Regional Sports

Cavaliers desperation outweigh Warriors excellence

With the champagne ready to be uncorked, Larry O’Brien trophy appearing in the building and history ready to be made with a potential undefeated postseason, everything was in place for the Warriors.

They were going to play well, but on this Friday night, their best was not good enough. The Cavaliers saw to it they were not going to celebrate anything on their home court by shooting 52.9 percent in their 137-116 victory at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Cavaliers to a man admit they haven’t played well enough to beat the Warriors. Their role players have been a disappointment in all three games. If they ended up losing Game 4, they were going to compete and not give in to their opponent. They did just that by scoring 49 points in the first quarter, which was a NBA Finals scoring record in the first quarter. That set the tone to what was a great night for them.

J.R. Smith and Richard Jefferson hit shots. LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving made their presence felt in the paint by going to the rim at will. Even Deron Williams did something instead of being a standby on the court. It was like what has someone done to that team.

Whatever it was, this came at the right time when the Cavs needed it the most. They decided they could not feel sorry for themselves against a star-studded team. They have to do whatever it took, and they did just that by toying the visitors.

Call it pride. Call it manhood. Call it desperation. Call it self-respect. The bottom line was the Cavs had to do something about it in this game. James could not have the legacy of being swept for the second time in his Finals career. It was one thing for him to get swept the first time since he was a relatively young player, but at the age of 32, he can’t be having any more sweeps at this stage of his career.

James led by example when he broke Magic Johnson’s record of triple-doubles in the Finals by having nine (31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists). He had everything working from start to finish. He coaxed the home crowd to get louder for every shot he made. He had this killer instinct that he would sometime struggle to have. This is the type of game the Cavs need from him if they somehow pull off an epic comeback to win the Finals.

For further emphasis, James jawed with Kevin Durant to let him know this is his night and nothing was going to stand in his way.

The Warriors made it interesting in the second half. No matter. The Cavaliers matched the Warriors shots after shots. That was a sign that we were going to have Game 5 Monday night. It was a night the Cavaliers were not going to be denied. Desperation beat pursuit of excellence for one night.

Does Game 4 create momentum? Absolutely not. The Warriors have nothing to worry about just yet. It’s hard to believe Stephen Curry will score 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting in the next game like he did in Game 4. Durant will be playing like he wants to end this series in five games.

Even if the Cavaliers somehow extend it to Game 5, the Warriors shouldn’t worry. They can win another one in Cleveland. Now if this series goes to seven games, all bets are off. The Cavaliers would have all the momentum and doubt would creep in within the Warriors after blowing a 3-1 lead last year in the Finals.

We are far away from that. All the Cavaliers did was survive to play another game in the Finals. They did what they were obligated to do, which is play it out and make the Warriors earn that Larry O’ Brien trophy.

We can now put to rest about the Warriors being the greatest team of all time and one of the greatest teams of all time. They were only in the discussion if they achieved perfection. It’s hard to take them seriously as the greatest team of all time when they were beaten on defense in the entire game of Game 4.  Championship teams aspiring greatness should never be losing by 21 in an elimination game.

What the Warriors represent is a good team that should earn their championship. They are nowhere close to the 1996 Bulls, who at least played defense and showed killer instinct every game. In fact, they are nowhere close to the “Showtime” Lakers or the 1985-1986 Celtics.

It’s not a crime what the Warriors did. It doesn’t matter if they achieve greatness or what. It’s about winning championships. That should be the only goal, so the Warriors have that going for them.

Now if this goes seven, all bets are off.

Only thing about Monday’s game will be whether or not the Cavs played their last home game of the season.

If they did, they went out in style through desperation.

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