The Cavaliers’ shooters were awful in Game 4
The Cavaliers failed to make the Warriors pay for the adjustments they made in Game 4 because none of their role players could make a shot.
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
The Golden State Warriors made their move in Game 4 by changing their lineup, going small with Andre Iguodala replacing Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green moving up to center. It worked, as it allowed Golden State to push the pace and draw Timofey Mozgov away from the paint.
But while Steve Kerr definitely deserves credit for making a bold and crucial adjustment, the complete incompetence of the Cleveland Cavaliers' perimeter players was just as important in Cleveland's loss.
Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith combined to go 3-of-22 from outside, destroying any chance their team had of coming away with a win. The Cavaliers as a team shot 4-of-27 on threes, while the Warriors connected on 12 of their 30 three-point attempts. That 24-point advantage from beyond the arc negated Cleveland's edge on the glass and on points in the paint.
In simple terms, the Warriors dared any perimeter player other than LeBron James to beat them. Cleveland's role players failed spectacularly.
The Cavaliers didn’t make the Warriors pay for going small
Going small left the Warriors exposed to two bad matchups: Mozgov on Draymond Green and James against against anyone inside. Golden State solved them by doing what they had rarely done in past games: bring help.
When Cleveland posted up, a second defender doubled, forcing the Cavaliers to swing the ball.
The Warriors wanted to prevent Mozgov from leveraging his size advantage on Draymond Green early, and baited the Cavaliers to try to beat them from outside by purposefully leaving someone open. In that play, Iguodala rotated and Smith passed to Shumpert, who missed from the corner.
That eventually allowed the Warriors more freedom to focus their efforts on LeBron James’ drives or post-ups. They addressed that issue by double-teaming James or shading him, leaving a shooter open. In this play, Thompson completely ignored Smith, to prevent a LeBron post-up. When James finds Smith in the corner, he missed.
When they weren’t trapping James, the Warriors were using soft double teams in which the defender didn’t fully commit, but shaded James away from where he wanted to go.
Both Curry and Thompson had a foot in the paint, preventing James from bullying his way to the middle of the floor. James had no choice but to pass the ball to Curry’s man, Matthew Dellavedova, who bricked a contested three-pointer after Curry recovered.
This was a departure from the Warriors’ strategy in Games 1-3. For the most part, the Warriors defended James without helping much. LeBron averaged over 35 shots a contest and broke the record for most points scored in the first three games of a Finals series. On Thursday, he had 20 points on 22 field goal attempts.
The Cavaliers’ shooters don’t scare the Warriors
Steve Kerr changed his approach because even an inefficient James was hurting the Warriors. By contrast, he realized Cleveland's shooters had been struggling for a while. The only Cavalier averaging better than 40 percent from outside in the playoffs was Kyrie Irving. Smith was close and Shumpert had his moments, but both are streaky. In the first three games of this series, Shumpert and Smith were shooting 36 and 35 percent respectively, while Dellavedova averaged a paltry 25 percent.
The gamble paid off because the small and quick Golden State defense did a good job of recovering and contesting, but it also paid off because the Cavaliers' perimeter players missed everything. Smith and Shumpert have struggled all series long, while Dellavedova is still overmatched despite his moments in Game 3. Unfortunately for David Blatt, there are no saviors in the bench, unless Mike Miller finds a time machine.
Smith, Shumpert and Dellavedova will need to snap out of their funk and start hitting shots. Otherwise, it will be hard for the Cavaliers to counter the Warriors’ adjustment and win the series.
SB Nation presents: LeBron is carrying a team of spare parts. Again.
See More:
