OAKLAND, Calif.: LeBron James dressed uncharacteristically quickly, arriving in the interview room before Cavs coach Tyronn Lue had finished.
James had a plan, even when dinner with teammates might have been the more enjoyable option. James said he was likely headed back to his hotel room to re-watch the Cavs’ 110-77 loss to the Golden State Warriors Sunday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
“The next couple days I won't be reflecting,” James said. “I'll figure out ways I can be better, starting as soon as I leave this podium. Probably go back to the room and watch the game for ways I could have been better.”
One statistic particularly nagged at him. James committed a game-high seven turnovers as the Warriors turned the Cavs’ 18 turnovers into 26 points.
“I had a lot of uncharacteristic unforced turnovers,” James said. “I’m one of the guys who kind of always wants to take the blame when we don't play as well as we should. It's just who I am, and I've got to be better.”
For all the Cavaliers’ problems as they dropped to 0-2 in the series going into Game 3 Wednesday night in Quicken Loans Arena, the turnovers may be the most fixable.
Lue may not be able to coax J.R. Smith out of a Finals funk for the second consecutive year or find a way for the Cavs to score against the Warriors’ stifling half-court defense. But he can stress cleaning up the sloppy ball-handling.
In Friday’s 15-point loss, the Cavs’ 17 turnovers led to 25 Warriors’ points. Sunday’s issues brought the Cavs’ totals to 35 turnovers leading to 51 Warriors’ points.
James was not alone in the miscues. Kyrie Irving committed three, Timofey Mozgov two and five others had one apiece. While five came in the fourth quarter after the starters were lifted, James still considered the statistic a predictor of almost-certain defeat.
“I got myself in a lot of trouble tonight personally. Turned the ball over way too much,” James said. “I said after Game 1 we just can't turn the ball over against a great team and expect to win, and I had basically half of the turnovers. We had some in the fourth quarter, but we had our third group in. I had half of the turnovers when I came out, and it resulted in them getting some easy baskets.
“So I've got to be better with the ball. You know, trying to play make for myself and play make for my teammates at the same time, I've just got to be more solid.”
During the regular season, the Cavs ranked eighth in the league with 12.9 turnovers per game. Going into Game 2 of the Finals, the Cavs’ 12.0 per game in the playoffs was the sixth-lowest turnover average among the 16 teams that qualified. In their two road losses in Toronto in the conference finals, the Cavs totaled 20, which led to 28 points.
Now the miscues are up and the Warriors are making them pay.
J.R. Smith suggested Sunday night that the Cavs might be pressing, which is leading to the turnovers.
“I think we wanted to make the play so bad that we didn’t catch the ball,” Smith said. “I know it happened to me on one side, I think Ky did it on the other side. Just wanted it too bad I guess, instead of letting the game come to us.”
Lue listed a number of improvements his team must make for Game 3. But turnovers were the first thing he cited.
“We have to take care of the basketball, not turn the ball over,” he said. “In transition when you have a chance to convert and get easy baskets, we have to take advantage of that, especially against a great half-court defensive team. We've also got to make tougher plays, the 50-50 balls, being physical, and being on those guys' body.”
In Game 2, the Cavs started out like they had shored up the turnover issue. They had only one and it led to no points as they trailed by two.
But the second quarter brought four turnovers, three by James, as the Cavs saw the Warriors use a 20-2 run after they fell behind 28-22 at the 10:12 mark.
A bad pass by James led to a Shaun Livingston running dunk off a Klay Thompson assist that cut the Cavs’ lead to 28-27. James lost the ball out of bounds on two consecutive trips downcourt and the Warriors got a 3-pointer from Draymond Green after the first.
“The game kind of broke open when we had two straight turnovers,” James said. “Even though we were still getting back in the game, it just slowed us down from that point on. We had the lead, and it started with my turnover, and I can't just be careless with the ball, especially in the paint where a lot of reaching and things of that nature happen.”
Sitting out the entire fourth quarter, James finished with 19 points, snapping his career-best streak of 25 consecutive playoff games with at least 20. Coach Steve Kerr said the Warriors tried to be “as active as possible” in trying to control James and said the victory was all about their defense.
“We have a lot of speed on our team and like-sized players who we can kind of help and recover and switch,” Kerr said. “It's a very difficult job because LeBron is so smart that he sees everything before it happens. Sometimes if you switch, he'll read that and find somebody for a lay-up or he'll attack at the exact right time to expose our defense.
“I thought our guys did as good a job as we possibly could in terms of trying to cover him in penetration and stay with shooters at the same time.”