by an MVP in a championship series in 58 years. Curry was particularly abject from three-point range, making 2-of-15 attempts.

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Only by the grace of Klay Thompson’s 14-of-28, 34-point effort were Golden State even in this one.

Which is not to say Cleveland were excellent offensively either. LeBron had a triple-double with 39 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists, but shot 11-of-34. The Cavaliers as a team shot just 32.6 per cent.

This series, in many ways, has been best characterised by what these teams haven’t been able to do. Neither has been able to make a game-ending winner. Neither has been able to find a steady offensive rhythm.

That probably suits Cleveland. No single Cavs defender terrorised the Warriors in Game 2, but as a team they suffocated the hosts. They again dictated the flow of the game, turning it into a grind Golden State clearly aren’t comfortable with.

Matthew Dellavedova hounded Curry in a great defensive effort, but to say he locked him down with a transcendent kind of performance would be overstating things. The Warriors sharp-shooter, best in the league at what he does, got more than a few open looks. Dellavedova and the Cavs made him work for them, but they were there – he just didn’t have his touch in Game 2.

Thompson aside, it was probably the worst overall offensive showing from Golden State all year. Their 87 points in regulation were the second-fewest they scored through four quarters this season, only barely nipping their listless Christmas Day 100-86 loss to the Clippers.

Harrison Barnes chipped in with 11 points and shot 5-of-10, but missed horribly from three on all four of his looks. Draymond Green had 10 points but was just 2-for-7 in a display that was equal parts overconfident and ineffective as he committed four turnovers. Their excellent bench was mostly muted.

Credit to Cleveland for finding a working strategy against Golden State despite so many disadvantages in this series, chief among them their health. Working out of a seven-man rotation, they’ve slowed the game down, physically outworked and overwhelmed the Warriors. They finished with a 55-45 rebounding edge on Sunday night, went to the free throw line 15 more times than Golden State and committed five less turnovers.

The top-seeded Warriors now head to Cleveland in need of a bit of a recalibration. They’re probably lucky the series is only 1-1; they very easily could have lost twice at home.

But they have a savvy coaching staff, and they’ve rebounded from struggling against a physical team before during the post-season, going down 2-1 against the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round before winning three straight to take that series 4-2.

It might even be time to recall David Lee, a much more comfortable scorer in the deliberate, half-court game the Cavaliers are enforcing at the moment. It was somewhat surprising to see the former all-star glued to the bench all game on Sunday.

It could be an encouraging sign, if you’re inclined to view things in such a way, that the Warriors very nearly were able to steal Game 2 despite such an impotent offensive showing. Steph Curry almost certainly won’t shoot this poorly again.

Golden State should still be favourites. It will only get harder for Cleveland as the series wears on to continue competing with seven men, to continue with the physical effort needed to grind the Warriors down.

But credit to them. In the face of much adversity they’ve found an identity and it has them level with one of the great teams of modern times after two games of the NBA Finals.

They’ve taken a hammer to Golden State’s beautiful game.

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