Bogut might not be as integral to the system as Green, but Monday’s defeat served as a reminder of what can happen when a thread gets pulled from this magic carpet ride.
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Golden State must go forward as it has done so many times this season when undermanned.
On one hand, Cleveland’s “Big Three” of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love combined for 84 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals – the triumvirate’s highest such total this post-season. And as chaotic as it seemed from the outside, the 31-year-old James soaked it all in with the perspective born from 13 years in the pressure cooker. “So I don’t know if it goes against us being that the other team can get rest and they don’t use as many bodies”.
Draymond Green said he was sorry. He forced him right, and – even as Thompson darted to the rim – stuck with him.
“Free Draymond!” the Warriors fans chanted during timeouts of the fifth game.
James insisted he heard none of it.
Clinching the series in Cleveland won’t be easy. “But I like our position a lot better than theirs”. He averaged 3.2 points and 3 rebounds in 12 minutes per game in the series. Kyrie Irving snatched Steph’s cheat codes and played like a video game.
Dropping shots all over the floor, Irving matched teammate LeBron James by scoring 41 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers kept their season alive with a 112-97 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals over the Warriors, who missed suspended forward Draymond Green and their first chance to close out their history-making season with a second straight title. In their Game 4 win in Cleveland, Green played nearly 28 minutes at center. “Sometimes players, your actions or emotions get the best of you”.
Cleveland needed something like Green’s suspension – he returns for Game 6 – because winning a title was going to an iffy anyway.
Green watched Game 5 from the neighboring Oakland Coliseum, serving the one-game suspension he received after hitting James in the groin in Game 4. Both players received a common foul for their part in the scuffle during the course of game but, following review from the league office, had their respective fouls upgraded. Little did people know Green also tried to be a football player when he was attending Michigan State. “Tonight they kind of overcame that”. Irving had 41 points on 17 for 24 shooting and added six assists for the Cavaliers. He’s not expected to play in Game 6.
“It’s bad news for our team”, Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “So when you don’t play great defense for the first three quarters, your opponent isn’t going to be worn down in the fourth”. This year, he avoided serious playoff trouble until the finals. Though up 3-2, they will have to travel to Cleveland for Game 6.
“Do I think he understands there’s an edge, a line he can’t cross?” He took another seven shots from inside the arc and missed four of those.
“We’re just happy we got another day”.
Now it’s back to Cleveland.
As the Golden State Warriors have torn through the National Basketball Association over the past two seasons, they’ve become synonymous with two things: shooting – and making – a historic number of three-pointers, and for being wildly successful playing small.
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When asked by a reporter after the game if he ever imagined that Irving could put on a performance like that, Jefferson dropped the following gem, per David Zavac of Fear the Sword.
