Great performance but did it change the overall bottom line? GSW won. They were doing that without him.. That was always my point. I guess an OT win was more dramatic tho. Still no idea why the slew of emails like anyone was proven wrong tho.
You have to admit it was clearly shaky which is the point.
They can muster up and step up big in spurts but just playing without him they can be figured out...
Blazers smoked them in game 3 and came out 16 to 2 in game 4. If steph didn't play it'd be 2-2 because the Blazers simply aren't scared of klay and draymond.
That pick and roll with steph and draymond can't happen because klay isn't a good handler or passer while moving.
Guys like Barnes can't just get wide open shots at the end of the game if he's not out there.
Klay stepped up. He did. But with all the attention on him it started wearing on him
When steph got it going and he stopped having to be a ball handler he was free to do what he loves spot up and shoot or just pass and not have to make a play .
So. Yes. The team is not completely lost without Steph that's a testament to their gm doing his job.
But the steph effect is real and we just saw it. We saw players like c.j. shoot his team out of the game because he knew steph was on and felt like he had to keep pace and you can't.
Steph is getting offensive rebounds over pumlee and putting it back man. That was the biggest play to me. That board and put back was mvp level I hadn't seen a warrior do that and to have your mvp little man do it meant he was dialed in.
So we agree. Yes. Due to gm issues if the Cavs lose lebron it's over
And if cp3 goes down its over
But those 2 kinda like having teams completely dependent on them.
Lebron played his best basketball of his career in the finals last year when everyone else was helpless and he didn't have to defer and he could completely dominate the ball every single trip.
CP3 plays his best when he can hold it until he feels that hes ready for you to get a shot.
Don't penalize steph because he's a different player comfortable with or without dominating the ball and the gm built a team around him that reflects that