Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will clash in Oakland, California at Oracle Arena in a pivotal Game 5 of the 2015 NBA Finals. Warriors fans can listen to the game on the radio on KNBR 680, while Cavaliers fans may find the radio broadcast on WTAM 1100. Fans can also live stream the game free by clicking this link.
In Game 4 on Thursday night LeBron James began to show some of the strain of carrying a team on his back. Without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, James saw some free throws fall short (5-of-10). Despite falling just two assists short of a triple-double, his 20 points were the fewest of the Finals and and he only connected on 31 percent of his shots from the field.
Aside from Timofey Mozgov, James' supporting cast didn't show up. J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellavedova combined for just 19 points; in Game 3, Dellavedova alone scored 20.
After taking Games 2 and 3, Golden State won home court advantage back when they took Game 4, but James doesn't feel that means they stole the series' momentum.
"I think when you get to a championship-level type game with it being 2-2, I don't think anyone has the momentum," James said. "Obviously, everyone would say them because they're coming back home, and then after the game they had the other night, but the momentum starts once the game starts."
The Warriors went small in Game 4, and while it allowed Mozgov to explode on offense, the Warriors established the fast pace they wanted in order to wear down the beat-up Cavs with their short rotation. Point guard Stephen Curry re-discovered his 3-point stroke, and role players Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green found more success when left open. If they continue to make 3-pointers, Cleveland, which has not scored more than 96 points since Game 1, will struggle to keep up.
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