NBA Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will meet once again in the NBA Finals.  This year's Finals should be different in that Cleveland enters the series healthy vice last year when Kevin Love was out the entire series and Kyrie Irving was out after one game due to injury.  That left LeBron James as a one man show that didn't have enough steam with Golden State able to key on James who only shot 39% from the field.  That said, he did score 35 a game while adding 13 boards and 8 assists per contest.  Monster numbers but again Cleveland was outmatched as Stephen Curry and the rest of the Warriors shot 36% from beyond the arc.  And that was with Klay Thompson looking pedestrian adding 15 PPG while only shooting 30% on three’s.  Andre Iguodala of course had a great series on defense as well as on offense as he gained series MVP honors.

Again Cleveland is a different team this year just due to health.  They have looked great in the playoffs being able to hit the three with more regularity than in the regular season.  Of course when that isn’t going down (see two losses to Toronto) things can be bad.  Still they aren’t a one trick pony.  While LeBron’s three point shot isn’t falling this year he can get his as is evident by his 26 PPG (on 62% shooting), 8.5 RPG, and 6.7 APG against Toronto.  Irving and love are great compliments.  Love keeps big men honest by ensuring they have to stay out near the three point line.  Irving can drive, drawing the defense, and shoot threes (hitting 45% in the playoffs after a down regular season beyond the arc).   The rest of the Cavs have been good in the playoffs this year but can be streaky.  They’ll need everyone to play well to get Cleveland their first NBA Championship.  I think the roadblock will be their defense.  Love has never been known for his defense and Irving is also suspect at times.  The guards for Cleveland will have to be on top of their defensive game every minute.  Any chance Cleveland has hinges on trying to get Curry and Thompson off their game.

Golden State looks like world beaters.  Even after going down 3-1 to Oklahoma City they came back with authority.  Curry averaged 27 PPG (41% 3’s) and Thompson added 24 PPG (41% 3’s).  That is a tough combination.   Even with Draymond Green off his game Golden State can score and it makes it tough for any team to keep up.  It seemed the Thunder started to press when they would get down to the Warriors and take bad shots.  So Golden State just needs to keep to their game and play catch me if you can on offense.  On defense I don’t think they have to take any one player out.  I think they have good enough defenders to play Cleveland straight up while assuming that LeBron will probably get his.  If they can disrupt Love and Irving things could fall apart quickly for the Cavaliers.  That isn’t an easy task.  Cleveland has shown they are here to compete these Finals.  Green has not played well in the playoffs.  If he can get it going it will make life miserable for the Cavs.  He really is a huge x-factor that can play havoc on both defense and offense.  Conventional wisdom probably has the Warriors winning this series but I definitely would get down 3-1 to Cleveland.  At some point the Warriors could lose their mojo and a comeback like the one last series might not be possible. 

Golden State should win the series.  With Curry and Thompson at the top of their respective games they are near impossible to beat.  Cleveland has to do whatever it takes to get them off their game and hope the rest of the Warriors can’t pick up the slack.  Good luck doing that but what other choice do they have?  As with last year I don’t have a real rooting interest.  Golden State is a great team that could finish off a historic season with a Finals win.  With Cleveland you just want to see the city win a championship and be able to celebrate, something it has not been able to do for a lifetime.  I’d also like to see LeBron get a championship for his home crowd and not in a city named Miami.  This isn’t a Finals where I think the role players win it.  They might be important but I think the big guns win or lose this series.  And they don’t get any bigger than Curry and Thompson.  Warriors 4-2  

FINALS SCHEDULE

Game 1 Thu, Jun 2 @ Warriors, 9pm (ABC)
Game 2 Sun, Jun 5 @ Warriors, 8pm (ABC)
Game 3 Wed, Jun 8 @ Cavs, 9pm (ABC)
Game 4 Fri, Jun 10 @ Cavs, 9pm (ABC)
Game 5 Mon, Jun 13 @ Warriors, 9pm (ABC)
Game 6 Thu, June 16 @ Cavs, 9 p.m. (ABC)
Game 7 Sun, June 19 @ Warriors, 8pm. (ABC)

NBA Conference Finals

Oklahoma City vs Golden State – After their surprising dispatching of the Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder look to be a worthy opponent for the Golden State Warriors.  They were before that but their ability to defend and befuddle San Antonio makes you wonder how far they can go.  But how does that equate to a series against the Warriors?  OKC advanced to the Western Conference Finals with the help of a more traditional looking lineup including bigs Steven Adams and Enes Kanter playing a huge part.  Much discussion goes to how those bigs translate to what we expect to be a small Golden State lineup.  This works both ways.  While those bigs should have a difficult time playing defense against a shooting heavy offense of smaller players it would seem Golden State would struggle when those same big men were on offense.  Personally I’d rather play up on all the Warriors’ shooters and make them take mid-range jumpers which are only worth two points each or drive to the hoop in the hopes that the bigs can get to the basket in time to make a defensive play.  

Golden State will probably just play their game no matter who is on the floor against them.  Their shooters and offensive play stretches defenses to the breaking point making the bigs tough to leave out on the floor.  Doesn’t mean they can’t be beaten with bigs though.  Still the Warriors have shown they are the team to beat and pretty good at finding their shot, and making it, while playing excellent defense on the other end to compliment the effort.  I don’t see them losing this series but Oklahoma City should give them a nice run and challenge in most games though there will be a blowout somewhere in the series.  Golden State:  4-2

Toronto vs Cleveland – Toronto has not had a good first two rounds.  Kyle Lowry and Demarr Derozan have struggled finding little to no consistency hence two seven game series so far for them.  Still they won against Miami after losing Jonas Valaciunas for the series.  If they can get him back healthy I do think he can be a difference maker. Toronto still needs to get more from basically everyone to have any chance of making this a real series.  This team has been so frustrating to watch.  They’ve given up huge leads, played horribly in the last minutes of games and been lacking on defense.  Unless they can play like their regular season selves I am at a loss as to how they could even make this series interesting. 

Cleveland looks like world beaters right now and some would pick them against Golden State right now.  And why not?   They are shooting like they are Golden State East and with all three of their stars healthy they are tough to shut down.  You might be able to double one of them but you still have two guys on the floor who can win games.  LeBron is still playing big minutes in the playoffs (38 per game) but Kyrie Irving is shooting almost as many shots and Kevin Love is right behind them.  While Love can’t seem to make a two point shot he is hitting 44% of his threes (almost eight a game) but he is still bested by Irving who is hitting 53% of his three point shots (over 6 a game).  LeBron’s outside shot isn’t falling anywhere close to that but Irving, Love and the rest of the team is shooting so well he in’t needed at the three point line and should be able to take advantage of open lanes to the basket.  Cleveland:  4-0

 

Portland Trail Blazers Season Ends

The Portland Trail Blazers' season ended at the hands of the Golden State Warriors last night.  Getting to the second round was huge in and of its own but Portland was greatly aided by season ending injuries by the Clippers' Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.  It was a surprisingly good season for Portland who was expected to struggle after losing four of their five starters in the offseason.  Enter C.J. McCollum, the NBA's Most Improved Player this season, who gave Portland 20 points a night at the shooting guard.  Without him it is doubtful the Trail Blazers win 48 games and get the number five seed in the Western Conference.  Damian Lillard for his part was nothing short of a stud.  Yes, McCollum was the only other firepower on this team but Lillard had a great season putting up 25 PPG, 6.8 APG and 4 RPG.  He shot two's at a 45% clip while hitting 37% of his threes (eight attempts per game).  He was also able to get to the free throw line six times a game in 35+ minutes per contest.   The rest of the team are nice/good role players but I doubt anyone is looking at Portland as a Western Conference contender as currently constructed. 

This offseason the biggest free agent is coach Terry Stotts.  The team has a team option for next season.  That is a no brainer and rumor has it the team is looking to extend him long term.  Top player free agents are SG Allen Crabbe, SF Maurice Harkless, SG Gerald Hendeson, and C Meyers Leonard.  All good role players but not essential to future Portland success.  I like Crabbe and think he would be good for the bench moving forward as would Leonard.  I would like to see Portland go after some talent in free agency that could upgrade the front court.  All three positions can use attention.  A big who can rebound and give Portland some points in the paint.  A nice defender as well in the middle and a three who can spread the court and take some of the scoring load off the guards.  Role players are nice but staying pat won’t get the team any better.

There should be money to spend but every team will have money making it tough for teams to figure out free agency this year.  I think Stotts is a good coach.  If the front court can be upgraded I believe Portland could definitely be a team who can take it to the next level.  Lillard is for real and hopefully McCollum only continues to improve.  They just need some help and they could position themselves in the top four of the conference if they do so.  Hopefully Portland can build on this season and I look forward to seeing what they do this offseason.