Last night in Oakland, the Warriors played the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Cleveland jumped out to a 14-point lead late in the first quarter, which evaporated by late in the second. The game was extremely tight in the second half, however, and it was tied with 32 seconds to go. With the ball and a potential two-for-one situation, the Warriors moved quickly. They set up a fantastic play which saw Steph Curry get the ball in one-on-one action against the ailing Kyrie Irving. Curry got around Irving, looked like he had a layup secured, and…
On the next possession, LeBron James, while being defended by Andre Iguodala, stepped back for three, missed, and then the ball popped off the rim to Iman Shumpert.
This was the closest the Cavaliers came to scoring until the very end of the overtime session. Neither team scored for the first 1:48 of OT, and the only points scored in the first 2:30 of overtime were Curry free throws. Then this happened, which could be calamity for the Cavs:
The Cavaliers would not score in the overtime until a LeBron layup with nine seconds left, which the Warriors defense willingly yielded.
Irving is scheduled for an MRI this afternoon, and he is having that MRI performed as this article is being written. If there is an official update on his injury and/or status for the rest of the series, this will be updated. However, his Game 2 status looks grim, per USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt:
Nothing official from Cavs yet on Kyrie Irving’s knee, but I’m hearing he is unlikely to play in Game 2 regardless of MRI results.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) June 5, 2015
If Irving cannot play in Game 2 or beyond, the Cavaliers are most likely done. This is why.
Without Irving, the Cavs would most likely turn to Matthew Dellavedova to start at the point. In Game 1 against Golden State, Irving had the best +/- number on the Cavs, at +5. Dellavedova had the worst at -13. Worst of all, he did that in nine minutes. If he would have played Irving’s 44 minutes at this rate, his +/- would have been -64. Of course, that wouldn’t happen, because the game would have evened out after a certain amount of time, before those 44 minutes were up. But Dellavedova’s complete lack of impact in those minutes is utterly concerning. He had three assists and one rebound in those nine minutes, and that’s basically it. He did nothing to distinguish himself, and was also on the floor during the Warriors’ bench-fueled comeback in the second quarter.
Another issue for the Cavaliers is the question of who will help LeBron in the scoring department. As Bill Russell once said in a Pepsi Uncle Drew commercial, “This game has always been, and will always be, about buckets.” Sure, he scored 44 points last night, as well as 8 rebounds and 6 assists. However, the Warriors are obviously not terribly worried about James’ scoring; they are more worried about that of his supporting cast. LeBron also made some very tough shots, especially jumpers, against very good defense from Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and others. He will not make those shots forever, and without Irving, he may be the Cavaliers only productive offensive player. Sure, Tristan Thompson had 15 rebounds and played an awesome game last night, but he can’t do too much on offense. J.R. Smith played well in the first half, but went cold in the second. Can he get his own shot without the passing and floor spacing that Kyrie provides? Can Timofey Mozgov get the same pick and roll dunks he did last night, like this one?
And can the Cavaliers’ bench out-perform that of the Warriors if Uncle Drew is unavailable? It would have been tough for all of these things to happen with Irving, but without him, they become nearly impossible.
In conclusion, the Warriors should get plenty of credit here. They found a LeBron defender in Iguodala, who defended him extremely well the entire night, as well as on the last play of regulation. In my Finals preview last week, I only mentioned Iguodala once, and that was a mistake; I forgot about ‘Dre. However, we cannot forget about how this series is basically over if the Cavs don’t have Irving for the rest of the series.
Without him, the Cavaliers are done, already.
UPDATE: As I wrote this article, I said I would update it with potential Kyrie news. Well, here it is. Back to Zillgitt:
Kyrie Irving has a fractured left knee cap and will have surgery in the next few days. Done for the Finals.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) June 5, 2015
My guess now is that the series ends in a sweep. The Cavs just don’t have enough to beat these Warriors.