Everybody who grabbed their Golden State Warriors-colored brooms the second they heard Kyrie Irving was out for the year better put them back where they found them. There won’t be any sweep in these NBA Finals.
Somehow, a Cleveland Cavaliers team without Irving, and without Kevin Love, is still finding a way to win. They’re doing so against an NBA powerhouse in Golden State. They’re doing so despite watching every lead they build get erased by the Warriors, who for two straight games have forced overtime.
There were people all over the country who were writing the Cavaliers’ eulogy the second news broke about Irving’s injury. Tonight, Cleveland showed it still has plenty of fight left.
These Cavaliers took the court tonight knowing all about the extreme amount of doubt cast over them after suffering yet another crucial injury. They let a late eleven-point lead slip from their hands as the Warriors stormed back and tied the game. They faced enormous odds as an already deafening Oracle Arena was now practically shaking.
And yet, Cleveland ended up stealing a victory anyway.
It goes without saying this win was monumental in so many ways. First of all, it’s officially the first Finals win in Cavaliers team history. On top of this, though, it proves that, even with so many important players injured, Cleveland can still put up a fight against a team which so thoroughly outguns them.
I noted after Game 1 there were still positives to take away from Cleveland’s loss. Those same takeaways were once again on display tonight.
In Game 1, the Cavs could take pride in the fact that they were able to hold a vaunted Warriors offense to under 100 points in regulation. Tonight? They held them under that same margin after five periods of basketball. Golden State needed overtime just to break 90 points.
As far as individual defense goes, you cannot sing enough praise about backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova.
Forced back into a starting role thanks to Irving’s injury, Dellavedova looked overwhelmed to open Game 2. He seemed shaky on both ends of the court, and his attempts to guard Golden State gunner Klay Thompson were all for not. However, once Dellavedova switched to MVP Steph Curry, he truly shined.
Somehow, Curry had an astoundingly pedestrian 19 points on an even more stunning 5-for-23 shooting line. His last second attempt to win the game in overtime was thwarted thanks to Dellavedova sticking to him like white on rice. Toss in two clutch free throws to give the Cavs a lead they wouldn’t surrender, and you’ve got some solid reassurance that Dellavedova can be someone the team can lean on in Irving’s absence.
Of course, for the second straight game, we also had proof that those who thought Golden State could easily slow LeBron James down might have to think twice about that prediction.
James post his fifth Finals triple-double, scoring a game-high 39 points with 16 rebounds and eleven assists. It wasn’t all pretty, of course. He hit a massive shooting slump late in the game, and his insistence on running iso-ball in the waning minutes didn’t do the Cavs any favors. Regardless, James still appears to be fully capable of throwing this team on his back and getting the job done.
The Cavs now head back home, where they’ve only lost one game this postseason. They do so knowing all it will take to raise the Larry O’Brien trophy is three wins on their own court. The mission, though it may not have been stated amongst players, was to at the very least take one game in Oakland.
They just so happened to do this on a night where they were yet again missing another crucial player.
There were plenty of people who wrote the Cavs off once it appeared they had to defeat the Warriors without Love and Irving. After tonight, we know none of said people are in Cleveland’s locker room.
Casey Drottar is the Cleveland Beat Writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter or “Like” him on Facebook