OAKLAND, Calif. – The hysteria is going to grow between today and Wednesday, the gathering of that tortured city's Here-We-Go-Again darkness descending onto the Cleveland Cavaliers. So far, they've been a stunning embarrassment in the NBA Finals, undisciplined and unfocused and unworthy. So far, the Cavs are threatening to become the NBA's Buffalo Bills.

Cleveland has been sluggish with the ball, sloppy with defensive assignments, a mess. The Golden State Warriors pounded the Cavaliers on Sunday night, a 110-77 Game 2 victory for the defending champions that left everyone stunned and asking themselves an unavoidable question.

Is this all that the Eastern Conference champions have for the Golden State Warriors?

For Cleveland, the looming threat of a superstar with the power to run people out – matched by an owner with the volatility to respond to embarrassment in the most impetuous way – the stakes are immense as the Finals return to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4. Nevertheless, LeBron James and Dan Gilbert do have the ability to thrive in chaos, and the Cavaliers are inching closer now.

LeBron James had 19 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, seven turnovers and four steals in Game 2. (Getty Images) More

Once another blowout Finals loss was complete on Sunday, Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue walked out of his news conference and stopped on his way back to the losing locker room. He hadn't gone into the big room and called out these Cavaliers, hadn't ripped his team's leadership, its toughness, its tenacity. Lue won't do it, he said.

Two days between Games 2 and 3, and Lue understands his job now: When everyone else is tearing the Cavs down, he'll try to build them back up.

"You've got to kill me," Lue told The Vertical. "I'm never going to commit suicide. I'm still confident. I'm going to be positive, because that's how I feel. It isn't fake.

"I feel our team is good enough to beat this team."

Lue has to say it, but truth be told: The Cavaliers have no chance without a historic series out of LeBron James. So far, he's made only a modest impact on the games. Privately, Cleveland's front office and coaches were confident the Cavs would play well on Sunday night. Privately, they believed Game 1 had taught them about the speed and force with which these Warriors play, and that they would match it on Sunday.

For the Cavaliers to win four out of five games against the Golden State Warriors is a monumental task. Kevin Love has gone into the NBA's concussion protocol program; Kyrie Irving its witness protection program. J.R. Smith, Channing Frye and Matthew Dellavedova have stopped making shots. Cleveland needs an epic performance out of LeBron James to be competitive in these Finals – never mind win them. So far, James has been so-so.

Here's what teams believe about the Cavaliers: They don't think they have staying power. They don't think they're tough-minded. They believe the Cavaliers will start pointing fingers, that they'll never stay together in the hardest of times. In the Eastern Conference, there's no one talented enough to push them, to test that belief under true duress. The Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs represent the NBA teams able to do so – and now it's Golden State taking the Cavaliers apart.

Cleveland does get to go home now, does get its chance to make the Warriors uncomfortable. The Cavaliers have to slow down Golden State, unleash Tristan Thompson on the boards, get James and Irving to the free-throw line over and over. They need to drag this series into the ditch and make something – anything – hard on the Warriors.

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