NBA Week 9 Rewind: Warriors show grit behind the spectacle

The Key Games and Results of Week 9

It’s Christmas time, so we’ve got to start with the gritty, defensive NBA Finals rematch we saw on Christmas Day.

It was Christmas Day, and the Warriors and Cavaliers were on display. This was probably the most highly anticipated game of the season so far, as the NBA Finals match-up featured the two top teams from their respective conferences. From LeBron James’ attempt to get a win against the reigning champions to Stephen Curry and Co. trying to preserve their remarkable one-loss record, there were plenty of reasons to watch.

For all those who like to say the Cavs would never have lost the Finals if they were healthy, this was the first chance to see how that hypothetical might play out. Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving have only recently returned from injury, but Cleveland finally had everyone back in action this season. That being said, as Kyrie eases back into his game gradually, he only recorded 13 points on 4-of-15 shooting in 26 minutes on Christmas.

For the Cavs, it was, unsurprisingly, LeBron who led the way (25 points, 9 assists) with Kevin Love (10 points, 18 rebounds). Although, their collective 15-of-42 shooting dealt a huge blow to the Cavs’ hopes of winning. For the game, the team shot a dismal 31.6 percent.

As for the Warriors, it wasn’t the Splash Brothers who stole the show. Instead, the triple double machine that is Draymond Green stepped up. In addition to his usual elite and versatile defense, he recorded 22 points, 15 rebounds, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

One area in which the Cavs did control the game was rebounding, as they beat the Warriors 55-49 in that area and hauled in 17 offensive boards. It was those second chance points and benefiting from Curry and Klay Thompson’s combined 12-of-31 shooting that helped keep them in the game.

Clearly the Cavaliers were able to bother the Warriors, as the champs only shot 41 percent from the floor and made 27.8 percent of their threes. Plus, we saw what LeBron was able to do against them by himself in the Finals with his absurd 35.8 point, 13.3 rebound, 8.8 assist stat line. That being said, this game also showed us that the Warriors don’t always need to win by playing at a high pace. Their defense is so versatile, interchangeable and resilient in the paint, that they can win slow, gritty games, too.

After Christmas, it’s only right we look at another game from the big day. And after we were gifted with a few great contests and surprises, there was some good basketball to watch besides the fact we were able to do so while enjoying copious amounts of food and drink. The Spurs and Rockets match-up was just that, as few could have expected the latter would win.

On the one hand, there are the Spurs with their league-best defensive rating and 26-6 record, 2nd place in the West to only the Warriors. From their ball movement to the way they lock-down opposing shooters, they’ve been playing at an incredibly high level all season.

Then, on the other hand, there’s the disappointment of the Rockets. James Harden has been having a terribly inefficient season (41.7 percent shooting, career-high 4.4 turnovers per game), the Ty Lawson experiment has been a disaster, and Kevin McHale was fired weeks ago. At 7th place in the West, they’re at the opposite end of the spectrum as contenders in comparison to the Spurs.

Yet, with 3:34 to go in the fourth quarter, the Rockets somehow held a 75-84 lead after Harden buried two big threes, one of which went smoothly over the head of Tim Duncan. Thanks to the Rockets going just 10-of-17 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, though, and a little Hack-a-Howard strategy, the Spurs managed to catch up.

As they couldn’t come closer than four points and Kawhi Leonard missed a step-back jumper with 40 seconds left, their 40.9 percent shooting let them down.

However, don’t think this game has a lot of meaning. The Spurs are clearly still the second best team in the NBA behind the Warriors, while the Rockets proceeded to lose their latest game to the New Orleans Pelicans. If they meet in the playoffs, it doesn’t look like there’s any way Houston can out-do their Texas rivals.

Just two days after falling to the Warriors on Christmas, the Cavaliers had their second straight sub-40 percent shooting night. After shooting 31.6 percent in Golden State, they followed up that poor display by going 36.4 percent from the floor in Portland.

The Cavs got themselves in a hole early, as they allowed the Blazers to go on a 6-21 run to start to the game. After such a terrible start, both in terms of getting a basket and closing down shooters, Cleveland lost the first quarter 12-34. Honestly, it was that bad.

When the Cavs used a smaller lineup with Tristan Thompson at center (a fairly weak rim protector), the Blazers did a great job at getting the ball inside. On the other hand, when the Cavs had their regular lineup and crashed the offensive glass with Kevin Love and Timofey Mozgov, the Blazers upped the tempo and utilized their shooters by hitting 40 percent of their threes.

An even more worrying element of the Cavaliers’ loss? The Blazers didn’t even have their best player, Damian Lillard. Instead, C.J. McCollum was used as their starting point guard. Even though he’s clearly more of a shooting guard, he still controlled the tempo of the Blazers’ offense well in the half court and pushed the pace in transition as they burned the Cavs.

While the Cavs obviously aren’t in trouble this season, a 29-point blowout loss to a non-playoff team like this isn’t something you’d see from the Warriors. And that’s who they’ll need to be compared to if they want a championship.

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