The Golden State Warriors have no reason to change what they’re doing heading into Game 2 of the NBA Finals. If you think the Cleveland Cavaliers could probably use some tweaks, Richard Jefferson disagrees. The veteran forward spoke with reporters and said the Cavs won’t be changing much on Sunday night for Game 2 because the team is “not very far” off from getting right and evening the series.
Jefferson was asked whether the team struggled to communicate defensively in Game 1 and dismissed any sort of excuse, asking reporters what percentage the Warriors shot from the field.
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“They shot 42 percent from the field,” Jefferson said. “We turned the ball over 20 times and they had nine dunks and only shot 42 percent from the field. One of the best shooting teams in the history of the NBA. How far off are we? Not very far.”
Jefferson said despite a lopsided Game 1, the final score doesn’t indicate that things are hopeless for Cleveland in the series. In fact, he pointed to last year’s NBA Finals as proof that a blowout doesn’t mean you have to blow things up and start over.
“But that only shows you, it only takes you to be a little off for things to get very, very ugly,” Jefferson said. “And it’s on both sides. Last year there was only one close game in this series. It was Game 7. We blew them out multiple times, they beat us badly multiple times. So if you can hold them to 42 percent giving up 20 turnovers, giving up six to eight dunks in transition, you don’t have to change your defense. You just have to do it better and not turn it over and not give them easy buckets.”
It’s a good point: the blowouts went back and forth last year. And the only close game of the series went Cleveland’s way. So maybe things aren’t as dire as they seemed after Thursday night.
“The formula is there,” Jefferson said. “We just have to execute it and not panic.”
(Via Bleacher Report)
