Three Things to Expect From the Cavaliers in Game Four
Can we first admit that maybe, just maybe, we as sports fans have no idea what to make of the NBA Finals this year.
If I told you before the year that the Golden State Warriors would be in the Finals you would have laughed. Last year the Warriors lost in the first round to a Clipper team in the middle of the Donald Sterling scandal. Usually you don't go from a first round exit to the NBA Finals.
If I told you that the Cavaliers would make it to the Finals you'd believe me. You may even believe me if I told you that the Cavalier's made it, even though four of their five starters on opening day are either injured or traded. (Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiter, Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao)
Then again, if I told you they were up two games to one with Matthew Dellavedova as their second leading scorer in the two wins you'd be both confused (Who is Matthew Dellavedova?) and amazed.
So, with three games already behind us, what are three things that Warrior fans expect in game four?
- LeBron will continue to get his stats
Now, on the surface this seems obvious. Of course the best player in the series (sorry Steph Curry fans) will score but tell me a way to stop him. If you try to stop him he'll find the open guy. That's what he does. That was the strategy of the Warriors going into the series. They were content to let him score and then guard everyone else.
So far that has led to 123 points through the first three games (an NBA Finals record through three games) and a 2-1 series deficit. We thought that Draymond Green would be the guy who could defend LeBron, but Green has almost twice as many fouls in this series (14) than he does field goals (8).
LeBron has averaged 41 PPG, 12 RPG and 8.33 APG. Good luck solving that puzzle Golden State. Those are Michael Jordan numbers he's putting up and at least Jordan had Pippen to help him out if he got tired. LeBron's ally is either JR Smith who seemed to be actively playing defense against his own team at the end of game two or Matthew Dellavedova who averages less than 5.0 PPG in his career. Speaking of Delly…
- Matthew Dellavedova will continue to anger Warrior fans
At this point you may have seen the memes circling around the internet about Matthew Dellavedova. Right now Delly is the scrappy guy with heart and grit that never gives up. He dives on the floor all the time and is enduring himself to everyone watching. Everyone, that is, except for Warrior fans. To Warrior fans Dellavedova is the dirties player in the world… and he kind of is. Take a look at the play here with Dellavedova and Draymond Green.
He went after his knees and didn't even try to hide it. This is the same guy who injured Kyle Korver's knee, made Al Horford drop an elbow on Dellavedova and baited Taj Gibson into getting kicked out of the game. Before last night's game he was an annoying player who enjoyed getting under your skin during the game the same way players like Bruce Bowen and Ron Artest did, but the Green play is different. Maybe he is a dirty player and even if he is, there's no way he's changing now.
As long as fans still love what he's doing he'll continue to do it. Why change? Because warrior fans are the players are mad? That's the point. At this point he's a wrestling villain and he's really good at it. He also can play but that part doesn't matter as much.
- JR Smith will continue to shoot
There really isn't much more to say. He shoots a lot and doesn't care what you think. Some games will be the 8-12 from the three-point line in game one against Atlanta and some games will be the 5-13 game in game two when he continued to commit dumb fouls at the end. The good news for Warrior fans is that he usually has more of the 5-13 games than he has the 8-12 games. Either way he doesn't care.
