4. Kyrie Irving has ice in his veins; Thompson and Love can play too
Kyrie Irving may not always be at the top of his game (see: Game 1 and 2), but he’s invariably clutch. In fact, it was Irving’s 3 in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals that capped the most epic comeback in NBA Finals history.
Uncle Drew lives for elimination games. In Game 4, Irving led all scorers with an astonishing 40 points. He tacked on seven rebounds and four assists. In crunch time, few current NBA point guards are better than Irving. Irving has been magnificent since the series moved to Cleveland. He flipped a switch heading into Game 3 and revived his play, giving the Cavs the lead most of the game. However, the figurative absence of Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson from Game 3 didn’t end well for the Cavs.
In Game 4, everything changed. LeBron James, Irving, Love and Thompson all showed up. And what happened? The Cavaliers won. Imagine that, when LeBron doesn’t have to put the entire team on his back and his other star teammates come to play, the Cavs win. Who would’ve thought?
Hopefully for Cleveland, these three players will feed off (and maybe improve on) their Game 4 performances. If they do, they’ll force Golden State to make some defensive switches. The Warriors might even have to go with a big lineup at some points if Thompson and Love are on their game, and we saw how that worked out for them against the Cavs last season. Hint: not well.