CLEVELAND — When your coach says you are lacking in energy, playing with very little life …
Well, there really aren’t that many harsher words that can be used, are there?
But those were the phrases Steve Kerr was uttering Tuesday night to describe the NBA’s reigning MVP, Stephen Curry, who came to life in the fourth quarter of Game 3 at the NBA Finals but again made too many untimely mistakes as the Golden State Warriors fell into a 2-1 hole to the highly motivated, highly performing Cleveland Cavaliers in a 96-91 loss.
There is still a lot of basketball left to be played in this series, and this is no time for extended doldrums, so we have to expect that Golden State will somehow summon the energy and life to pull off a few more 36-point periods like the one they had in the fourth quarter here Tuesday night, trimming a 20-point deficit to one before falling shot — in large part because of the mistakes that Curry kept making. Mistakes unbefitting of an MVP.
An MVP does not fire a behind-the-back pass to an empty spot on the court as Curry did when a double team was coming with 2:05 left, a turnover that was followed by a 3-pointer from LeBron James with 100 seconds left that make it an 87-80 ballgame.
An MVP does not come out of a timeout and inbound the ball directly into the hands of James, as Curry did with 51 seconds left, prompting James to repeatedly point to his head as if to say: I’m too smart to let you guys run that particular inbounds play, the same one you’ve run in similar situations dozens of times this season.
“I was telling their coaching staff that I was in tune and knew it was coming,” James said.
That steal was one of two turnovers committed by Curry in the final minute and among the seven he had in the game. Scoring 17 points and making five 3-pointers in a period is nice, something we have come to expect from Curry. But the sloppiness with the ball? At this point in the postseason? It is simply unforgivable, and if Curry doesn’t snap out of it and start resembling the player who epitomized the word fun from November through May, or do a complete personality makeover and start resembling the man who has taken over this series with an intensity level that is borderline frightening.
That player, of course, is James, who reached 40 points again as he continues to await the double-team pressure that Kerr has been holding back for three straight games now. What we are seeing from the Golden State side is a team that is getting outcoached and outhustled, allowing the Cavs to dictate the pace, slow the game down and turn it into a scrum while getting enormous effort and production from a player who grew up in rugby scrums, Matthew Dellavedova.
The Aussie point guard had nothing to say after playing 38 1/2 minutes in Game 3 and scoring 20 points, because 90 minutes after the game he was still cramped up from all the exertion. He is now the league leader in floor burns, a player whose fiestiness and spirit have infused the Cavs. Not that they needed it while being led by a player like LeBron, but Dellavedova is providing that extra sparkplug factor that is pushing the Cavs into a higher gear despite missing two starters.
They have controlled the scoreboard, controlled the tempo and controlled the storylines in this series through three games, answering their doubters while making everyone question exactly what has happened to what was the NBA’s most productive and efficient offense all season.
“They’re doing a good job defensively, they’re walking the ball up the floor, that’s what they do,” Kerr said. “They isolate a lot with LeBron, so the game slows down a little bit.
“It’s not going to be a series where we’re going to get out and run and score 125 points. The Finals rarely are played that way. But we still feel we can get out, push it and force the tempo, and we’ve got to try to do a better job of that.”
Kerr promised more playing time for David Lee, whose first appearance of the series coincided with the Warriors’ fourth-quarter push. Lee was not a good fit in the wide-open offense that the Warriors employed all season, but that offense is milk carton material in this series, and there is a place for a grinder and banger like Lee who can score and make smart decisions with the ball when the game is being played in the mud. He had nine points, four rebound, two assists and five fouls in his 10 1/2 minutes of fourth quarter playing time, and Kerr is going to have to give some thought to playing Lee ahead of Harrison Barnes, who was 0-for-8 in Game 3 and has shown nothing on either end befitting of a starter on an NBA championship team. The Dubs’ most consistent performer on both ends has been Andre Iguodala when it should be Curry.
Which brings us back to the issue of Curry’s liveliness, or lack thereof.
Will he bring a little passion to Game 4? A little East Bay funk? Maybe some levity?
“Whether I’m making shots or not, I’ve got to stay — I’ll use the word vibrant — just kind of having fun out there. Because the team definitely feeds off of my energy and joy for the game. So if it’s not going my way, or our way, I’ve got to find different ways to get us going, and I like that challenge because this is going to be a hard-fought series, and I’ve got to have a huge part in it,” Curry said.
A couple ideas, Steph: Protect the ball like it is your 2-year-old daughter. Ditch the behind-the-back passes to thin air. Stop telegraphing inbounds passes in the final minute.
And one last one: Maybe get in Kerr’s ear, and have him throw something different at James and the Cavs. You can’t just let James get his 40 and try to make the other Cavs beat you, because that is what they have been doing. It is time to change the style and the narrative, turn it back into the type of game we have watched the Warriors play all season, if they are going to have a chance to send this thing back to Oakland tied 2-2.
The alternative is putting LeBron one win away from what would be the single most legacy-defining moment of his career, and you really don’t want to have that guy in that position.
So it starts with Curry, but it also has to include Curry’s biggest critic, Kerr. Without a little more life and effort from both of those guys, this is Cleveland’s series.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.