Coachin' (How Steve Kerr & Co. stopped LeBron without stoppin' LeBron)

"Oh yeah playa! I know a lil' bit about what I'm doin' out here!"

Mark Zuckerberg once said, “The biggest risk is not taking any risk…In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist, gave it to us like this, “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” Then Michael Porter, the Harvard Business School professor, spit it the G way when he said, “Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs, it’s about deliberately choosing to be different.”

Well playas…the Golden State Warriors made choices on Thursday night or should I say some trade-offs to be deliberately different. Steve Kerr and Co. put a plan in place to “stop” LeBron without stoppin’ LeBron. Their strategy was to keep that dun from killin’ them with drives to the rack and make him settle for jumpers and floaters. Now he gets at them for 44 points! However, another part of the plan was to keep the supportin’ cast at bay and walk out of the joint with a Game 1 victory. And that they did,108-100. Why? Because this ain’t the 100 meters bruh! LeBron can’t beat them all by himself.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! It almost backfired on a boy but Kerr and Co. were doin’ what Zuckerberg said earlier, takin’ a risk. As LeBron took the last second shot in regulation to win it, boyz held their breath. However, Golden State’s game plan worked by forcin’ LeBron to take a jumper after loggin’ crazy minutes. They weren’t lettin’ that dun just abuse them like Atlanta did by goin’ full speed to the rack and gettin’ an easy bucket. If you noticed all night long there rim protectors would collapse, force him to get rid of the rock and his boyz couldn’t knock down shots. Coachin’! They also kept him from doin' what he does best and that's bullyin' boyz goin' to the rack full speed.

Think about this, they forced ole boy to take 38 shots with only 4 of those comin’ in the restricted area. What did I say a minute ago? Coachin’ playboy! Kerr was like, if we’re gonna lose this dun he’s gonna have to kill us with floaters and step-back jumpers by himself. If that happens I'm cool with that. Pure genius!! Did you boyz/girlz need to hear the exact quote or does the ghetto version of it sound just as good to you as it does to me?

Golden State’s depth was apparent early on when boyz fell into a 14 point ghetto pot hole in the first quarter and bent a rim when cats like Marreese Speights and Andrew Iguodala came off of the bench and put in work. Why did his momma spell his name like that bruh? You already know that dun has spent his entire life correctin’ folks on the spellin’ of his name. Sorry about that bruh, that just threw me off for a second. Oh yeah, when you’ve got cats that can stop the bleedin’ like cold water and Vaseline comin’ off of the bench it’s a problem.

In my series preview I told you that Cleveland had as much depth as a kiddie pool and it reared its ugly head on Thursday night when they couldn’t finish Golden State off in regulation. The Warriors got new life in overtime because of the their depth and the Cavs lack of if.

Kerr saw that Cleveland were literally dry-heavin’ on a boy and went small durin’ the overtime period puttin’ Draymond Green at center at 6’7”. They ran right past Cleveland bumpin’ that Tony Toni Tone “It Never Rains in Southern California” even though they’re both from Oakland (the group and the team) which is in Northern California for all of you geographically challenges mugs. Coachin’!

We can talk about how great LeBron is until we’re blue in the face but if a dun is coachin’ like Steve Kerr did last night and the boyz in the car with him don’t get out and start fightin’ in the street it’s gonna be a short series playa. LeBron pulled up and literally jumped out of the whip firin’ on boyz finishin’ with 44 points, 8 rebounds and throwin’ 6 dimes. Kyrie came out of the passenger side with 23 before missin’ the OT with that bad knee. Mozgov even got out with some attitude and dropped off 16. However, the rest of these cats pulled a Roy Hibbert on him and did a “Skittles and Lemonheads” move and sat in the ride listenin’ to some Pete Rock and CL Smooth “They Reminisce Over You” eatin' Skittles and Lemonheads! Boyz got caught up in what they did in the series leadin’ up to this moment and completely whiffed on the current moment.

If Cleveland’s gonna beat these cats they’re gonna need all hands on deck playa! Not 9 points from J.R. Smith, 2 from Triston Thompson, 6 from Iman Shumpert and nothin’ from James Jones and Matthew Dellavedova! I said in my preview that the Cavs were gonna shock the world by doin’ the virtually impossible behind LeBron’s lead. However, ole boy is gonna need cats to unload the ride when he pulls up because Golden State doesn’t have a problem with him shootin’ all night as long as it’s from beyond the restricted area and everybody else doin’ the Roy. They’ll live and die with that game plan and in Game 1 they lived to see another day. Up next, Game 2 in the Bay Area as boyz bump that Too Short simply entitled “Oakland.” Stop me when I start lyin’!

Playas Thesaurus:
1) Spit: verb – to say
2) G: noun – short for gangsta. However, the term is inclusive of the older hustlers in the barber shop that spit knowledge to the young boyz comin’ through.
3) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, girl, etc. It’s non-gender specific bruh. Whoever I’m talkin’ about at the time.
4) Ole Boy: noun – the person in question. In this case it’s LeBron
5) Ride/Whip: noun – car or vehicle
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