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Well, if Friday night was a must-win game for the Cleveland Cavaliers and they lost, then what is Game 5? A must-er-win?!
Guys, this is not a series anymore. This is a tournament. It's a one-and-done tournament. Three rounds, win or go home.
I don't know how you can think of it any other way without losing your morale. You can't think about the odds and the history of no one ever coming back from a 3-1 deficit.
You have to think about your opponent in Round One, concentrate on winning the game, and then advancing to the next round. You can worry about Round Two's opponent later. Right now, you have to concentrate on getting there.
The Cavs need to figure out why they can't play this team for four quarters. If you take out the two blowout games, the Cavs have played with the Warriors for three quarters. But in the fourth, they go cold. LeBron James tries driving to the basket; they clog the lane; he gets off-balanced and makes a desperate pass. It's not synchronized. It's not crisp. It's "Oh, shit!"
While Tyronn Lue had a good playoffs, he's not had a good Finals. His rotations and substitutions are questionable. Ian Shumpert has been terrible. J.R. Smith has been spotty. LeBron has lapses.
I don't know the answer. I thought it was going to be Kevin Love. It wasn't. He was pedestrian at best.
Will the NBA quit pandering to Draymond Green and suspend him? He threw a punch and they reviewed it. Called no-foul on anyone. He threw a punch. A cardinal sin in the NBA. Nothing. No foul. Hopefully he's suspended for Monday, but he shouldn't have been able to finish that game.
This is it, Cavs players and fans. This team needs to get hot coming into this tournament. They need to win on Monday to advance and play again Thursday. Can they win the whole thing? That's a lot to ask. This is a Tournament of Champions. Everyone is a formidable foe.
But the more relevant question is: Can they win on Monday? Yes they can. That's where their thoughts - our thoughts - need to be.
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