NBA Finals: Chairman Mao Would Be Proud of the Cavs

It's highly doubtful the Cleveland Cavaliers' playbook is little and red.

And, as the morphing Chinese economy has shown over the decades, it takes a helluva lot more than unicorn-&-rainbow sayings to get real results.

So, even though some Cavs claimed they'd been given more than enough bulletin-board material by certain Golden State players, they still had to actually do something about it.

Like rain treys in a 137-116 game of survival.

So, there goes the Dubs' dreams of an undefeated playoff season.

And there remains a glimmer of hope that the Cavs can join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs as the only club to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a finals series.

To take the next step, though, Cleveland coaches Ty Lue and LeBron James -- just being real -- will surely need to concoct a variation on a theme to prevail in Game 5.

Not even the tooth fairy would count on their going 23-45 (53.3%) while holding Golden State to 11-39 (28.2%) in Oakland.

It's not difficult to envision a Game 5 that keeps up the chippiness in this series, which is an extension from last year's finals.

While it's not at the Penguins-Predators Stanley Cup levels, those seven techs with one flagrant indicate the simmering undercurrent that could easily ignite into a telling factor from here on out.

Those who believe in conspiracy theories can have their day arguing the NBA is scheming something or other to favor the Dubs, but a close look at that tech in the first half indicates the refs did indeed ring up Steve Kerr and not Dray Green:

So Green gets to play in Game 5 this season. Odds are that's nowhere near as significant as Durant being in it, too. Dude went for 35, but it was on a 9-22/2-9/15-16 performance.

All else being equal, whether or not Cleveland can neutralize that difference will likely determine their fate.