NBA Finals 2015: Cavs vs. Warriors Game 2 TV Schedule, Odds, Score Prediction
On Thursday night, the NBA Finals rewarded fans who waited a week for basketball, dishing up an overtime thriller between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Yet despite the gripping Game 1, this series is in danger of quickly delving into blowout territory.
After four even quarters of basketball, the Warriors employed a small lineup to crush the Cavs beyond regulation, regulated to two meaningless points during the final seconds. LeBron James provided a transcendent effort, and it still wasn't enough.
Making matters worse for Cleveland, Kyrie Irving reinjured his knee in overtime, bleakly ending an incredible outing. On Friday afternoon, the team announced that he'll miss the remainder of the Finals with a fractured left knee cap.
Irving reacted to the news on his Instagram page:
Golden State opened a 6.5-point favorite to take a 2-0 advantage, per Odds Shark, but Irving's absence has pushed the line north in a probable one-sided affair.
| Sunday, June 7 | Cleveland Cavaliers | Golden State Warriors | 8 p.m. | ABC | GS -8.5 |
Game 2 Preview
James continued to take matters into his own hands on Thursday night, scoring 44 points on 38 shot attempts—exceeding the previous career high of 37 set during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
After the game, the Warriors all expressed a similar sentiment to USA Today's Sam Amick: James is going to get his points, so make him force the issue, and take everyone else out of the game. Center Andrew Bogut, a defensive anchor who sat during their final five minutes of defensive domination, isn't concerned about James' gaudy point tally:
"He made a lot of tough jumpers, contested. We'll live with him shooting a lot of shots and scoring 40, because we feel like the other guys are the key to them winning the series. I honestly don't think that LeBron wants to shoot 40 times, and I think our defense kind of predicated that a little bit. I think he wants to play-make more, and we're leading with him shooting more. In the Atlanta series, we feel like they might have overhelped a little bit, and then Shumpert and JR Smith started knocking down shots and then are the key to their success. We balanced it pretty well tonight.
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Draymond Green backed up those thoughts in a more pointed response to Amick. "Thirty-eight shots, a lot of iso basketball, and maybe that gets the other guys out of rhythm a little bit," Green said. "But hey, he's going to do him. He's going to try to carry the load. That's what he do. That's why he's LeBron James. He's great."
Green has a point about all the isolation plays. According to NBA.com's SportVU recap, James ran 26 of them, resulting in 26 team points (20 from James) and a 38.0 field-goal percentage. An iso at the end of the fourth quarter led to a long, contested jumper, not the optimal look for a slumping shooter.
While stopping the four-time MVP is impossible, Andre Iguodala contained him, particularly down the closing stretch. ESPN Stats & Info charted the veteran's efforts guarding James compared to his teammates:
Iguodala's play signifies the key difference between both Finals participants. The overlooked sixth man provided key minutes for Golden State, playing great defense while adding 15 points. Five reserves combined to compile 34 points.
Outside of James and Irving, the other Cavaliers scored 33 points.
James and Irving both played tremendous basketball, yet the Warriors won without anybody having a banner evening. Now Cleveland once again must play without Irving, who missed two games against the Atlanta Hawks. Having won both contests without him is a small consolation James acknowledged to TNT's Rachel Nichols:
Yet the timing couldn't be much crueler. Irving played his best game of the postseason, perhaps the year, in Game 1. He delivered an all-around effort, amassing 23 points, seven rebounds, six assists, four steals and two blocks. One of those blocks came to save a potential game-winning layup from Stephen Curry.
Without him, James needs to score 40-plus points again and hope the good J.R. Smith shows up on Sunday. Even that may not prove enough.
Prediction: Warriors 104, Cavaliers 90
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