Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Not dead. Yet.

No, no, no, America. The Cleveland Cavaliers are not finished.

Yes, they lost Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals at Golden State by a combined 48 points.

Yes, they got washed away by 33 in Game 2, and appeared to quit, besides, an unforgivable breach of competitive etiquette.

Yes, Kyrie Irving has played like a goof for the most part, and Kevin Love hasn't done much, and the Warriors smoked them with one hand tied behind their backs -- i.e., they did it with their bench and not with the Splash Brothers, who were pretty much supporting actors in the first two games.

Never mind all that. The Cavs are not finished. And the reason the Blob knows this is because of everything that's happened to date in these NBA playoffs.

What's happened has borne out a universal truth in sports, which is there's no such thing as momentum. Momentum is the next game, quarter, possession, shot. It's what happens between Marcus Paige of Kentucky hitting a circus jumper with five seconds left in the NCAA championship game to tie the game, and Kris Jenkins hitting the game-winner for Villanova five seconds later.

It's the Cavaliers getting whipped twice in Toronto in the Eastern Conference finals, then coming home to beat the Raptors by 38.

So ... no. They're not finished.

No matter how hopeless and overmatched they looked in Oakland, five will get you ten they come home and win Game 3. And maybe (probably?) Game 4. And we go back the Oracle with the series tied 2-2 and everyone saying the Warriors are in trouble, and what's wrong with them, anyway?

Pretty much, you know, what they're saying right now about the Cavaliers.

Look. Golden State's bench was, well, golden in the first two games, but does anyone expect them to keep being that good? Does anyone expect the Cavaliers to look as lost and pathetic at home as they did on the road? And does anyone think for a second that a team that shot 3s as well as the Cavs have most of the year won't eventually find the stroke again, if only for a game or two?

Remember: These are the same Cavs who looked lost in Toronto and then destroyed the Raptors in Cleveland. And these are the same Warriors who got obliterated twice in Oklahoma City in the West finals, then won three straight to get back to the Finals.

Momentum is a mirage. Both the Cavs and Warriors have proved it.

Don't be shocked if they prove it again.  

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