OAKLAND, CALIF.: Thirty thoughts for 30 shots from LeBron James in Monday’s 112-97 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of the NBA Finals….
1. Before Klay Thompson poked fun at his manhood, before Mo Speights subtweeted him with a picture of a baby bottle and before Ayesha Curry took a shot at him on Twitter, LeBron James walked into the Warriors practice facility on Monday wearing an Undertaker t-shirt honoring the WWE wrestler.
2. It was fitting, considering how his Cavs were left for dead in this series. The obituaries were already written and Kevin Love was halfway out of town, traded to the Boston Celtics or New York Knicks or anyone else who would take him. Only one problem: They’re not dead yet. James breathed life back into this team with a pulse that will only grow stronger during a Game 6 at Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday.
3. Sure, the Cavs took full advantage of a Warriors team without their best defensive player. With Draymond Green across the hall watching a baseball game, James – and Kyrie Irving – did as they should and delivered a historic Finals performance to extend the season for at least a few more days.
4. “When you’re done with the game of basketball and big moments like tonight and moments throughout your career you wish you could get back, no matter how loud you turn the stereo system up in your house, you’ll never be able to get it back,” James said. “You just don’t take these moments for granted, no matter if you’re at home or on the road.”
5. With the very real prospect of dropping to 2-5 in the Finals, James turned back a Warriors team anticipating a celebration. No two teammates ever scored at least 40 points in a Finals game before James and Irving each scored 41 on Monday.
6. James’ incredible final line – 41 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks – conjured memories of his Game 6 Eastern Conference finals performance against the Boston Celtics in 2012 when Irving had just completed his rookie year in Cleveland.
7. Imagining a night like this back then was inconceivable, when James had 45 points and 15 rebounds and the Miami Heat staved off elimination at the Garden. They returned to Miami to win Game 7 and James ultimately won his first championship a few weeks later. There was one glaring difference this time, however.
8. “This is different because Kyrie had a special game, also,” said Cavs coach Tyronn Lue, who was a Celtics assistant the night James saved the Heat’s season. “In Boston it was just LeBron. He single-handedly dominated the game on both ends.”
9. James again dominated, but he most certainly had help. Irving made five 3-pointers Monday, hit twisting shots off the glass with a hand in his face and scored 12 points in the fourth quarter when James shifted from scorer to facilitator.
10. In order to get to this point, the Cavs made a fairly dramatic change. James has subtly complained about the Cavs playing too much isolation at times throughout this series, so Monday Lue put the ball in his hands and let him attack without Green to slow him.
11. James took 18 shots in the first half (he was averaging 21 through the first four games in this series) and made four 3-pointers on the night, suddenly curing his busted jumper just in time. He made five 3-pointers through the first four games of this series and made at least four 3s in a game only six other times prior to Monday (including one other time this postseason).
12. “He’s been here before, he knows what it takes,” Lue said in explaining why he wanted the ball in James’ hands. “He’s had games where he’s scored (25) points in a row, he’s had 45 points in Boston in a hostile environment. So he knows what it takes. And then getting Kyrie off the ball where he can catch without the defense locking in on him and load up on him. So having Kyrie off the ball a little bit, now getting Kyrie off the move, we were able to do some different things and kind of caught the defense off guard.”
13. Irving still managed six assists on the night, reminiscent of Game 3 when James had the ball in his hands early in a game the Cavs won easily and Irving finished with eight assists. James initiating on offense keeps Irving from pounding the ball too much and stagnating the offense.
14. At their best, Irving and James are a load for any defense and complement each other well. At their worst, they take turns dribbling, dribbling and dribbling into defenses. Such was the case during the second half of Game 4 when both dominated the ball with few results. Irving didn’t spend as much time dribbling, however, and the results were evident.
15. “It’s probably one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen live,” James said of Irving. “To put on the show that he did, you just go out and follow the keys and play winning basketball and we did that tonight.”
16. If there is a lesson to be learned from this, it’s not to unlock the tiger’s cage. That should’ve already been known, but Klay Thompson’s comments on Sunday about the NBA being a man’s league and guys getting their feelings hurt (all aimed directly at James), coupled with Speights tweeting an emoji of a baby bottle and Steph Curry’s wife taking shots at James on Twitter … put it all together and the Warriors played for 48 minutes with the tiger’s cage open and raw meat on their back.
17. James insisted he didn’t see what Speights put on Twitter, but his dunk on the reserve forward seemed to indicate otherwise.
18. “I don’t even know what Speights said,” James said. “And I really don’t think that even matters.”
19. Klay Thompson, after opening his mouth, matched James shot for shot in the first half. He scored 26 points at the half and each shot was seemingly deeper than the last.
20. Then Thompson and his running mate both went cold in the second half. The Warriors shot 3 of 21 on 3-pointers in the second half after they went 11 of 21 in the first half.
21. Thompson and Curry went 1 of 9 in the second half Monday when there wasn’t a defender within 4 feet of them. They just went cold.
22. “In the second half there were times I … settled for too many bad shots,” Klay Thompson said. “Obviously it’s frustrating. You want to win here more than anything for your fans. They deserve to see us win, but you just suck it up and move on. We’re still in a great position.”
23. It won’t always be like this. The Cavs shot 53 percent with no Green, but he’ll be back for Game 6. It probably isn’t realistic to expect James and Irving to explode for 82 again, meaning they’ll have to get a third contribution from somewhere.
24. Kevin Love is the most logical candidate. Love returned to the starting lineup Monday, but didn’t contribute much. He had two points and three rebounds in 33 minutes, but Lue said he’s sticking with Love as his starter even after Green returns from suspension. “We’re going with what got us here,” Lue said.
25. Love presents enough problems for the Cavs defensively that he has to make the Warriors pay in rebounding and scoring to make up for it. That isn’t happening right now. Love is getting beat to too many rebounds and he shot 1 of 5 from 3-point range. The Cavs are going to need more out of him sooner than later.
26. For now, the Cavs still have a chip and a chair. James and Irving combined for 54 of the team’s 83 shots. James and Irving were skewered for days for playing isolation ball with little success late in Game 4. They returned with better ball movement in Game 5.
27. “A repeat performance like this would definitely be tough,” Irving said. “But whatever it takes to win. We’re not satisfied. We understand the magnitude of what Game 6 means for us at home and we know that it will be an incredible level that they’re going to play at. We have to play at an even better level.”
28. James extended his streak to 26 consecutive postseason series with a road win. He also surpassed 40 points for the fourth time in 11 Finals games against the Warriors. And the Cavs still come home trailing in the series, but at least they still have hope.
29. “It would have been nice to win tonight, but we didn’t win. We didn’t play very well. They played well,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “So we go back to Cleveland and tee it up again. But I like our position a lot better than theirs.”
30. Indeed, the Warriors are still in command. And they can wrap up the series and drench the visiting locker room in champagne yet again. But they’ve also given a team that was nearly dead new life. Talk to you Thursday following Game 6 at the Q.