What Should We Take Away From Tonight’s Cavs vs. Warriors Game?
The last installment of the Cavaliers and Warriors regular season matchup is tonight. Isaiah Thomas and Steph Curry were both out on Christmas Day, where Golden State topped Cleveland 99-92. They will both be available for tonight’s game.
The Cavs and Warriors have been trending in opposite directions as of late. The Warriors have been red hot and hold the best record in the NBA at 35-9, despite both Kevin Durant and Steph Curry missing an extended amount of time. The Cavs, on the other hand, have been struggling since their domination of November and December. They’re 3-8 in their last 11 games and have looked atrocious. The team just hasn’t been able to shake their recent funk.
Now, a mid-season slump is nothing new for LeBron James and the Cavs. It feels like every season we’re trying to figure out what’s wrong and what changes need to be made this time of the year. In every previous season when we experience this exact phenomenon, they’ve always figured it out come playoff time. I’m confident this year won’t be any different, no matter the outcome of tonight’s game.
The Cavs have played the Warriors on the last two Martin Luther King days. The Warriors have won both by a combined 69 (nice) points. One game regular season game doesn’t mean much at all in the grand scheme of things. I said the same thing before the Cavs and Warriors Christmas Day matchup. You can’t buy too much into these games either way.
I do want to see how the Cavs try to hide Isaiah Thomas defensively. Though, with how the entire defense has played of late, what they try in this game could be erroneous come June. Plus, Isaiah Thomas has stated multiple times he’s really struggling with his conditioning and it’s affecting his play on both ends of the court. I can guarantee you that the Warriors will have to change how they matchup against Isaiah Thomas once he’s fully integrated into this offense. So, there may not be much use to what the Warriors try against him on defense today as well.
Most likely, this one won’t be another classic in their rivalry like it was on Christmas day. It’ll probably be another Warriors blow out. But, that doesn’t mean we should scream to fire Ty Lue or trade everyone because of it. This will just be another regular season game and it should be viewed as such.
P.S. I will be live on Periscope following the conclusion of the game. The stream will be tweeted out on CST’s Twitter account. If you’re going to scream about firing Ty Lue, I know some of you will despite what I just said, the Periscope’s comment section is the perfect place to do it.
P.P.S. Subscribe to my podcast, Mistake By The Lake, on iTunes. It’s hosted by CST’s founder, Zach Shafron and myself. You can subscribe to it by CLICKING THIS LINK! Please subscribe and give us five stars and a great review!
