Alex Ferguson takes a look at Game Six of the NBA Finals
By Alex Ferguson - View From America
Last Updated: 16/06/15 2:09pm
The Cleveland Cavaliers face a must-win game on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors - Alex Ferguson explores whether they can they keep their NBA Finals hopes alive?
Tonight it’s do or die for Cleveland. If the Cavaliers win, they force a NBA Finals Game Seven on Friday night. If they don’t, Golden State wins their first title since 1975. And Cleveland will still be without one.
Five things to consider about Game Six...
1. Can Cleveland finally find some energy?
Despite the losses of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, Cleveland have still managed to keep up with Golden State – mainly due to the gargantuan play of LeBron James. In Game Five in Oakland he was again magical, putting up 40 points including a much improved 15-of-34 shooting day. He also threw in 14 rebounds and 11 assists (that’s his second triple-double of the Finals). But apart from him, it seems that every other Cleveland shooter has been off the boil lately. JR Smith can’t shoot consistently – and is a liability on the defensive side of the court. Matthew Dellavedova has looked drained after his second and third game heroics. Tristan Thompson started well in Game 5 but faded away. And mid-way through the fourth quarter, Cleveland simply couldn’t cope with the barrage of points that Golden State unloaded.
Cleveland are 11/10 to score over 96.5 points with SkyBet, and 8/11 to score under 96.5. Ouch.
2. Can Steph Curry keep finishing strong?
Curry was great in Game Five, scoring 37 points. But his damage was really done in the fourth quarter, where he scored 17 points (45% of his total damage). That’s the most in the NBA Finals in the last 40 years. It’s strange, because after a fairly (by his standards) lacklustre series, Curry has come alive in the last two games, and we’re seeing the swagger that we saw all season long from the 2015 NBA MVP. And his teammates know it. We like the 11/10 that SkyBet offer for Golden State to score over 101.5 on Tuesday night.
3. Will Timofey Mozgov get more time?
We couldn’t quite understand the philosophy of Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt when he decided not to play more Timofey Mozgov after the player had scored 28 points in Game Four of the play-off loss. He was removed after the team fell behind early in the first quarter, but it hardly should have been alarm bells. Blatt has insisted that the decision to replace him with Smith was an attempt to give the Cavs the best chance to win, but it backfired. Mozgov has been a hero during the play-offs, and LeBron James – and Blatt – will desperately need the Russian in Game Six. Come to think of it, he’ll desperately need everybody.
4. Can Andre Iguodala continue to be The Giant?
Andre Iguodala played from the bench for all of the regular season for the Warriors, but since he’s been given the chance to start, he’s been a hero. Over the last two games he’s thrown in 22 and 14 points. In Game Five – his 14-point effort – he had eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. He also hit around 40% of his three-pointers. Sure, his free throw shooting was lousy (2-of-11), but it hasn’t been at all like that all Finals. ‘Iggy’ has given the Warriors new energy and new belief….and we wouldn’t be surprised to see more of it on Tuesday night.
5. So who will win?
Golden State are the fourth quarter team, and we have this horrible feeling that Cleveland are going to have to be up 20 by that period to have much hope of forcing Game Seven. And it looks unlikely. It’s the fault of the injuries, but this team – despite LeBron’s heroics – looks absolutely knackered. And that’s not going to translate to a Game Seven. That’s probably why they are 11/8 to win with SkyBet, with Golden State strong favourites at 4/7. And we’d take Golden State.
