- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors tips off at Oracle Arena as Stephen Curry looks to lead the Warriors past LeBron James – join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 10:00am.
We’re back to an even series after Game 4, with the series at 2-2. The problem for the Cavaliers is that two of the remaining three games are away, and there’s only a one day lay-off between games from now on.
Cleveland’s health and stamina stand in the way of a series victory, with both LeBron James and Matthew Dellavedova showing signs of fatigue in Game 4. The rest of the perimeter shooters shot just 12 per cent from the field in a terrible night for the likes of JR Smith, Iman Shumpert and James Jones.
One highlight for the Cavaliers has been the play of seven foot Russian Timofey Mozgov. The Warriors have no answer to his plundering of the rim without Andrew Bogut, who has been removed from the starting line-up as coach Steve Kerr tinkers with smaller starters.
The Cavaliers will need 30 points plus from LeBron, and solid contributions from all starters and bench guys to come close to a win over the Warriors, who are starting to hit their stride.
Golden State, on their part, still haven’t quite looked like the offensive juggernaut, led by the Splash Brothers of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Andre Iguadola’s big series, highlighted in Game 4, will need to continue.
They have the conditioning advantage, but will still need those shots to drop to make it count.
Prediction
The Cavaliers will need to be back to their brilliant best to get close to the Warriors again. If LeBron’s showing signs of enough rest, they’ll go close.
If he looks spent – having played a frankly ridiculous 183 of a possible 202 minutes in the Finals thus far – the Cavaliers won’t have a chance.