Cavaliers down, but are they done?

I thought the Cleveland Cavaliers might come out flat after their controversial overtime loss in game one to the Golden State Warriors and at times, they did.
However, for the most part, they did not, but it still was not enough to overcome the powerful offense of Golden State as the Warriors won game two 122-103 in Oakland.

LeBron James led Cleveland with 29 points and Kevin Love added 22 more to lead the Cavaliers, who stayed reasonably close until the middle of the fourth quarter.

Games three and four are must-wins for Cleveland as they return home with a chance to even the series.

Swashbucklings

1) Big dog in the room- the officiating again was abysmal.
It's been so bad that the fans of other teams and PLAYERS on other teams are complaining.
I'm generally not a person that blames losses on the referees and if you have read a lot of my work here, I think that you'll find that to be the case, but last night was awful as well.

2) The NBA has a major credibility problem and I don't think they are seeing it.
Either their officials are corrupt or just terrible and either way, there is an issue to be dealt with.
I think they are just crummy referees, but the NBA is the one league that once employed a corrupt referee and they should take even the fact that people are considering this possibility to be a huge problem in perception.

3) Kevin Loce did score 22 points and George Hill played well, but Cleveland received next to nothing from J.R. Smith and the highest scoring bench player was Jeff Green with just six points.
Going to need far more than that from the supporting cast to win the two games in Cleveland.

4) The Cleveland defense was terrible.
I expect the stars for Golden State to play well, what I don't expect is Javale McGee to score 12 points on 6 for 6 shooting with it seeming to have all six shots combine to be six feet away!
Not to mention allowing 15 three-pointers.

5) Cleveland has to shake things up.
J.R. Smith needs to sit and just toss some players out there and see if they can catch some lightning.
Jordan Clarkson hasn't shot well, Rodney Hood seldom moves after his faux pas' earlier in the playoffs, but he knows Golden State well or even Cedi Osman, but try something other than J.R.Smith!!!

6) I think Cleveland wins game three.
Not sure about game four, but I think the home crowd, an inspired LBJ, and referees that will have heard for almost a week (since game one) how badly they have performed/favored the Warriors and will subconsciously attempt to "even the score" will result in a big effort Wednesday night.
If they cannot win under those conditions, they are likely headed toward a sweep.