After the Golden State Warriors handled the Cleveland Cavaliers easily in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, winning 104-89, the talk was about how the Warriors’ scoring came from unexpected people. It wasn’t the Splash Brothers — Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson — leading the way with scoring (though they did have some big buckets) but the Warriors’ supporting cast that provided the points.
Watching the game back, however, it’s clear the Warriors’ scoring wasn’t a result of a game plan to have Shaun Livingston (who finished with 20 points), Leandro Barbosa (11 points) or Harrison Barnes (13 points) take the shots. Those guys scored because of who was defending them: Kyrie Irving.
By the fourth quarter, the Warriors’ game plan had become simple: Everyone work their tail off on defense, and on offense, find the guy who Kyrie is guarding. And then give him the ball and let him score.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
The Cavaliers had to have seen this coming, and thus went with the somewhat counterintuitive strategy of having Irving guard Curry to start the game. Cleveland knew they were probably going to have to send a double team anyway, so might as well make Irving the first guy there who can hold Curry up for a second until help arrived, usually in the form of LeBron James.
With James cheating to help Irving with Curry, though, the Warriors promptly found Barnes — James’ man — on a back-door cut.
So that wasn’t working. The Cavaliers then made the quick adjustment and decided to try and have Irving guard Barnes directly. The Warriors immediately sent Barnes baseline around a series of picks, which Irving had no chance dealing with. Another easy bucket for Barnes.
At the end of the first quarter, Livingston came in, and the Cavaliers thought they’d roll the dice and have Irving guard him.
Look where Curry immediately goes with the ball:
These are all just from the first quarter. The Warriors were running their offense, but every play seemed to reach the same conclusion. Wherever Irving was, that’s where the ball went.
I’m not trying to be mean to Irving here, I’m really not. But the Warriors are so good and so deep that this isn’t a team that allows you to hide someone on defense. All night, the Cavaliers tried to trap the Warriors’ shooters. At times it worked, but more often than not Curry or Thompson would just move the ball around until they found whoever Irving was guarding, that person would be open, and they’d get a bucket.
By the fourth quarter, the Warriors had stopped even pretending to do anything else:
Just rewatched 4th Q Warriors-Cavs.Cavs put Irving on Livingston,Shaun scores 6 pts and then they put Irving on Barnes then he scores 4 pts.
— Vedran Modrić (@vedranmo) June 3, 2016
By the fourth, Irving might as well have been wearing a neon green jersey. Every single time down the court, the Warriors did the same thing — they found the poor sap, and they picked on him.
I’m not sure what the Cavaliers do from here. Irving’s offensive game is so much better than the next option — Matthew Dellavedova — that he has to be on the floor. (And even though Delly is a better defender, he seems to be a problem the Warriors have solved, and in his ten minutes on the floor last night the Cavaliers were -19.) Irving is the better ballhandler, a better playmaker, and his shooting allows the Cavaliers to space the floor the way they want to. He has to play.
The Warriors' game plan is simple: Find Kyrie Irving and score on him
he may as well go back to ring chasing bron and make a real super squad again
