Cleveland Cavaliers Seek History By Winning 2016 NBA Finals In Seven Games
The Cleveland Cavaliers have to pull off a nearly impossible task to win the 2016 NBA Finals in seven games. No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to win a championship, with former MVP LeBron James hoping to make his team the first to do it. The first step is to win Game 5 and the Cavs may have received an assist from the league in that regard. A report from NBA.com states that Golden State Warriors All-Star Draymond Green has been suspended from playing in that pivotal game.
Green was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul for striking LeBron James in the groin during the closing minutes of Game 4. As explained in the article, this suspension didn’t come from just one incident, but rather a culmination of flagrant and technical fouls that Green has amassed during the postseason. As explained in the report, the altercation with James was just the latest in a pattern of behavior.
“Green was given a Flagrant 2 foul and fined $25,000 for kicking Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams in the groin during the Western Conference finals and picked up a Flagrant 1 for throwing Houston Rockets forward Michael Beasley to the ground in the first round. Green also kicked Cavs guard Kyrie Irving in the chest – inadvertently, Green said – in Game 1 of the finals, which was not penalized by the league.”
This is great news for the Cleveland Cavaliers, because it will free up the offense by not having to worry about the defense that Draymond Green brings to the Golden State Warriors. Trailing three games to one in the series, the Cavs can certainly use any help that is available. Now the team has to figure out a way to end its current losing streak at Oracle Arena.
Stephen Curry really came alive in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, scoring 38 points as the Golden State Warriors won 108-97. The Warriors out-scored the Cavs 58-42 in the second half, completely erasing how well LeBron James and Kyrie Irving had played in the first half. For the Cavs to stand any real chance at winning Game 5, the defensive game plan has to account for and slow down Curry as well as they did in the first three games of the series. Then the offense has to find a consistent rhythm for all 48 minutes.
Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals takes place Monday, June 13 at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET. ABC will provide live television coverage and the oddsmakers are still calling the Warriors the heavy favorites to win this game. The early lines had the Warriors favored to win by as many as eight points, but following the recent suspension of Draymond Green, it has dropped the team to six-point favorites. That’s a lot of points in an NBA game, though, especially between two top teams.
Kevin Love is expected to be healthy and in the starting lineup for the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Kyrie Irving is still a bit banged up from hurting his hand in Game 4. Neither player wants to miss this decisive game on Monday night, suggesting that heavy minutes await them following tipoff. If Cavs coach Tyronn Lue follows a similar minutes strategy to what he used in Game 4, Irving and James likely won’t come off the floor in the second half.
In the history of the NBA, 32 teams have been in the 3-1 position that the Cavs are now in. All 32 teams failed to win the NBA title, which is why history would need to be made for Cleveland to see a championship this season. Can the talented roster of the Cleveland Cavaliers take advantage of Draymond Green’s absence in Game 5, pull out a win in Game 6 at home, and then get into a position to play a winner-take-all Game 7 back in California? History is working against them, but nothing is ever guaranteed on an NBA court.
[Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images]
