Coach Tyronn Lue has a new No. 1 priority for LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals: Stop the ball. First and foremost, then make sure Golden State's sharpshooters have a hand in their face.
Translation: Do anything and everything possible to stop Kevin Durant from driving through the paint and dunking at will with nobody even around him.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that won't happen tomorrow," Durant said with a grin on Saturday.
"They will be way more physical. They're going to be way more aggressive in the pick-and-roll on the offensive end and defensively.
"They're going to try to get their 3-point shooters going and rebound the ball. They're going to try to get more offensive rebounds. They're just going to muck the game up and be physical."
That's the plan for the defending champions when the return to the Warriors' home court at Oracle Arena on Sunday night and will be key if they want to even the best-of-seven series and look respectable after the Warriors whipped them 113-91 on Thursday night.
Durant scored 38 points and dunked easily, six times in the first half alone and many of which he went untouched to the rim.
"We can't let Durant get easy baskets like that," Lue said. "With him being probably one of the best scorers in the NBA, you can't give guys like that easy opportunities at the basket."
Taking care of the ball will be equally important after that became a major problem in the opener for Cleveland, who committed 20 turnovers in an uncharacteristically sloppy game.
The 13-0 Warriors are on a roll and matched a Finals low with only four turnovers, and if Klay Thompson finds his shooting touch at last it could be another tough day on defence for the Cavs.
They want to get physical, contest shots, somehow find a way to get Golden State out of their groove.
Durant and Steph Curry combined for 66 points and 18 assists, moving the Warriors three straight wins from becoming the first team to go unbeaten in the playoffs on the way to a title.
Four-time NBA MVP James, in his seventh straight Finals, has a remarkable run of having won at least one game on the road in 29 straight postseason series. On Sunday, King James will try to make it 30.
"We had a lot of unforced turnovers. Some of them were from aggression," James said. "I had two charges, that's aggression. I can take those. But also had some when I got caught in the air and tried to make some skip passes and they were able to pick them off. That's like throwing the ball to Deion Sanders. Most of the time it's going to be a touchdown going the other way."
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