NBA Finals Game 1: Four takeaways
By Ian Levy
Golden State got easy buckets
Most teams win when they force more turnovers than they give away. The Warriors are kind of extreme on that front. Over the past two years, regular season and playoffs, they are 101-0 in games where the turnover differential is even or in their favor.
The Warriors led the league in fastbreak points this season, with nearly 200 more than the next closest team. During the regular season, about one out of every six of their offensive possessions were classified as transition by the play type statistics at NBA.com. They are among the league’s best at turning defense into offense and every careless turnover is just putting your head in the lion’s mouth.
The Warriors forced 15 giant Cleveland turnovers in Game 1, leading to 25 points. Eleven of those turnovers came from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love — that group averaged a combined 7.4 per game during the regular season. The Cavaliers actually played fairly conservatively on offense — lots of isolations and post-ups, plays that usually help keep turnovers down. However, there was very little movement around those one-on-one forays and Golden State was able to take advantage, doubling at the right moment to knock the ball loose or picking off careless passes.
Golden State is going to score points and they’re going to make it look easy, those are givens. Cleveland can not beat them if they continue to give the ball away at this rate.
Next: 1. Cleveland's offensive stagnation