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After two days off the 3-5 Cavaliers arrive in San Francisco for a rematch against the 6-3 Warriors, who lost to the Cavs in Cleveland just six days ago 115-104. Obviously the Dubs will be looking for some payback on their home floor.
Since that game the W’s have defeated Detroit by 11 and lost on the road to Denver by 3, scoring just 105 points on the last game of a road trip.
The Warriors are not the offensive juggernaut they once were, ranking 12th in scoring at 115 points per game. Last year they were 3rd at 118 ppg. The Cavs held them to 104 last week.
After Steph Curry at 30.0 ppg and Klay Thompson at 16.4 the Warriors have pretty balanced scoring with eight players averaging between 6.7 and 12.4 points per game. What’s shocking is they’re only 17th in effective field goal percentage. They are last in points in the paint - these are older fellas that don’t like to take it inside. They’re 7th in 3-point attempts per game. The perimeter is where they live. They are last in drives per game.
They’re 28th in fast break points per game - they don’t like to run anymore than they like to drive. They are a half-court offense designed to manufacture open 3’s. They are 4th in assists per possession; they’ve been playing together for years and know how to hit the open guy coming off a screen.
Although they are not big (or young) they are 6th in offensive rebound percentage. They shoot a lot of 3’s, resulting in long rebounds, and they know how to go get them. In their loss to the Cavs they had 17 offensive rebounds; they average 13. The Cavs need to do a better job on the defensive glass. Everybody should be helping, especially on a 3-point shot where the rebounds tend to be longer.
Curry and Draymond Green were 9-for-14 on 3’s last game but the rest of the Warriors were 7-for-27. The Cavs can afford to let Steph knock down 7 or 8 if they neutralize the rest of the team. Not that they can stop Steph from hitting eight 3's if not more.
Allen and Mobley combined for 10 offensive rebounds last game against the Dubs so they need to continue that tonight. Mitchell and Garland combined for 55 points. Garland kept drawing fouls and went to the line 13 times so I expect the Warriors will try to stay off him when he drives this time.
Defensively the W’s rank 9th at 110 points per game. Despite having some 30-somethings (Curry, Thompson, Green, Chris Paul) and not playing with a true center (Looney is 6’9”, 222) the W’s are pretty good defensively. They rank 8th in opponents’ effective shooting percentage, so they force a lot of missed shots. What they lack in youth and size they make up for in experience. Donovan Mitchell burned them for 31 points in 19 shots last week, however.
The entire Cavs’ starting lineup was between +4 and +15 against the Warriors while their starters were between -5 and -12. Let's see if that repeats itself in their building.
It will be tougher to beat these guys on their floor and I don’t think the non-Currys will shoot 3’s as badly as they did in Cleveland. We did not have Okoro and he and Jerome are still out so Jerome will miss both games against his former team this year.
I want to see Mobley and Allen dominating the paint on both ends and Garland taking better care of the ball and hitting a couple of open 3's. So far he is just 2-for-15 on 3's. But I'll take another win any way we can get it.
This game will be televised on NBA TV at 8:30 Eastern.
Since that game the W’s have defeated Detroit by 11 and lost on the road to Denver by 3, scoring just 105 points on the last game of a road trip.
The Warriors are not the offensive juggernaut they once were, ranking 12th in scoring at 115 points per game. Last year they were 3rd at 118 ppg. The Cavs held them to 104 last week.
After Steph Curry at 30.0 ppg and Klay Thompson at 16.4 the Warriors have pretty balanced scoring with eight players averaging between 6.7 and 12.4 points per game. What’s shocking is they’re only 17th in effective field goal percentage. They are last in points in the paint - these are older fellas that don’t like to take it inside. They’re 7th in 3-point attempts per game. The perimeter is where they live. They are last in drives per game.
They’re 28th in fast break points per game - they don’t like to run anymore than they like to drive. They are a half-court offense designed to manufacture open 3’s. They are 4th in assists per possession; they’ve been playing together for years and know how to hit the open guy coming off a screen.
Although they are not big (or young) they are 6th in offensive rebound percentage. They shoot a lot of 3’s, resulting in long rebounds, and they know how to go get them. In their loss to the Cavs they had 17 offensive rebounds; they average 13. The Cavs need to do a better job on the defensive glass. Everybody should be helping, especially on a 3-point shot where the rebounds tend to be longer.
Curry and Draymond Green were 9-for-14 on 3’s last game but the rest of the Warriors were 7-for-27. The Cavs can afford to let Steph knock down 7 or 8 if they neutralize the rest of the team. Not that they can stop Steph from hitting eight 3's if not more.
Allen and Mobley combined for 10 offensive rebounds last game against the Dubs so they need to continue that tonight. Mitchell and Garland combined for 55 points. Garland kept drawing fouls and went to the line 13 times so I expect the Warriors will try to stay off him when he drives this time.
Defensively the W’s rank 9th at 110 points per game. Despite having some 30-somethings (Curry, Thompson, Green, Chris Paul) and not playing with a true center (Looney is 6’9”, 222) the W’s are pretty good defensively. They rank 8th in opponents’ effective shooting percentage, so they force a lot of missed shots. What they lack in youth and size they make up for in experience. Donovan Mitchell burned them for 31 points in 19 shots last week, however.
The entire Cavs’ starting lineup was between +4 and +15 against the Warriors while their starters were between -5 and -12. Let's see if that repeats itself in their building.
It will be tougher to beat these guys on their floor and I don’t think the non-Currys will shoot 3’s as badly as they did in Cleveland. We did not have Okoro and he and Jerome are still out so Jerome will miss both games against his former team this year.
I want to see Mobley and Allen dominating the paint on both ends and Garland taking better care of the ball and hitting a couple of open 3's. So far he is just 2-for-15 on 3's. But I'll take another win any way we can get it.
This game will be televised on NBA TV at 8:30 Eastern.
