The Warriors Must Stand Up to the Cavaliers’ Bullying Tactics
By Sean Galusha
The Golden Sate Warriors square off against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a rematch of a Christmas Day showdown knowing they must up the intensity.
On Christmas Day, hours before the Warriors were set to face the team that wrecked their 73-win season, the players noticed that the door down the hallway from the visitor’s locker room was left slightly ajar. Naturally, they peeked inside as they passed.
The regret was immediate.
Hanging on the wall was an enlarged image of Lebron James swatting Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. There was also a slight change — the image had been photoshopped to show Lebron wearing a championship ring.
It was a tasteless move, but it also served a purpose. Normally, teams avoid goading their rivals before a game for two reasons. 1) You give the other guys something to really get fired up about. 2) You look silly if you lose, turning yourself into a punchline that might never die. (It’s still almost impossible to say the words “Peter McNeely” without smiling.)
A team that won 73 games the year before and then added Kevin Durant in the offseason is presumably one that you don’t want to provoke. But the Cavs, feeling fearless and creative, were willing to take that chance so they could try to get inside the Warriors’ heads.
It was bold. It was risky. And it was effective.
Most of the Warriors picked up right where they left off in June. Draymond Green, so eager to do some annihilating, still hadn’t learned a thing since his fatal error in Game 4. Though he didn’t drub any private parts, he couldn’t stay on the floor for more than 10 minutes — and then drew a technical foul after screaming at the refs (more on them later).
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Stephen Curry looked timid and uninspired for most of the game, and at times even ragged, as he tried to get away from the Venus Fly trap that was DeAndre Liggins.
But no one played worse than Iguodala, who appeared to be experiencing flashbacks of flying Lebrons and flattened basketballs. He missed every one of his shot attempts, didn’t play up to his standards on defense and wanted no part of any fastbreak opportunity that came his way — so of course, he got three of them.
All three fastbreak chances resulted in turnovers, including one in the final seconds when Durant was open down the court for an easy dunk. Andre barely touched the ball before rushing a horrible floating pass — seemingly hearing No. 23’s footsteps right behind him.
The Warriors owed much of their early lead to Durant’s efforts in the first three-and-a-half quarters. But that all changed midway through the fourth, when KD has the inexplicable tendency of playing less like himself and more like Harrison Barnes. It was also around that same time that the Cavs decided to turn up the intensity.
And the aggravation.
It started with the 84-year-old Richard Jefferson dunking on Kevin Durant and then taunting him afterward. It continued with Lebron James hanging on the rim like a dope while the refs looked on. And it ended when the same Richard Jefferson stepped on Durant’s foot and sent him stumbling to the floor as the clock ran out.
Cleveland won the game once they started getting under the Warriors’ skin.
That’s something that’s been going on ever since Game 4 of the NBA Finals, when James goaded Draymond Green into a technical and then conned the league into a changing said technical into a flagrant.
In Game Five, it was J.R. Smith crashing into Andrew Bogut’s ankle, which had a much more tangible effect than when he gored Harrison Barnes earlier in the season. But it was James who continued playing supervillain for the rest of the series with his trash talk. It’s a role that carried over into the offseason with his relentless, albeit artistic trolling.
The Warriors’ response has been meek. Not an angry call to action, but a despondent cowering retreat that’s only emboldened the Cavs’ lust for psychological dominance.
Golden State is clearly the better team. They have more talent, more depth, and their unselfish, ball-moving system is vastly superior to the Cavs’ random, haphazard brand of hero ball. But even with all their advantages, they haven’t been able to match the Cavs’ win-at-all-costs approach in the fourth-quarter, or use their antics off the court as motivation.
Klay Thompson has been one of the few players to acknowledge the need to bring more focused intensity to these games in an interview with USA Today.
"“I mean, I still think we need to play with more of an edge next time we see them … I mean when we won the championship, though, we didn’t do some stuff like that. But that’s OK. People are built differently. We’re not going to – I’m not going to hold it against them. I’m just going to go out there, and we just want to beat them down next time we see them.”"
They’ve had a hard time doing that lately, and it’s not just because of the Cavs’ tenacity.
The Warriors blamed themselves for their loss to the Cleveland earlier this season, and they were right to. Blowing a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter is inexcusable, regardless of any missed calls.
There is no conspiracy, these games aren’t rigged. The refs — at least the ones who have presided over the last couple of games — just haven’t been great at their jobs. And shoddy officiating usually favors the team doing all the fouling, flopping and holding.
This was especially evident on the final two plays of the Christmas Day rematch. On the Cavs’ final possession, Klay Thompson played clean defense on Kyrie Irving, who traveled on the play. The Cavs scored. On the Warriors’ final possession, Richard Jefferson tripped Kevin Durant. The Warriors didn’t score.
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It was even worse in the Finals, when Curry was constantly being held or pushed in between screens while he was being called for cheap touch fouls.
One of the consequences of the Warriors’ pass-heavy offense is that it’s difficult to see who’s being jostled when the refs’ eyes are usually following the ball. This is why Golden State needs to play more physical with Kyrie Irving and Lebron James off the ball and start seeing how much contact they can get away with on both ends of the floor.
The Warriors don’t need to flail their arms on every missed layup attempt like the Cavs do, but they might want to do what Andrew Bogut does and start earning their fouls. They might want to try swatting away some of the Cavaliers’ practice shots in between plays. They might also want to start responding to some of the Cavs’ psychological salvos.
Golden State blew a 3-1 lead in the Finals. That’s something that Lebron James and the Cavs like reminding them about. Fine. The Warriors should think about hanging a reminder near the Cavaliers’ locker room that Lebron is 3-4 in the Finals. Or stick a few supersized photos of beloved Cleveland fans setting their hero’s jersey on fire after he ditched them for Miami. Or if they want to keep things simple and cruel, they could just remind the Cavs that they play in Cleveland.
Next: Do the Warriors Have Issues With The Fourth Quater?
After getting ejected in Game 6, Stephen Curry pointed to James and the Cavaliers bench and mouthed the words “I’m coming for you.” It was the right thing to do, but he couldn’t deliver on his promise in Game 7.
Now it’s time for Steph, Klay, Durant and Draymond to channel Ralphie Parker and deliver an epic beatdown to a team that’s long overdue. Because if there’s one thing we learned in 2016, bullies won’t stop bullying so long as they keep winning.