NBA Finals 2015: Highlighting Critical Moments in Cavs vs. Warriors Series
In the end, the best team won the 2015 NBA Finals.
The Golden State Warriors, constructed well a few years ago before a change at the top, matured before the eyes of the globe over the course of the past month after a stunning regular season.
With LeBron James back in the fold, things seemed to rewind back to 2007, as the Cleveland Cavaliers—sans Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love—gassed themselves for two wins before bowing out of the series with James unable to do it on his own.
Golden State gets its first title in 40 years; James and Co. go back to the drawing board. Here's a look at the series-changing moments.
The Critical Moments
Kyrie Irving's Injury
The complexion of the six-game series changed in a big way at the end of Game 1, a 108-100 overtime victory for Golden State, when Irving limped off the court with an apparent knee injury and missed the next five contests.
Irving poured in 23 points and dished six assists in the loss, although his strong effort paired with 44 points from James put a bit of a dark cloud over the team's chances.
The thing is, the Cavaliers rallied for two games without one of the league's best points. J.R. Smith dropped 13 points off the bench in a Game 2 overtime win; then Matthew Dellavedova poured in 20 in a Game 3 victory.
It was all downhill from there.
Jimmy Spencer of Sporting News put it best:
Regardless of the cause of the injury, Irving's absence doomed the Cavaliers, who then ran with thinner depth, and nobody could take the scoring responsibilities off James' shoulders at a consistent clip.
If there's a silver lining, it's next year—Love and Irving figure to be both healthy and still around, meaning the Cavaliers will reload for another run without doing much of anything but resting.
The Lie
Some may point out Golden State coach Steve Kerr somewhat inherited a championship-ready roster, but it's his decisions on and off the court that pushed things over the edge against the Cavaliers.
Down 2-1 going into a hostile Game 4, Kerr pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book—he lied.
Kerr shrugged off questions about center Andrew Bogut ahead of the contest, giving something like the whole "we just have to play better" spiel, indicating the tried-and-true lineup wouldn't change.
It did, though, as eventual Finals MVP Andre Iguodala received his first start of the season and poured in 22 points and grabbed eight boards, all the while helping hold James to 20 points at home.
ESPN's Ethan Strauss shares a staggering detail about the lineup change:
"I lied," Kerr said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "I don't think they hand you the trophy based on morality. They give it to you if you win. Sorry about that."
It's not as if the Cavaliers didn't have time to adjust, but somewhat basing a game plan on a short turnaround on an anticipated lineup and then getting something different hurts—the Warriors jumped out to a 31-24 advantage after the first frame en route to the 103-82 rout.
Love it or hate it, Kerr understood the lineup necessary to take advantage of a hobbled Cavaliers squad. He deceived along the way, but all's fair with a title on the line.
Game 4's Exhaustion Point
Fatigue proved a large part of the reason Kerr's fingers-crossed-behind-his-back strategy worked in Game 4.
With Iguodala in the lineup and Bogut receiving just three minutes on the floor, the Warriors got out and ran with a smaller lineup, just overwhelming a gassed team coming off a Game 3 triumph, albeit a costly one.
Kerr struck both in desperation and in smarts. James, who played 142 minutes through the first three games, looked gassed just running out of the tunnel for tipoff. Dellavedova, the hero of Game 3, spent all his energy there, needing to visit the hospital for dehydration and cramps and was never the same.
For James, the best he could do at the start of the fourth and final frame in Game 4 was try to catch his breath and avoid cramps of his own on the bench as the Warriors hit on a run. He spoke afterward on the dilemma, per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin:
"I was hoping our team could buy me a few minutes. I ran through those 12 minutes in the third, and I gassed out ... I was pretty much gassed out either from driving, creating opportunities for my teammates, getting to the free-throw line, getting offensive glass, just trying to make that push.
"
Golden State closed out the contest to tie the series up, and then over the course of a few more days, it made it three wins in a row, as James never received anything in the way of relief from his team.
While a historic effort by James, the point is simple—Kerr capitalized, and the fatigue most were weary of before the series settled in on the Cavaliers at the most inopportune time.
Those two factors as a whole allowed the deeper team to prevail after withstanding an early push.
All stats and info via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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