NBA Finals Game 6: Cavaliers force Game 7 with blowout of Warriors

This piece was originally published after Game 6. It has been updated following the Warriors’ Game 7 defeat.

The Golden State Warriors were bad at losing in more ways than one this season. They were bad at losing in the literal sense: they lost fewer games this regular season than any team in NBA history, and they had a way of making every deficit seem surmountable.

It feels like their reckoning might finally be here.

Still, Golden State doesn’t look right, and that’s accounting for every player. You can use advanced stats to prove it -- the Warriors averaged nearly 320 passes per game, per SportsVU tracking stats, but only had 282 on Thursday -- or simple ones, like three losses in six games after not losing back-to-back matchups all season. The eye test works fine in this case, too, as a team that looked as dominant as any squad ever struggles to exert itself on the Cavaliers for even a quarter.

Just a week ago Draymond Green was calling LeBron James a b*tch, Klay Thompson was talking about LeBron’s feelings getting hurt and Marreese Speights was tweeting baby bottles at the four-time MVP. Life comes at you especially fast in the NBA Finals.

LeBron followed up his Game 5 Rembrandt with a Game 6 Picasso. He finished with 41 more points, plus 11 assists, eight rebounds, four steals, three blocks and, most importantly, the win. Per ESPN Stats & Info, from the middle of the third until garbage time, the Cavaliers scored 36 points. LeBron scored or assisted on 35 of them.

With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Stephen Curry got in front of LeBron James after a rebound. Unfortunately for Curry and the Warriors, that was a foul. Steph’s sixth foul, in fact. And knowing that he was ejected, Curry got heated.

He got so heated that he hurled his mouthguard, lea; unfortunately it hit a fan. Curry quickly realized that his emotions got the best of him and calmed himself down before quickly running to the tunnel.

But LeBron James would not let the Cavaliers collapse. He single-handedly took over the entire frame, with a historic performance that will be remembered for many, many years. His final line doesn’t look real: 41 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, 16-of-27 shooting from the field, four steals, three blocks and just one turnover.

The first quarter caught everyone by surprise. The Cavaliers led 6-0 when the Warriors took their first timeout, presumably to settle them down and figure things out. Instead, Cleveland flashed a dominance in the opening frame that had been missing since starting the Finals. LeBron James brilliantly orchestrated the offense with pinpoint passing, and by the time the dust settled, the Cavaliers led 31-11 -- the lowest scoring quarter for the Warriors the entire season.

Even when the Warriors are down by double digits, most people expect them to come back in one fashion or another. But they were down the entire Game 6 against the Cavaliers.

And just when Steph Curry was about to go for an easy layup to cut the lead, LeBron James — who has arguably held the lead on his own in the fourth quarter — came out of nowhere and squashed both that shot attempt and the Warriors’ hopes. This is just plain mean. LeBron knew what he did too based on how vocal he was after that rejection. LeBron is out here talking smack!

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have not only dominated the scoreboard in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, they’ve done it in style. Like J.R. Smith lobbing no-look alley-oops over his shoulder that James soars for and finishes with a massive slam.

Smith enjoyed every second of it.

The Golden State Warriors got off to a bad, no good, really terrible start in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The team scored just 11 points while the Cavaliers scored a whopping 31.

Just how bad was the offensive start for the Warriors?

LeBron James put on a passing clinic in the first quarter, as the Cavaliers marched out to a huge 20-point lead. James was so on target that we have to rank his passes. Here are the best four.

Still, it’s a strong, aggressive pass only a few people attempt with any frequency.

Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the biggest game in the history of the Cavaliers franchise. If they win, they force a Game 7, putting them one game from the first championship in franchise history. If they lose, their season is over, and LeBron James has fallen short once again, squandering another year and another opportunity for Cleveland to finally smile.

The tip was won, the ball went to J.R. Smith, and destiny called him. He had to make the moment his.

There’s a whole lot of time between these NBA Finals games, which means repeating the same storylines over and over and over and over and ... you get the picture. In this week’s episode, we run through the ones that annoy us most, including:

We also look ahead to Game 6 and wonder what the Cavaliers can take out of Game 5 that’ll actually carry over.

Facing elimination, Cleveland’s best players rose up to the challenge in Game 5. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James each scored 41 points, becoming the first pair of teammates to score 40 points in a game in NBA Finals history.

Each time that Golden State tried to get back in the game in the second half, Irving or James would respond with a big play to take the crowd back out of it. The Cavaliers went on to win the game 112-97 as a 5.5-point road underdog.

The end of the series, however, is getting nearer. At this time Friday we will either have a 2016 NBA champion or we’ll be getting ready for a definitive Game 7.

Place: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio

It looks like the Cleveland Cavaliers’ luck is finally turning around! Unfortunately for Kevin Love, that happened after he suffered a concussion in Game 2. Though Cleveland still lost that game after his departure, they bounced back in the next contest with a 30-point victory. Love returned in Game 4 and Cleveland went back to losing.

The Cavs were dominant in Game 5 despite Love scoring only two points in 33 minutes, and all Cleveland needs is to win one more game to tie up the series. But some fans think Love isn’t the star player that he was once was. In fact, given how this series has gone, some consider him detrimental to the team’s chances.

I found this interesting:

I think Richard Jefferson’s got a really good point here. Now, I know Cleveland Cavaliers fans are gonna boo Draymond Green as he returns from his testicle-swiping suspension for Game 6. They will. I probably would. Booing is fun. It’s fine.

Bogut remained on the floor in clear pain as play continued for several more possessions before a timeout was finally called. The 31-year-old couldn’t put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the floor and into the locker room before being diagnosed with a sprained left knee that kept him out the rest of the game.

Bogut averaged 3.2 points, three rebounds and two blocks in only 12 minutes per game in this series. The Warriors were outscored by over nine points per 100 possessions with him on the court in the Finals, per NBA.com. Still, his injury, in conjunction with Draymond Green’s suspension, really hurt the Warriors’ defense in Game 5.

After nearly 44 years in sports broadcasting, Craig Sager will finally get the chance to cover an NBA Finals game from the sideline. On Wednesday, ESPN announced Sager would join their broadcast team for Game 6 of the championship series.

Sager has been a sideline fixture of NBA broadcasts thanks to his gregarious personality and penchant for eye-grabbing attire. However, he’s never been on the floor to watch the Larry O’Brien trophy be raised. As an employee of Turner Sports, his broadcasts have been mostly limited to TNT.