Now that the Cavaliers survived elimination once, now that they marched into Oracle Arena and did what few other teams have accomplished this season, now comes the hard part.
Now they have to figure out how to beat the Warriors again.
And again. And they’ll have to do it with Draymond Green back on the floor.
“I like our position a lot better than theirs,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after his team failed to close out the Cavs at home Monday night.
He’s right, of course.
The Warriors still only need one more victory and now get the chance to soak the visitor’s locker room in champagne again at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavs still need two more wins against a team that hasn’t lost three in a row in more than three years.
The Cavs took full advantage of Green’s suspension. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving found more space to operate and relentlessly attacked across the floor on a night the Cavs shot 53 percent and the two stars each scored 41 points _ the first teammates in Finals history to score at least 40 in the same game.
By contrast, the Cavs shot 44 percent through the first four games with Green and a healthy Andrew Bogut on the floor.
“It’s very noticeable because [Green] is the best guy the league has as far as help, knowing when to help, knowing when to get back, when to triple switch and get guys out of mismatches,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “He’s vocal. He brings toughness and they did miss that toughness. I just want to credit our guys for sticking with the game plan, being aggressive and attacking.”
In order for the Cavs to pull this off, they’re likely going to need more production from Kevin Love than they received in Game 5. Love did as he was told and ran to the corners on offense, but managed just two points and three rebounds in 33 minutes.
Love’s defensive issues, particularly in this series, are well documented.
A video clip from Game 5 quickly circled social media showing Love approaching James for a high five, only to get scolded for blown assignments.
Richard Jefferson later reprimanded Love for his defense, too.
Regardless, Lue is sticking with Love as his starting power forward.
He was benched once in this series because Green is so difficult for him to cover, but Lue said in his office after Game 5 he wasn’t changing again. “We’re going with what got us here,” Lue said.
For now, James and Irving are straddling that fine line between dominant and domineering.
Their isolation ways were ineffective during the second half of Game 4, but James and Irving were marvellous together in Game 5.
After subtly grumbling about the Cavs’ stagnant offense at times in this series, James took over ball-handling duties for much of Game 5.
His 41 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and three steals Monday drew parallels to his marvellous Game 6 performance at the Garden in 2012.
James scored 45 points and grabbed 15 rebounds that night in slaying some Celtics demons that had haunted him throughout his career.
The Miami Heat staved off elimination on the road that night, too, and ultimately won the series on their way to James’ first championship.
Now he’s facing another imposing opponent who has enjoyed plenty of success against him.
“When you’re done with the game of basketball and big moments like [Monday] and moments throughout your career you wish you could get back, no matter how loud you turn the stereo system up in your house, you’ll never be able to get it back,” James said.”You just don’t take these moments for granted.”