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| Infographic by Kavin Mistry |
Kyrie Irving and Lebron James put the Bay Area party on hold Monday night, as the duo combined for 84 of the Cavaliers 112 points as they send the series back to Cleveland.
The Warriors, who have been dominant at home this whole season was stunned by the Cavaliers, who have had trouble finding any positives in Oakland this year.
The suspended Draymond Green was clearly missed by the Warriors, who had trouble finding any offensive consistency throughout the night. A lot of the Warriors offense comes from their defense, which seemed non-existent on this night.
“We were not very good defensively,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr in a postgame interview. “We were without Draymond, so there is no point in harping on that. We had to play better and we didn’t.”
Green, who has been known as the “heartbeat” of this Warriors team had been playing like the MVP of this series before he was suspended and Golden State could not replicate his production. The Warriors are now 0-2 this season in games without Green.
“The defense was the problem for us tonight,” Kerr said. “Draymond wasn’t here, we didn’t play well enough to win, I am not going to into it more.”
A huge part of the Warriors offense that seemed to be missing without Green was communication, both on offense and defense, players and Kerr all mentioned how that was a big piece that was missing tonight.
“Communication,” Kerr said when asked about what was missing tonight. “Just not picking up the right man, not talking on our switches.”
The Warriors high octane offense was able to go stride for stride with the Cavaliers in the first half, but went ice cold in the second.
“We could never get into a rhythm,” said Warriors center Festus Ezeli in a postgame interview. “Some of those (Cavaliers shots) you just gotta shake your head.”
Klay Thompson was on fire in the first half, scoring 26 points, but only scored 11 in the second. Along with Thompson, Steph Curry was not his usual self, he finished a cool 8-21 and missed nine three’s.
“Obviously it feels good when your shot goes in,” said Thompson in a postgame interview. “In the second half I think I settled for too many bad shots, obviously it is frustrating, you want to win here more than anything for your fans.”
The rest of the Cavaliers team seemed to be bystanders to the Lebron/Kyrie show, as they scored only 28 points. But for the Warriors, there was nothing they could do to stop Irving.
“You tip your hat to them, they had a great night,” said Curry in a postgame interview. “Made some tough shot, made some open shots (...) they did what they needed to do to win the game for their team.”
To add to the woes of losing game 5, the Warriors dropped another man early in the second half. Center Andrew Bogut had a nasty fall after blocking a shot as he fell to the ground, grabbing his knee. His availability for game 6 is up in the air, but forward Shaun Livingston said he looked better after the game.
The good news for Warrior fans is Green will be in the starting lineup on Thursday night in Cleveland, where they will try to win their second straight championship. Last year’s title also came in game 6.
“We are still in a great position,” Thompson said. “It stings real bad, but we will come back stronger.”
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