It’s been the same old song during the final minutes of each fourth quarter for the Cavaliers. They’re sitting back and watching themselves collapse instead of continuing to attack the rim.

Golden State (at home) jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, forcing a David Blatt timeout. Blatt has to maintain that type of discipline for 48 minutes with a young team. Cleveland responded to their coach by uglying-up the quarter proper and tying it at 22.

This was the grind-it-out style that is built to last. Even though the 2nd quarter became slightly higher scoring, LeBron James was finding his teammates by attacking the hoop and creating separation, allowing the Cavs to keep pace. Little things like making free throws made it a one-point half that Cleveland truly won.

Blatt wasted an all-time game from James. How many times must he record a 30-point triple-double? Players as great as LeBron still favor direction. The only chink in James’ armor continues to be forced jump shots. Otherwise, the Cavs still did enough in the third to stay within striking distance down six at quarter’s end.

Finally, James at least didn’t linger on the bench to begin the fourth. His presence led the Cavaliers to a tie ball game, just over the midway point.

Up until now, the players had put the team in position to have a chance on the road. It had been the perfect defensive game, but then the Warriors launched some 3s. There were obvious warning signs to call a timeout and re-establish the rhythm that had been their friend all night.

By letting the next precious minutes tick off the clock, Cleveland’s Coach Blatt flat out prevented his team from contending down the stretch. Another batch of errant 3s and overaggressive offense sealed our fate too fast.

In game one, Cleveland blew the final minutes to accept overtime, an eventual loss. In game two, a 10-0 run by the Warriors again forced overtime because Cleveland stopped sending it’s superstar to the hole. It took everything James and his teammates had to win that one and game three, where they led 17 going into the 4th until Golden State came all the way back to one. And in game four, the Cavs rode a strong 3rd quarter to come back to a one possession game, only to have their coach cripple them with James on the bench to go quickly back down ten at the start of the final quarter.

Blatt has to own up to his 4th quarter-conservatism and take responsibility.