CLEVELAND -- The main thing the 2016 NBA Finals have lacked is balance. The series hasn't been tied since the Golden State Warriors won Game 1. We have yet to see a game in which both teams brought their best efforts, or even a game in which the winning team had both starters and reserves play up to their expected levels.
Game 5 was the most top-heavy of all, with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving combining for 33 of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 44 baskets and 13 of their 15 assists. And the Warriors were off-kilter without Draymond Green, who was serving a one-game suspension because his retroactively assessed flagrant foul against James in Game 4 took him over the playoff limit.
So now the Cavaliers are home, trying to even the series at three games apiece, while the Warriors wonder if Green can both find balance and restore balance.
Will he be able to strike the equilibrium between his emotional brand of basketball without committing another flagrant foul that could lead to his suspension for a possible Game 7? Will he try too hard to make amends for missing Game 5, which hurt Golden State's chances to end the series early at home?
"He doesn't owe us anything," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "He doesn't have to come out here and try to be a hero, he just has to be himself."
Green insisted he will "just come play."
"It's no need to come out and try to be He-Man," Green said. "Solid basketball works. Just come out, be solid, be who I am."
Who is he? Kerr called Green "probably the most versatile defender in the entire NBA."
He has the highest defensive rating of any player in this series, with 100 points allowed per 100 possessions when he's on the floor. The Warriors have been plus-36 with Green on the court in this series, and minus-22 without him. Somehow a team that prides itself on depth has allowed one player to become disproportionately valuable.
The challenge in the playoffs is to always preserve the team identity that's forged during the regular season. That challenge is exacerbated with the hyperbole that follows each game under the scrutiny of media from all over the world, something Kerr finds slightly amusing even while he's in the middle of it.
"After Game 4 everybody complained that LeBron and Kyrie took all the shots in the second half," Kerr said. "After Game 5, they did the exact same thing, but they went in, and everybody said how great they were. Harrison [Barnes] took the same shots last game as he did in Game 4, and after Game 4 everyone said, 'Man, he was great.' After Game 5 [when Barnes shot 2-of-14] it was like, 'What's wrong?' When the ball goes in, the story changes."
Kerr has watched the assessment of his team swing from best of all time to terrible through these playoffs. He knows the pendulum will ultimately come to a rest somewhere between the extremes. All he can ask for is balance.
"I always talk about the game being connected at both ends," Kerr said. "If you play good defense, your shots are more likely to go in at the other end because you're getting transition [opportunities] and the other team is on its heels. If you turn it over, and you give up 28 fast-break points like we did the other night, you're probably feeding into a couple of great players and helping them get going. We've got to take care of the ball. That will be our best defense."