To make a long story short:
Kevin Durant has altered the defensive and offensive makeup of the Golden State Warriors.
Durant rejection on one end.— NBA.com (@NBAcom) June 5, 2017
Durant 3-pointer on the other.#NBAFinals #DubNation pic.twitter.com/4Ti4PqfuD7
In this play, Kyrie Irving took Klay Thompson off the dribble, getting him to bump into Zaza Pachulia and fall over. Last year, this would have meant an open jumpshot for Kyrie.
However, Durant flew in with the blind side block and forced the turnover. Afterwards, Steph Curry retrieved the ball and passed it to Durant. Recognizing defensive mismatches, Durant immediately dribbled up to the right elbow of the three-point arc. Tristan Thompson got confused because normally he needs to drop down low and cover the post in transition, but on this particular play he was the only player in position to try and guard Durant. (This was because of the offensive setup on the previous play.) Thompson recognized this too late and Durant nailed the 3.
As can be seen in this video link from NBA.com, Coach Ty Lue has managed to 'tune out the noise', standing firm that the Cavs can come right back in this series by defending better, protecting the ball better, and keeping a steady pace by pushing the ball on offense.
With that said, what questions need to be answered heading into Game 3?
1) Can the Cleveland Cavaliers again come back from a 2-0 deficit?
Last season, the Cavs looked much worse in dropping the first two games of the Finals in Oakland. In fact, Assistant Coach Phil Handy (a native of Oakland) was so upset and disappointed that he yelled some sense into the team after Game 2 of the 2016 Finals.
However, the Warriors have looked even better in winning the first two games of this series with the addition of Kevin Durant and other role players. In particular, the Splash Brothers have been able to take a step back in running the offense and have focused more on hitting open jumpshots. In turn, Durant and Draymond Green have broken the Cavs' defensive rotations by spending much time helping run the offense at the top of the three-point arc and in the high post.
Can the Cavs make a comeback? Yes, but it will take more aggressive and more assertive play and other minor adjustments.
2) Why no changes to the Cavs' starting lineup?
Coach Lue was firm in saying that he is not changing the starting lineup. Why not? Because the Cavs have not lost the game in the 1st quarter but rather in the 2nd half of each game.
In Game 1, the Cavs actually held a 17-14 lead at the 5:32 mark in the 1st quarter. The lead slipped as the teams made substitutions. The score was 32-30 with 6 seconds left when Coach Lue substituted Iman Shumpert in for Irving and Andre Iguodala hit a 3 to close out the quarter. A 60-52 halftime deficit ballooned to 73-52 as Cleveland took over 4 minutes to score their first basket of the 2nd half.
In Game 2, the Cavs held a 14-13 lead at the 7:47 mark in the 1st quarter before Coach Steve Kerr called timeout. Golden State was ahead by as many as 10 points before settling for a 40-34 lead after the 1st quarter. A 67-64 halftime score was a much better result for the Cavs. However, the Warriors outscored the Cavs 35-24 in the 3rd quarter and 19-11 in the first 6 minutes of the 4th quarter to push the game out of reach.
So, although Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith are struggling on offense, they are playing good enough defense to start the game to warrant staying in the starting lineup. Meanwhile, Shumpert and Jefferson are providing a little bit of offense off the bench. So, Coach Lue is not looking to make changes to start the game but is rather looking to make changes early in the 2nd half to keep momentum going in the Cavs' favor.
3) Who is struggling the most on the Cavs and why?
a) Kyrie Irving is struggling on offense because they are double-teaming him with Kevin Durant. With the wingspan of a center and the speed of a shooting guard, KD is the toughest help defender matchup that Kyrie has ever faced. In other matchups, Kyrie can break free from a lead defending guard (even Klay Thompson) and switch directions and hands in order to fake out tenacious post defenders. However, Durant has the speed and length to either stay in front of Irving to block him or force an errant shot or block him from the side as he did in the above video.
In the above video, having LeBron and Kyrie on the same side of the court allowed for Durant to be within striking distance when Kyrie made his move on K. Thompson (with Pachulia showing up for a potential double-team in the post). In Game 3, the Cavs would be best served running double-screens for Irving in order to spread out the defense and force Durant to go a different direction. For example, run a double-screen play with Korver and James, with Korver rolling out for a 3 and James cutting to the basket for a lob pass and easy layup or dunk. Other plays may resemble plays that Coach Brad Stevens has run for Isaiah Thomas in Boston.
b) Tristan Thompson is struggling on both sides because of the presence of Durant. In the past two seasons, Harrison Barnes was a respectable jumpshooter, defender, and rebounder, but he was easily overmatched by T. Thompson and James. With KD, he is a dynamic player that forces more bad passes and bad shots as a defender and stretches out defenses with active inside and outside play. Thus, on defense, Tristan is spending even more time on the perimeter than when he had to guard Green, Barnes, Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston the past two seasons. In turn, Tristan is outside of his comfort zone on defense (he is better inside the three-point arc) and consistently away from the basket, negating his customary boxing out for defensive rebounds.
Offensively, he is not good at creating his own shots; he needs to be fed on pick-and-rolls and alley-oops or else needs to get offensive rebounds to score. As the Cavs get tired, their offensive sets get less and less dynamic, meaning that the Warriors can get set boxing out for defensive rebounds. This is why Coach Lue is preaching continued pace on offense. Due to bad matchups on the defensive end and a lack of offensive ability, Coach Lue will probably need to continue limiting Tristan's minutes (22 and 21, respectively, in the first 2 games).
c) J.R. Smith is struggling on offense. It seems that the wear-and-tear of coming back from a broken hand and the stress of taking care of a prematurely-born baby have hurt J.R.'s conditioning--he looks skinnier than normal and much less aggressive on the offensive end. Defensively, he struggled in Game 2 with a -18 +/- and a terrible 132 Defensive Rating (estimated points allowed per 100 possessions by the Cavs while he was in). Still, he does match up well with the Hamptons 5 (Curry, Thompson, Green, Durant, and Iguodala) and other wing players on the Warriors. However, there is no denying that his sharpshooting has been missed. Smith played 28 minutes in Game 1 and 14 minutes in Game 2, scoring only 3 points total. Coach Lue will need to run plays to get J.R. some quick looks for 3 (as J.R. should spend some time with Korver and Frye to discuss ways to get open). If he continues to struggle, Coach Lue will keep his minutes down and make him solely a defensive specialist for the rest of the series.
d) Deron Williams is struggling on both sides because this is flat out a bad matchup for him. Due to injuries and wear-and-tear over the past few years, Deron lacks the lateral quickness necessary to defend against Golden State's offense. When trying to play D-Will and Kyrie together in Game 2, the Cavs were outscored 7-1 in the 2nd quarter and pushed even 9-9 in the 4th quarter as Ian Clark gave Steph Curry a break. D-Will has posted -8 +/-'s in each game while playing 18 and 14 minutes, respectively. This is much different than the several positive +/-'s he posted in the rest of the 2017 Playoffs. Williams has been held scoreless but has at least gotten 3 rebounds in each game and 4 assists total in the 2 games (3 in Game 2). Ultimately, D-Will does not give the Cavs an advantage like he did in the first three rounds and should be benched going forward, as the Cavs need as many energized wing defenders/rebounders as they can get in the game to match up with Golden State.
4) What lineup adjustments will Coach Lue make, if any?
Coach Lue said he was not making any changes, but I think he was focusing more on the starting lineup and overall strategy when asked by the media (mainly local Northeast Ohio reporters asking these questions).
However, Coach Lue has shown in the past that he will make changes to a series rotation as necessary. Over the past two seasons, players he has sat out due to poor matchups include Channing Frye, Kevin Love, Richard Jefferson, Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov, and Matthew Dellavedova.
Q: Who are the Cavs' wing defenders on the roster?
A: LeBron James, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson, Kyle Korver, Dahntay Jones, Derrick Williams, and James Jones.
Of these players, James, Smith, Shumpert, Jefferson, D. Jones, and Williams have all proven to be solid physical defenders at some point. Meanwhile, Korver has played decent defense in this series as he grabbed 4 rebounds in Game 1 and posted a -3 +/- in Game 2. With the Hamptons 5 (Curry, Thompson, Green, Durant, and Iguodala) giving the Cavs problems on both sides of the court, Coach Lue will need to lean more on his wingmen, trust his bench, and be willing to give more minutes to Derrick Williams and Dahntay Jones.
J. Jones may not be a strong defender, but he has good chemistry with LeBron from their Miami days and can hit 3's in spurts. When players such as Livingston or Iguodala enter the game, it is possible to put J. Jones in to guard one of them and hope he scores more than he gives up on defense.
Otherwise, look for LeBron, J.R., Shump, R.J., Korver, Dahntay, and Derrick to help execute Coach Lue's objectives of defending better, protecting the ball better, and keeping a steady pace by pushing the ball on offense.
The "Death Lineup" (Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Green, and Iguodala) is no more. The "Hamptons 5" (Curry, Thompson, Green, Durant, and Iguodala) is in. The Cavs must adjust accordingly.
Cavs' projected rotation going forward:
Star players who are core players: LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love
Role players who are core players: Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson, Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith
Role players who are situational players: Derrick Williams, Dahntay Jones, Channing Frye, Deron Williams, James Jones
Bench players who are secondary backups: Kay Felder
*Injured: Edy Tavares
Above video link provided again below with caption (embedded version removed):