It's here folks. Round 3. The greatest 3 year stretch by an individual team in NBA history vs arguably the greatest player in NBA history. Let's see what's in store, we'll start with the squads.
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Cleveland Cavaliers
51-31
ORTG: 113.6
DRTG: 110.3
SRS: 2.87
Pythag: 49-33
1st Round: Def Indiana Pacers 4-0
2nd Round: Def Toronto Raptors 4-0
ECF: Def Boston Celtics 4-1
The Cavaliers, after a hot start- which included a comeback win on Christmas vs the Warriors- stumbled their way to the finish line, costing them the #1 seed in the process. Some, especially a poster around these parts whose name rhymes with fuss, believed that this would be the year LeBrons streak would end. ESPN's "stats inc" had them as the 3rd most likely team to come out of the East, well behind the Celtics and barely behind the Raptors.
They responded like great teams do, by obliterating the field. The most impressive part was how they did it. After a series of close wins against a pesky Pacers squad- including a 25 point comeback win @ Indy- the Cavs faced off against Toronto and changed up their defensive strategy against their two stud guards. They blitzed every p&r forcing them to become playmakers. The results were immediate and severe, with Cleveland winning by an average margin of just under 16. Then they went into Boston with a more laid back scheme and, despite no HCA, beat them down even worse.
As a team, we know what they have. Led by LeBron James and his ridiculous 7th straight finals they are loaded with shooting, surrounded by Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and J.R Smith. To go along with them they are supported by Tristian Thompson, todays vastly inferior version of Dennis Rodman. His insane rebounding ability coupled with his ability to switch onto guards in isolation makes him the perfect supporting piece on this team. They head into the finals extremely confident, showing the ability to excel in a number of different styles, and with the ever important (hi Bill!) no one believes in us mentality.
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Golden State Warriors
67-15
ORTG: 115.6 (1st)
DRTG: 104.0 (2nd)
SRS: 11.35 (1st)
Pythag: 67-15
1st Round: Def Portland Trailblazers 4-0
2nd Round: Def Utah Jazz 4-0 ()
WCF: Def San Antonio Spurs 4-0
The Warriors, coming off their heartbreak finals loss added one of the best players in the league in Kevin Durant and picked up right where they left off. Despite some injuries they cruised through the regular season obtaining the #1 seed with little difficulty. And somehow they were just getting started.
Despite Durant not 100%, missing games from Iguodala & Zaza, Klay deciding not to show up for most of the playoffs, they won all 12 games in the Western Conference by an average margin of 16.3. Both all-time records. The only games with which they had adversity- game 3 @ Utah where they were down by as many as 9 in the 2nd half, and game 1 vs San Antonio where they were down 25- were both handled with relative ease.
They head into the finals as confident a group we've ever seen, relatively healthy, and with revenge on their minds.
The Matchup
Everything seems to be pointing Golden State's way this time around. They were clearly the better team the past two seasons and they added one of the best basketball players in the world. Even more ridiculous, is said player fits the scheme of what they do perfectly. On offense they are unselfish, they pass, they cut, they move without the ball, and the shoot the **** out of the ball. On defense they employ a switch everything strategy trusting that their lengthy players can guard just about anyone on the opposing team. All of that is Kevin Durant. And Cleveland, while steamrolling through the East, did show a liability at defending the 3 pt line, allowing numerous open 3 pointers thus far in the postseason. Do that against Golden State and you die.
So why should Cleveland have any hope? This series could very well be a bloodbath, especially since Golden State has to be looking for the ultimate revenge. One reason could be a bit of good luck coming in the form of injury. The injury to Isaiah Thomas forced the Celtics to play a more Warriors style ball running tons of action off the ball to try to create the best look possible for their meager options. The results were shaky, especially in the 2nd half of game 3 and 1st half of game 4, but the series essentially allowed Cleveland to start practicing early for the brand of ball Golden State will play. Another injury, the injury to Andre Iguodala, is another benefit for Cleveland for a number of reasons. Mostly, he is their main option in guarding LeBron but also obtaining Kevin Durant forced them to sacrifice depth. If Iggy can't go or is limited that may force the Warriors to run Ian Clark and/or Patrick McCaw more than they would like which the Cavs should look to capitalize on.
Ultimately I believe the boring answer is that this series will come down to shooting. You can't stop Golden State from getting what they want, to beat them 4 times you simply have to hope they run a little bad on open shots or you run extra good. If Golden State knocks down their shots this shouldn't be much of a series. I say shouldn't because there's a guy on Cleveland who has defied the impossible before and I don't think anyone would be surprised if he did it again.
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Game 1- Thursday 6/1- 9 pm ET, ABC
Game 2- Sunday 6/4- 8 pm ET, ABC
Game 3- Wednesday 6/7- 9 pm ET, ABC
Game 4- Friday 6/9- 9 pm ET, ABC
Game 5- Monday 6/12- 9 pm ET, ABC*
Game 6- Thursday 6/15- 9 pm ET, ABC*
Game 7- Sunday 6/18- 9 pm ET, ABC*
*if necessary
Will the Warriors finish off one of the most impressive seasons and 3 year stretches of all time? Will LeBron cement his legacy as being better than Kobe Bryant but not as good as Oscar Robertson at the game of basketball? Tune in next Thursday to find out as we do some of our last NBA'ing of the 2016-2017 NBA season.
Last edited by GeoffRas22; 05-26-2017 at 02:19 AM.
Reason: ocd