JaVale McGee has been a spark plug off the bench for the Warriors at many different key points this season, even in recent playoff games. He scored 16 points in 13 minutes in Game 2 against the Spurs, and has averaged 7 points in just 12 minutes per game throughout the postseason. McGee figures to be a key piece in the Golden State frontcourt that will seek to combat Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love.
But apparently, at least one Cavalier doesn’t see it that way. Speaking on ESPN’s The Basketball Analogy podcast Tuesday, reporter Dave McMenamin said he was told by an anonymous Cavs player that McGee is ill-equipped mentally to handle the NBA Finals.
“I had a Cavs player disagree with your opinion of McGee, Brian [Windhorst]. He postulated to me that he doesn’t even think McGee’s gonna be able to get on the court or certainly not stay on the court because he doesn’t think he’s quote, unquote ‘smart enough’ to be able to play in this series,” McMenamin said.
There’s no question McGee will have his work cut out for him taking on Cleveland’s big men, but McGee has played well in short spurts against a variety of talented big men in the league all season. Against Cleveland, McGee collected six points and six rebounds in 18 total minutes of play in two regular season matchups.
Obviously Mike Brown and Steve Kerr would disagree with this anonymous Cav’s assessment of McGee’s smarts, so it’ll be interesting to see if McGee makes any sort of extra effort when he does get his inevitable stretch of playing time on Thursday night.