NBA Finals 2015 Schedule: Cavs vs. Warriors Game 2 TV Info and Predictions
Through the opening weekend of the 2015 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers have lost much more than just one game as their battle with the Golden State Warriors shifts toward Sunday's Game 2.
Since LeBron James and Iman Shumpert traded missed buzzer-beaters at the end of regulation in Game 1, they've both gone down 1-0 in the series and lost Kyrie Irving to a fractured kneecap—which required surgery Saturday. Now down two of their integral pieces, the Cavs stare at the daunting task of rebounding to beat this peaking Warriors team four times or fall short of the franchise's first NBA title and waste another year of James' championship prime.
Golden State looks poised to cap off its magical season with a title, but their status as the resounding favorite will begin to come in question if James and company can steal one in Oracle Arena. Here's everything to know for Game 2.
NBA Finals Game 2: Cleveland at Golden State
Date: Sunday, June 7
Start Time (ET): 8 p.m.
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Odds (via Odds Shark): Golden State -8, Over/Under 200.5
Game 2 Preview and Prediction
For the vast majority of Game 1, nobody on the Cleveland Cavaliers' side of this NBA Finals could have any objections to how things were shaking out.
The Cavs jumped on the hometown Warriors early, with a vintage James performance keeping them in front. Perhaps most vindicating was the spryness of Irving, who had 23 points and a game-saving block in the late seconds of regulation.
Then, Irving went down. And amid the chaos and excitement from the Warriors' overtime takeover, you could almost hear the sighs more than 2,000 miles away in Cleveland.
So the Cavs got an outburst from Irving, 44 points from James and still didn't win. Now, they're going at it without Irving. Time to write them off, right?
Well, maybe not. ESPN's John Buccigross noted how they have done awfully well without Irving during stretches of the playoffs:
Of course, it may be apples to oranges when comparing facing the Hawks—or any team, rather—to these Warriors. They've dismantled every opponent that has come their way, and have the game-changing talent at Irving's position to truly take advantage.
It doesn't look like Matthew Dellavedova and occasional point guard play from Shumpert will be enough this time to put a bandage over the problem. That's at least the public perception, and James is fine with that, as he told ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin:
"[I] understand that we were the underdog coming into the series, and with Kyrie being out, people are writing us off. So, I mean, that's fine. That's fine. I'm motivated to get our guys ready to go tomorrow [for Game 2], and we will be ready.''
One can bet that James will be ready—he's 1-5 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, so this is nothing new. But will the rest of his teammates?
As has been discussed following Game 1, the Warriors' strategy to make James work for his points and refuse the double-team has seemingly worked. He got his 44 points, but it came on 38 shots. The usual passing wasn't there, save for lobs to Timofey Mozgov.
Irving proved to be about the only teammate of James' that was ready for the moment, and that was never more apparent than in the closing stretches. As for the Warriors, they were unprepared for the big stage for about 15 minutes before finding their groove midway through Game 1.
The team that has dominated the NBA throughout the season looked in their rightful place as leaders down the stretch in Game 1, and not even a heroic James performance could change that. It won't in Game 2, either, with his teammates struggling to break Golden State's strong defensive strategy.
Prediction: Warriors 103, Cavaliers 92
