OAKLAND — How many times did the Warriors record 30 or more assists in seven NBA Finals games last June?
Not once. Ball movement sputtered. Panic ensued. LeBron James popped bottles at Oracle Arena with a cigar in his mouth and championship nets draped around his neck.
How many times have the Warriors recorded 30 or more assists so far in the 2016-2017 NBA season?
An extraordinary 28 times. No other team has more than eight. Golden State is 27-1 in those games, none as impressive as Monday’s blowout win in Cleveland’s first trip back to the East Bay.
Yep, it was simple ole passing which made the biggest difference during a 126-91 MLK throttling of the Cavaliers. Not talent. Not Cleveland playing poorly.
Passing. Crisp, sweet, ball movement. It’s the key ingredient Steve Kerr brought to this team upon his arrival in 2014 and the Warriors are better at it right now than they’ve ever been. Just how the Warriors ignited a three-point revolution a few years back, they’re becoming a superhuman passing team that — when they’re clicking — nobody else can quite keep up with.
The Warriors had 37 assists; the Cavaliers had 11. The Warriors had 13 of them in the first quarter; the Cavaliers had 1. Golden State put Cleveland in a blender, diced them up like a tomato. Pick whichever dizzying kitchen reference you need to comprehend the surgical performance.
The addition of Kevin Durant brought one slightly unintended upswing to the table: Increased, effective ball movement. It’s on another level behind the home crowd. And sure, there have been crunchtime situations where this team has fallen back into bad isolation habits, where stalling the ball has bitten them in the ass. But for the most part, the Warriors have perfected constantly staying in motion and making the extra pass — all while still getting three superstars their necessary shot requirements. On games where they get a big lead early, like against Cleveland, the extra pass is essentially the entire structure on offense. It’s natural and it’s deadly.
Despite downplaying the meaning of the matchup, this regular season game mattered more to the Warriors for a laundry list of reasons. After being shown up by Kyrie Irving the last several times these two teams have played, Steph Curry needed to be aggressive and on his A game. He was — 20 points, 11 assists. The Warriors needed to prove to themselves they could ramp up the physicality. A 58-35 rebounding advantage meant just as much as holding Tristan Thompson to 2 offensive rebounds. The effort was there.
There were other factors, obviously: Andre Iguodala soaring off the bench (14 points on 5/5 shooting), Draymond Green putting Kevin Love in a straitjacket (3 points in 16 minutes). The defense, in general, forced the Cavaliers to shoot an ugly 35.2 percent from the floor (31/88). Newly acquired guard Kyle Korver still looks out of place for Cleveland and the Warriors attacked him relentlessly.
But nothing looked as dominant as the Warriors’ 34 fast break points — in the first half alone. It was a basketball clinic. It was quick ball movement without thinking. It was Golden State knifing it’s bread and butter.
“We wanted to win,” Steve Kerr said. “We weren’t happy with our Cleveland game on Christmas Day. Anytime you are facing a team, that you know is one of the best in the league, you are going to be up for it. We were definitely up for it. You could tell that we had a lot of good energy and played a good game.”
The Warriors needed a concrete reminder of how and why they are a better team than last June, a shred of evidence that every player could cling onto. It couldn’t just be Durant bailing them out late, like he almost did on Christmas Day. It couldn’t be the Cavaliers missing a last second shot.
It had to be a team-wide thing, as it’s always been for Kerr’s Warriors.
The defense will change in an NBA Finals trilogy. LeBron and Kyrie will not play anywhere near as poorly as they did in this January game. Hell, the Warriors still have to get past the Spurs before we get too ahead of ourselves.
But if and when the ball is tipped again in June against the Cavaliers, the Warriors have a mental blueprint of how to play against Cleveland: Pass the basketball. Everything else will trickle down from there.