Cleveland Cavaliers Win the NBA Championship!

Huge Kyrie Irving 3-pointer over Stephen Curry with under a minute to play and the score tied.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James have brought the city a championship for the first time in 50+ years.  And it was well deserved.  After going down 3-1 they became the only team ever to come back from that deficit and they won the 2016 NBA Finals.  LeBron garnered the series MVP as he led all players in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals per game.  And for all his shooting woes he ended up shooting 37% from beyond the arc in the series.  Wow.  Truly historic series for him and Cleveland. Kyrie Irving was a huge part of Clevleand's championship scoring 27 points per game on 47% shooting to include shooting 40% from beyond the arc.  He also added over two steals a game.  Only two other Cavs scored in double digits both averaging 10 points a game (J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson).  Thompson also had a great series averaging a double double.  But James and Irving were the stars who carried Cleveland to this win.  They were excellent considering everyone knew they were Cleveland's offense with the rest of the team struggling to hit shots.  This was still a team game and their Cav's defense can't be overlooked.  It would be one thing to play Golden State tough for one or even two games but to see them do it in multiple games during the series was pretty surprising. 

Klay Thompson (43% on 2's/35% on 3's) and Stephen Curry (40% on both 2's and 3's) struggled to find their shooting stroke under the pressure.   While Curry's 40% from the arc is great for almost any other player it just didn't cut it for the league MVP against a good Cleveland team.  He looked lost out there at times and was posterized by James a couple of times in the series.  He also had a key turnover in the last few moments of game 7.  Despite being suspended for one game Draymond Green was the star of this team leading them in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game.  You couldn't ask for much more from him.  The loss of Andrew Bogut was bigger than many might think in my opinion.  For his limited minutes he still averaged 2 blocks per game (one every 6 minutes) and at least gave them a hint of rim protection.  I thought James and Cleveland were able to use that to their advantage once he was out.  Tough way to end a season in which Golden State could have rightfully put themselves in the "greatest team ever" discussion with their second championship after their record run in the regular season.  Just wasn't to be.

 

I definitely found myself rooting for Cleveland.  No fan base should have to wait so long to celebrate a championship.  LeBron also deserved it.  He left Cleveland in what was a business decision and it worked out for him as he scored two rings.  Then he came home and lived up to the hype with back to back Finals trips and now another ring, his third in six trips to the championship series.  There are many great stories with this team and I'm happy for all the players.  While you would like to think this team will be to more Finals you just don't know.  Fate can be fickle.  Ask Golden State.  Congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers! 

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

 

2015-2016 NBA Playoffs

The first round matchups probably won't provide any earth shattering series this year but 16 teams still have hope.  It does seem like a lot of haves and have nots in the first round.  The second round is where I expect things to really get cooking.  I'll look at each series starting with my teams.

Boston @ Atlanta - Boston looks good this year and are led by all-star point guard Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, and Jae Crowder.  Atlanta is the higher seed and have home court advantage though the teams have identical records.  I, along with others, see the Celtics as the favorite.  Atlanta was good this year but not great.  They weren't able to build on the success they had last year and get better. They've taken a step back.  While Paul Milsap, Jeff Teague, and Al Horford are good none can carry this team.  In the playoffs the rotation will be shortened which is good for Atlanta as they don't have much depth outside of PG Dennis Schroder.  Teams have caught on to staying out on Kyle Korver limiting his effectiveness and scoring (9 ppg) while taking away an important part of their offense.  It just seems Atlanta is ripe for the upset.  They don't beat the better teams and I put Boston in that group.  Boston 4-2.

Portland @ LA Clippers - Portland has Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum but not much after that.  Unless the Clippers can't guard either of these two guys LA should be able to win this series pretty handily.  The Trail Blazers are a great story this year but they really are a two man team. LA has three legit stars along with good supporting players.  I'd be surprised if Portland can steal more than one game from the Clippers.  The Clippers have all the pressure on them and  can't get caught looking ahead to the second round and a possible matchup with Golden State.  LA Clippers 4-1

Detroit @ Cleveland - Cleveland is healthy and should be able to roll through this series.  Don't get me wrong.  The Pistons have some good players in Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Marcus Morris.  They are balanced and will hopefully make the games close.  Still Cleveland's big three will be too much.  Cleveland 3-1

Indiana @ Toronto - Toronto is my hope for giving Cleveland a run in the playoffs.  Not sure they can actually do it but they have two young studs in Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan.  That will be enough against an Indiana team that has been inconsistent at best.  Toronto 4-1

Charlotte @ Miami - Charlotte is a nice team that has flown under the radar this year while winning 48 games.  They can spread the court and have Al Jefferson back to work the boards.  Still Miami is playing very well even with Chris Bosh out.  I'd like to think the Hornets can take this to seven games but that is probably a bit much to ask for this young team.  I'll go with the more veteran Miami Heat.  Miami 4-2

Houston @ Golden State - Why would I think this will be anything other than a sweep?  Houston has looked lack luster all year after firing Kevin McHale early in the season.  I thought that was a big mistake.  Dwight Howard has struggled to find his way consistently in the offense and James Harden is the only reason they are in the playoffs.  The Warriors are just great.  Unless they are suffering from a 73 win season hangover this series is already over.  Golden State 4-0

Memphis @ San Antonio - Assuming LaMarcus Aldridge is healthy there is no reason to believe the Spurs won't dominate.  That said, Memphis is a sneaky good defensive team and seem to play San Antonio tough.  If Aldridge is hurt this is an entirely different scenario.  But for now I'll take San Antonio in a series with fairly close games.  San Antonio 4-1

Dallas @ Oklahoma City - Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook should give anyone a tough series.  While Dallas has done a good job with their roster I think OKC is just too good.  Oklahoma City 4-0