PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - After two games of the 2015 NBA Finals, the difference between being ahead 2-0 or down 0-2 is only two possessions.

You name it, two shots, two turnovers, two good or bad decisions, two defensive stops or as David Blatt would say, "two details".

The first game was spectacular after a record seven days of rest for both teams (TV ratings up 21 percent from last year's Game 1) whereas Game 2 was a defensive slugfest of bricks and airballs.

Both games were decided in overtime which was an historic first for the Finals.

We are now capable to see what this series is going to boil down to.

Will the Cleveland Cavaliers be able to continue to slow the pace, lower the shooting percentages and grind out ugly, defensive wins the way the Memphis Grizzlies did in two of the first three games of the Western Conference Semi-finals before the Golden State Warriors found the answers?

Will the Cavs be able to ride almost exclusively their workhorse LeBron James on offense (73 shots in almost 100 minutes in the first two games) as he plays ridiculous minutes and finishes each game so exhausted he can barely think or talk!

With Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving hurt, LeBron said "people are counting us out", but this proved to be a big mistake because now the Cavs have a gutsy, defense-first mentality and team on the court symbolized by Matthew Dellavadova who harrassed the MVP Stephen Curry into a horrible 5 for 23 shooting display (2 for 15 from 3 point range).

Curry can take solace in the fact that Michael Jordan had a 5 for 19 shooting game in the 1996 Finals and still won the title!

The opposition of offensive styles is as obvious as it was when the Warriors beat the Houston Rockets in the previous round.

Curry and company playing their "race and pace and space" style inherited from Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns (with a much bigger defensive component and commitment), while Cleveland uses and abuses the isolation plays for James like Houston did with James Harden the way most NBA teams did in the 1980s and 1990s.

Because of the obligation to play man-to-man and then the arrival of the defensive three-seconds rule, isos have always been a major part of NBA tradition. Play the percentages and get the ball to your best player or your best match-up and see what happens!

Of course, Jordan started winning titles when he agreed to play within the "triangle" instead of just playing one-on-one and LeBron might be inspired to copy him if he hopes to have enough gas in the tank to pull off a monumental upset in this series. His key stat is assists. The team's key stat will be the shooting percentages of all the guards and wings not named LeBron!

Oddly enough, what the Warriors need more than anything right now is some offense!

We may see a little bit of David Lee in the upcoming games if Andrew Bogut and Marreese Speights continue to score so little. He logically fell out of the rotation despite his big salary because he's a defensive liability and because of the emergence of Draymond Green but right now defense is not the problem.

Golden State have to take back control of the tempo, even though the next two games are in Cleveland, the way they did in Game 4 in Memphis.

By permanently pushing the pace, the Warriors can wear down James and the Cavs and their limited rotations (only seven players really play) the way they did to most teams this season especially with two games to play in three days.

Going back to the 2-2-1-1-1 format is an advantage for a younger Golden State team in the long haul because Cleveland can't win three in a row on its raucous homecourt to close out the series.

We will finally see if a modern pace and space team CAN win a title or will the old cliche hold true that the team with the best defense and the best individual player usually hoists up the trophy at the end!

GEORGE EDDY

FIBA

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