Image (c) Copyright www.abc7news.com
When you live by the jumper…
…you know the rest.
For the second straight game, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers bulldozed through Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors to take a 2-games-to-1 series lead. Defensive tenacity, timely shots, and sheer will led them to victory, with gritty performances notably by James and Matthew Dellavedova.
Meanwhile, Golden State seems to be falling into a predictable formula.
Their youth and inexperience has them frustrated and sulking. Did Curry lift his head up once the entire time? You can read it in their body language. Their confidence is waning.
More than this, the Warriors continue to prove, time and time again, that a franchise built around a point guard as a star player has little to no chance at winning a Championship. It makes for entertaining theater during the regular season. But in the NBA Finals, when defenses lock down the perimeter, and the game goes inside the paint, the team with the skilled big man always seems to prevail.
It’s been proven with recent championships won by Jordan, O’Neal, Bryant, Duncan, and, yes, James.
And look at the heartbreaks from star point guards over the years who have never been able to win on the highest platform.
Stockton, Nash, Iverson, Paul…and now Curry?
It’s a great reminder to the Lakers as they debate whether to utilize their second pick in the draft on one of the prized “big men” or if they seek out a gifted true point guard.
Hint: Go for the big man.
You can never have too many.
You hear all of this, Warriors?
The obituary has practically been written!
The Warriors are far from out of this. If there’s any team that can defy the odds, it’s this one. To do so, however, this team cannot change who it is. Tuesday night, I watched Curry and Thompson dish the ball too many times to role players outsized and outmatched inside the key. The NBA Finals may dictate an inside-dominant game, but Golden State needs to do just the opposite, because just the opposite is what they are good at.
They need to take crazy three’s.
They need to fire up multiple mid-range jumpers from a variety of spots to throw off the defenses.
Curry needs to just be Curry.
To cement his own place among the all-time greats, he needs to become the dominant big man…in little shoes…and be the first to win it all…from the outside.