NBA Finals Preview

Posted on June 2, 2016June 13, 2016 | Posted by Staff Writers

Golden State Warriors (73-9) vs Cleveland Cavaliers (57-25)

Regular Season Series: Warriors 2-0

It’s the Finals rematch we’ve been waiting 12 months to see – the record breaking Golden State Warriors against a full strength Cleveland Cavaliers.

Barely tested through the Playoffs, the Cavs needed just 14 games to blow past Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto. LeBron James is rested, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are healthy, and this edition of the Cavs presents a far bigger threat than the team that took the Warriors to six games this time last year.

Golden State on the other hand got here the hard way. A knee injury to MVP point guard Stephen Curry and then a 3-1 deficit at the hands of the Thunder had many writing off a team that had just surpassed the Chicago Bulls for most wins in a single season. But as great teams do, the Warriors responded, and now enter the Finals favoured to win back-to-back NBA Championships.

The Cavaliers

LeBron James

Who else? The Cavaliers live and die by the performance of number 23. LeBron will be the most experienced player on the court in this series, and in his 6th straight NBA Finals, he knows what it takes to win. He is 0-2 in the Finals with the Cavaliers, but finally has the team around him to make it third time lucky and in doing so delivering Cleveland a maiden NBA Championship.

 

Three Point Shooting

The three-ball is crucial to Cleveland’s success. If Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Channing Frye, and JR Smith can find their range, opening up the lane for LeBron in the process, the Cavs could well beat Golden State at their own game.

The Warriors

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson

LeBron James this week called them the two greatest shooters the game has ever seen. 3-1 down against the Thunder, both Curry and Thompson were out of sorts and struggling with the length of OKC’s perimeter defenders. It took a Game 6 explosion from Thompson (11 treys) to reignite the pair whose game will be better suited up against the Cleveland backcourt.

Andre Iguodala

Last year’s Finals MVP is Golden State’s “Mr Fix It.” Down 3-1 against the Thunder, Steve Kerr injected Iguodala into the starting line-up – upping his minutes from 28 per game to 38 and switching the balance of power in the process. Expect Iguodala to follow LeBron James wherever he goes on the court, and if he can do a similar job to last year, we could be looking at back-to-back champions and a back-to-back Finals MVP.

Prediction

LeBron James and Matthew Dellavedova stole home court and pushed the Warriors to 6 games just 12 months ago. This time they return with a team that is deeper, healthy and well rested. The Warriors have appeared fatigued at times in the post-season, they’ve played four extra games through the playoffs and might pay the price for chasing the 73 win regular season record when the number one seed in the West was already secured.

Cavaliers in 7

Finals MVP: LeBron James

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