Schmeelk: LeBron Dominated Again, But Did The Warriors Find Their Offensive Answer?
By John Schmeelk
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The Cleveland Cavaliers took a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Finals on Tuesday night, and LeBron James might be on his way to having the best NBA Finals of any player in history.
It might sound like hyperbole, but if he can get this Cavaliers team to beat a much better Warriors squad, James deserves such accolades. Despite shooting just 40 percent, the Cavaliers wouldn't be able to score at all without James' effort to create his own shot and many more for others.
The sheer effort James has put forth over the first three games of this series has been awe-inspiring. He has put a team and a city on his shoulders and carried them to a 2-1 series lead against a far superior squad, and he's done so with his immense skill, a herculean effort and sheer will.
Sure, guys like Matthew Dellavedova have had their heroic moments, but they wouldn't mean anything without James. Despite playing excellent defense for a third straight game, James scolded his team postgame on Tuesday night for letting up defensively in the fourth quarter. That's what leaders do.
But amidst the raucous celebration in Cleveland last night, James saw a glimpse of what could happen the rest of this series in the fourth quarter. He watched Stephen Curry find his game. After shooting 4 of 11 from the field and 2 of 5 from three in the first three quarters, Curry shot 6 of 9 from the field and 5 of 8 from behind the arc in the final 12 minutes.
The Warriors' offense came alive for the first extended period this series and put up 36 points in a quarter. The Cavaliers did enough -- thanks to their big lead to end the third and 24 fourth-quarter points -- to hold Golden State off, but it was too close for comfort.
Much of the fourth-quarter turnaround for the Warriors can be attributed to David Lee, who had a much bigger impact than even his 10 points would indicate. With Draymond Green (27 percent FG) and Andrew Bogut (10 points all series) struggling mightily so far this series, Steve Kerr looked to Lee to try to get his offense humming like it did during the regular season.
Lee provided a reliable target off of high screen-and-rolls going towards the basket, and he wreaked havoc in the paint offensively. While Green lost all confidence in his three-point shot and couldn't finish over tall Cavs defenders in the paint, Lee went 3 of 3 from the field and shot five free throws.
Lee can also be credited for getting Curry's game going. Once Lee started doing damage as the screen man, the Cavaliers could no longer double or give a very aggressive hedge on Curry pick-and-rolls. It gave Curry just the amount of daylight he needed to get his shot and his offense going. He had more space than he had all series. No one has ever doubted Lee's abilities on offense, and he proved them once again on Tuesday night.
The question now is whether or not the Cavaliers can exploit Lee enough on the defensive end to force Kerr to take him off the floor. Neither Tristan Thompson nor Timofey Mozgov are good enough to beat him one on one, but there are other ways to exploit Lee's defensive deficiencies.
His help-defense rim protection on drives has always been non-existent. If James goes to the hoop he won't provide any resistance. The Cavaliers can also put him in spots to defend the pick-and-roll. The Warriors switch those sometimes (especially when Green is guarding the screener), which would put Lee on James, another bad mismatch. While Lee has good rebounding numbers, he might not be strong enough to keep Thompson and Mozgov off the offensive glass in contested rebounding opportunities.
Unfortunately for Kerr, he doesn't have much of a choice. Three games is a large enough sample size that shows that his offense with Bogut and Green in the game isn't working. Green can make this moot by playing better, but there have been no signs of that so far this series.
Unless that happens, Lee is going to have to play major minutes. The potential boost he gives to the offense will likely be a bigger plus than any detriment he does to the Warriors' defense. In other words, another former Knick could play a big role in the final games of this series.
I thought the Warriors would win this series in five. The Cavaliers' otherworldly defense has made that prediction look very bad. Game 4 and the Warriors' offense will tell us whether we are looking at a potential seven-game classic or something far different.
Whatever happens, it will be a lot of fun.
You can follow me on Twitter @Schmeelk for everything Knicks, the NBA and the Giants.
