Is the return of fierce forward Draymond “The Nutcracker” Green the key factor regarding whether the Golden State Warriors will repeat as NBA champs? Or could it be the loss of center Andrew Bogut, now out for the rest of the playoffs due to a knee injury?
Those questions are why nothing’s over in sports until it’s over. Because as certain as the Warriors winning their second straight world championship appeared to be following last Friday’s victory at Cleveland that put them up 3-1 in the best-of-seven series heading home to Oakland for Game 5, the physical loss of Bogut and the possible emotional lost edge of Green following his one-game suspension suddenly has the Warriors looking vulnerable for tonight’s Game 6 in Cleveland against LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
And should there be a Game 7 in Oakland on Sunday night, which team would you rather be – the confident Cavs (coming off two straight victories to avoid elimination) or the worried Warriors (knowing they’ve got to face the most physically imposing player in the NBA without Bogut as a last line of defense)?
Yep, as Ferris Bueller observed 30 years ago: “Life moves pretty fast.”
Mark WiedmerSo does opportunity, and the Warriors may have missed their best chance to become a historically significant team by not wrapping up their championship three nights ago on home hardwood.
This isn’t to say they won’t win. As stunning as James and Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving were scoring 41 points each in Monday’s 112-97 win – they’re the first teammates with 40 or more points apiece in the same NBA Finals game – the odds of them producing such magic two games in a row are slim. That’s especially true with Green back on the floor for defense and rebounding after his suspension for swinging at James’ groin area in Game 4.
But will Green return with his usual defense and defiance? Or will he be more cautious and cool, careful not to do anything that might suspend him for Game 7, should one arise?
Beyond that, good as two-time league MVP Stephen Curry was scoring 38 points last Friday, the Davidson College product has been average at best in the series’ other games, averaging just 18.3 points. Then again, he averaged 24.3 points over the first four games of the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City as the Warriors fell behind 3-1, then averaged 32.8 points over the final three games to send Golden State back to the title series.
An odd bit of trivia to show Curry’s current celebrity: California-based SCP Auctions expects a Curry-used mouthguard it obtained from a fan earlier this season to fetch at least $5,000 during an August 3 auction.
The mouthguard is reportedly marked with the Warriors’ logo and Curry’s name and number. Before you question if we’ve all lost our minds, SCP sold a mouthpiece worn by Muhammad Ali during his final professional bout for $6,700 in 2013. The giant auction house Sotheby’s sold Ty Cobb’s dentures for $7,475 in 1989. Most stunning of all, a piece of gum chewed by Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez sold for $10,000 in an online auction in 2002, the year after Gonzalez had the clinching hit against the New York Yankees as Arizona won the World Series.
Of course, if Cleveland fans want to mess with Curry tonight, someone could sacrifice his freedom by rushing the court and swiping the guard’s current mouthpiece, since Curry told ABC late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel a few months ago that the mouthpiece, “Kind of calms me down, especially when I’m at the foul line.”
If King James is as calm and focused as he was in Game 5, the Cavs might become the first team in league history to turn a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals into a title. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue – who took over during the season – also deserves credit for wisely simplifying Cleveland’s offense to basically be a playground attack from James and Irving. Whenever one of them has the ball, the other four get out of his way, take their defenders with them, then swiftly get back after a miss to thwart the Warriors’ preference for feverishly fast-breaking every time an opponent misses a shot.
Since ABC has the Finals, it may not have been Ernie Johnson’s Neat-O Stat of the Night on TBS, but the key statistic from Cleveland’s Game 5 win was fast-break points. The Cavs had 28 to the Warriors’ 9. If that continues tonight, there’s no way the series won’t reach an epic seventh game Sunday.
One really neat-o moment tonight will be cancer-stricken TBS reporter Craig Sager and his colorful threads working their first-ever NBA Finals game as a sideline reporter for ABC. Said Sager of the move, “I’ve been watching the series very closely and, while I do not want to distract in any way from the event itself, I look forward to being in the building for what will be an incredibly exciting Game 6.”
It should be.
Yet it’s also fair for any Golden State fan to argue that without Green’s questionable suspension in Game 5 there might have been no Game 6.
As he met with the media Wednesday, Green said, “If I’d played Game 5, it’d be over.”
But he didn’t play, and now that Bogut won’t play another minute the rest of the way, even the most positive Warriors supporter must worry if Golden State’s dynasty might be over before it began.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.