OAKLAND, Calif. – The Cleveland Cavaliers wanted a shot at redemption with the champions so badly, but couldn't make a shot to get the job done Friday night.
"I think it was heavy on all of our minds," Cavs guard J.R. Smith said of the build-up to the game. "I think we put too much pressure on ourselves to want to go out there and play well."
The ultimate holiday achievement for the Cavaliers would have been the successful delivery of a second loss into the Christmas stockings of the Golden State Warriors.
Instead, the Warriors weren't in the mood for receiving. They were in the giving spirit. In an NBA Finals rematch on Christmas Day the Warriors handed the Cavaliers a loss, 89-83 at Oracle Arena
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For some reason, the Cavaliers weren't in the giving spirit because they refused to share the wealth. They gave the Warriors' defense the day off by choosing to play isolation basketball, rather than swinging it around for easier scoring opportunities.
LeBron James, as good as he is, had trouble all night scoring against a defense that's already set and focused on him. Since the Warriors (28-1) didn't have to rotate all over the court, their legs were fresh, which gave them an advantage on the offensive end.
James got blocked at the rim multiple times due the Cavs' unwillingness to play team-oriented ball. Cleveland (19-8) as a whole distributed 12 assists, tied for their lowest output of the season, and it contributed to their season-low of 32 percent shooting.
"Guys, if you look at the stats, we shot 95 shots," Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. "You got to knock down some shots to beat a team like that, and that says we were here to compete and win. No complaints on my part to the guys, that's for sure."
Most of those shots were well contested and of a high degree of difficulty. It wasn't the quantity; it was the inefficiency of quality that was the issue. Cleveland wanted to slow the game down and play half-court ball, and that was correct plan of attack.
"What we didn't want to have here was a track meet, because Golden State at home in a track meet is a team that doesn't lose," Blatt said. "Again, I thought we game-planned properly and executed that game plan. We just had to make more shots."
Even in slowing up the pace, crisp ball movement is still necessary. Blatt and James raved about how well they played defensively in holding the Warriors to 41 percent shooting, but the Warriors could certainly rave about the same thing.
"Man, we gave ourselves a chance," James said. "When we play like that defensively, we're going to be a very tough team to beat. Offensively, we didn't have it. No one had it."
There was a reason they didn't have it: too much hero ball.
That's not going to fly against an opponent like the Warriors. The Cavaliers of all teams should know that by now. The Big Three of James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving was 10-of-26, 5-of-16, and 4-of-15, respectively.
Where was the pick-and-roll action? The backdoor cuts? The movement without the ball? The crosscourt screening action? Golden State seemed to have no trouble finding some of those offensive sets for themselves.
It is fair to mention the Eastern Conference champs are trying to work players into the rotation who have been injured for some time, including Kyrie Irving. Blatt is still experimenting with different players, trying to come up with the right blend at the right time. It's going to take a few weeks.
It's far from panic time. The Cavaliers are thinking big picture. Just every now and then, hero ball creeps up from time to time, and even a fully healthy Big Three won't be enough to outduel the Warriors if they're playing that way.
James admitted such later in his postgame address.
"We've still got to be a little better, we've still got to move the ball, we've got to share the ball, get the ball moving from side to side. But, offensively we're all out of rhythm," James said.
Time will tell if they recognized why that was the case.
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