Golden State Warriors Chances Rise with Irving Sidelined

By Brandon Keller | Jun 7, 2015

With Kyrie Irving‘s injury, The Golden State Warriors‘ chances to win the NBA Finals have blasted to a new level. His fractured kneecap will leave the Cleveland Cavaliers without their one decent point guard and their best chance to give LeBron James some breaks.

Irving scored 23 points in the game one loss to the Warriors, and Golden State greatly used his injury to keep even with Cleveland during regulation. As we all know, the Warriors then turned their good fortune into a defensive explosion in an overtime win in which the Cavaliers only scored two points.

His injury leaves great implications for the Warriors throughout the rest of the NBA Finals.

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One of the biggest advantages that the Golden State Warriors have over the Cavaliers is depth. In game one, Golden State utilized ten different players while Cleveland only used eight. Two of the players for Cleveland didn’t manage to score any points. Essentially, the Cavaliers only had six productive players on the court.

On the other hand, all ten of Golden State’s players scored, and five of them were in double digits.

The second most shocking thing from game one, aside from Irving’s injury, was how flat footed Cleveland played in overtime. The Warriors’ defense forced easy turnovers, and they had wide open shots and lanes to the basket throughout the whole five minute period.

Furthermore, LeBron simply looked worn out. The missed shots Cleveland gave up at the end of regulation must have sucked the little positive energy LeBron had left in that game. Even though he scored Cleveland’s only points in overtime, he missed a good bit as well.

When a team is built around one player who uses someone like Irving for their main support, they become lost when the big man decides to quit. That is what happened to the Cavaliers in game one. After Irving left the game and LeBron lost his productivity, the rest of the team simply broke down.

For the Cavaliers, being without Irving for the rest of the series basically guarantees defeat. Some people may think that LeBron can still carry the Cavaliers on his shoulders, but the Warriors proved that he can’t.

In a sense, this was one of Golden State’s most impressive wins of the season. LeBron scored 44 points, and the Warriors were down for a large part of the game. However, their team oriented approach and determination won them game one, and it will carry them to a championship over the Cavaliers – AKA King James’s Kingdom.

According to ESPN, without the combination of LeBron, Irving, and Tristan Thompson, Cleveland was outscored by 18 points. This means that Cleveland no longer has their best combination, and they certainly do not have any others that stand a chance against the Golden State Warriors.

Irving’s injury is certainly a shock for Cleveland and their fans who long for a championship team, but they are just going to have to wait a little longer. The absence of Irving creates great difficulties for the Cavaliers against the Warriors.

In game one, Golden State seemed to outmatch most of the Cavaliers on defense and during offensive bursts. More specifically, Stephen Curry even found some shots where he made LeBron look like a below average defender.

The point is that Cleveland has no chance to account for each of Golden State’s weapons. Without a good point guard to defend Curry, he and Klay Thompson will continue to splash on the points and find victories in game two and beyond.

Game two of the NBA Finals is tonight in Oakland.

Next: Warriors Second Unit Proves Too Much For Cavs in Game 1

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