Golden State Warriors: The Cupcake Has Never Been So Good

The Finals are revealing what Kevin Durant is capable of doing and what he adds to the Golden State Warriors in the crucial moments of the game.

Some insiders look surprised at Durant’s performance in the two Finals games, but maybe they forgot he was considered the second-best player in the world before an injury when he was playing with Oklahoma City. Now playing with the Golden State Warriors, Durant cannot be considered just an upgrade from Harrison Barnes. In fact, he has not only scored 71 points in two games – Barnes scorede 65 in the entire Finals last year – but he still is the second or third best player in the league, with LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard.

Last year during the Finals, Cleveland changed the series and won the title by moving LeBron on Draymond Green, and leaving Barnes to shoot, knowing his limited feeling with the shot behind the arc.

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LeBron, in some situations in game one this year, left one or two feet of space in midrange, which you just can’t allow versus this kind of scorer. Maybe James, to save his physical status for the entire game and to be on the court as much as possible, decided to leave his opponent the space knowing the high level of difficulty to deflect the ball or stop the shot in specific situations. But Durant is not Barnes, and Tyronn Lue needs to find a different solution.

In game two, the Cavaliers changed something, leaving Green and Andre Iguodala able to shoot. Basically, this decision was taken because Green is the worst shooter between the four stars and because Iguodala had made only one three in the entire postseason. The results were good, but not excellent. Green made 3-of-6 behind the arc, while Iguodala made 1-of-4.

Durant’s contribution don’t come just offensively, but defensively as well. In game two, the former MVP finished with 11 defensive rebounds and five blocks on five different Cavaliers (James, Irving, Kevin Love, Channing Frye, and Iman Shumpert). He also found minutes at center when Green was in foul trouble during the third quarter, and the results were surprising. During the regular season, he played just eight minutes as center, but nobody seems to have noticed it: in that phase of the game, the Warriors’ lead reached 14 points, with a Net Rating of +16 and an Offensive rating of 126.8 and a Defensive rating of 91.7.

But the entire team is playing good defense in the first two games. Klay Thompson is playing an excellent perimeter defense, not allowing Kyrie Irving to find his rhythm, while also helping Durant on James. When LeBron tried to score in isolation, he never found moment with a low-level opponent. Durant, Thompson and Iguodala from the bench have never allowed to James an easy bucket.

In game two, the Cavs superstar scored all his points from the paint, but in the second half, the defensive effort didn’t allow to LeBron to be a tank, able to attack the rim regardless of his opponent.

When LeBron tried to ask support from Irving, the playmaker missed some shots and didn’t find the rhythm in isolation. The Warriors are good defenders on this kind of attack, giving up (0.87 PPP), and even better at stopping the pick and roll ball handler (0.83 PPP). The big number of talents allows to the Warriors to protect isolation, as well as drives from Irving and James. So, even though this is Irving’s favorite offense, the results are relatively low efficiency and, in general, the Warriors were happy to grant these kinds of decisions.

Next: Golden State Warriors Will Beat The Cavs To Become Champions Again

The Cavaliers announced they will try to play their pace and they are not going to slow down their rhythm. The Warriors led the league in the regular season in fast break points and have done the same during the postseason with 21.9 per game. The Cavs, on the other side, are at 12.3 and finished 15th in the league during the season.

If they want to be competitive, the Cavaliers needs to improve their percentage from the arc, where they are shooting with 31.7 percent, or life will be very complicated for them in Ohio.

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