The Cleveland Cavaliers pulled out a 112-97 victory in a must-win Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors on Monday night, and they have Kyrie Irving and LeBron James to thank.
Irving and James — who combined to score 82 points — became the first pair of teammates in NBA history to each score 40-plus points in the same Finals game. But other than their two stars and 10 points added on by J.R. Smith, the Cavaliers had little help, as their bench was once again nowhere to be found, scoring just 12 total points. Eight from Richard Jefferson and four from Iman Shumpert. That was it.
Matthew Dellavedova played three minutes, shot 0-for-2, committed three personal fouls and turned the ball over twice. Mo Williams played three minutes, scored no points, turned the ball over once and committed a foul. Channing Frye, who was a difference-maker in the first three rounds shooting 26-for-45 (57.7%) from beyond the arc, didn't even enter the game.
Throughout the series, Cleveland's second unit has been outscored 155-82 compared to Golden State's, and — according to Jefferson — it's a trend that can't continue if they have any hopes of overcoming the harsh reality that no team in NBA history has won the Finals after being faced with a 3-1 deficit.
"It’s going to take a team," Jefferson said. "If you look at the team over there (the Warriors), the first game (Shaun) Livingston had a huge impact, next game Draymond (Green) had a huge impact, next game it was a team effort for them. And that’s what it’s going to take to get it done. You don’t get here to The Finals off just one or two guys."
In the regular season, the Cavs' bench was 27th in the league with 28.1 points per game. In the Finals, they've averaged just 16.4 and have scored 15 points or less in four of the five contests. The two-man show worked on Monday night, but can it work again in another must-win game on Thursday?
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