It’s been a long road, but each of the divisions number one ranked teams are going to the NBA Finals!
In a rematch of last years series, the Cleveland Cavaliers will face off against the historic Golden State Warriors. During the regular season, the Cavs lost both games to the defending champs, including a 132 – 98 beat down! Yet the Cavs have really turned it on this postseason sweeping their first two series, before losing two against the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals. They tested well against three of formidable teams in the East. The same challenges can’t be said about Golden State who has faced the underwhelming Houston Rockets, the so-so Portland Trailblazer, with their true test being against the OKC Thunder.
Golden States offence was squandered by suffocating their big man, Draymond Green, while also limiting MVP Stephen Curry to a few poor performances. One of those going for 19 points on 6 – 20 shooting with six turnovers. OKC had the series in the bag, holding 3 – 1 series lead. Yet the team chocked and allowed the Warriors to come back and win three straight. So this all means Curry’s team is beatable correct? Yes, and the Cavaliers could be the team to challenge them even more.
In a perfect NBA world, a historic record and an MVP equal a championship. While Golden State has beaten the Cavs in last years finals, and have beaten them during 2015-2016 season, this is not the case.
LeBron James and the Cavs are a completely different team than last year. They have a healthy supporting team with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving backing up the former MVP. JR Smith has improved defensively, and Channing Frye has been a steady contributor during the playoffs. Tristan Thompson is the same offensive rebounding machine as last year! Mix all that in one, you have a team that can challenge any team in the league! The team is clicking right now just as much as Golden State.
Curry is having one of the best shooting years by any NBA player in history. He will continue to do amazing things till the final game in the series. They did fall off a bit against the Thunder, but got lucky when OKC proved they didn’t want it as bad. Their supporting cast goes deep! Players such as Shaun Livingston, Festus Ezeli, and Andre Iguodala have exceed their roles off the bench. The team can also out hustle and out run the Cavs out of the building, its going to be interesting to see.
Going head to head, both of the teams big three can go off and contribute in different ways. If Curry is off his game, Klay is there to clean up the shooting percentage. If James cant score, his all around game will gave other players the chance to shine. Green and Love will fight under the rim for boards. Irving can spread the offense by taking it the rim, but so can Curry. The match-ups are great! The big issue is that the Warriors supporting cast is proven a much more consistent force than Cleveland’s. This issue alone could prove to be the X factor in the series. If Frye, Iman Shumpert, and Matthew Dellavedova bring their game consistently each game, this series could end in six.
Game one of the NBA Finals starts tonight on ABC at 8 pm CST!
Predictions:
- The Cavs will challenge the Warriors by limiting Draymond Green and Klay Thompson
- Three’s will reign in the series
- Having all the weight on Stephen Curry’s shoulders will prove to be too much
- LeBron James will rival Curry and Green’s number
- Warriors supporting cast > Cleveland’s supporting cast
- Kevin Love vs. Klay Thompson, both go off for 30+ points in same game
- Potentially the best NBA Finals of all time?
- MVP’s will motivate their teams to several close games, but in the end…
Cavs in 7!
