The Golden St Warriors are four wins away from staking their claim as the greatest team of all time. The Cleveland Cavaliers are four wins away from ending a 52 year drought in Cleveland. Lebron James, the most polarizing and transcendent player of his generation, is four wins away from his crowning achievement. A rematch 12 months in the making. No injuries, no excuses. Both teams locked and loaded. Welcome to the 2016 NBA Finals!
It's always been my opinion that the injuries suffered by the Cavs in last year's Final were in many ways a blessing. You are not going out Warrior the Warriors. Out of necessity Cleveland placed such a heavy offensive burden on James last year but as a result they were able to control the pace, shorten the game. And on the other end defend like crazy with guys like Dellavedova and Shumpert. Now ultimately it was too much to ask of James and they simply couldn't score enough. Which brings us to this year and the single biggest question of the series. How does Cleveland put enough defense and offensive firepower on the floor simultaneously against the Warriors Death Lineup?
It just does not figure to be a series for Kevin Love. He'll spend most fourth quarters on the bench watching the action because there is no one for him to guard. Now could he possibly punish Golden St on the other end in the post against a Draymond Green or Harrison Barnes. I guess but the Warriors will take their chances with that.
Channing Frye has been on fire in the playoffs from three point range and that's certainly something Cleveland didn't have in their arsenal last time around. Two things to watch there. 1. Will he get those same shots he's been getting all playoffs long against Golden St? I don't think so. and 2. How does he hold up defensively when Golden St hunts him down and gets him involved in multiple pick and rolls? We'll see.
That's the thing with the Warriors they don't let you off the hook and they identify you're weakest link and ultimately they believe they'll be able to exploit him. Frye and Love have been excellent in the playoffs. I'm not sure either will be factors in this series.
Kyrie Irving is the biggest X-factor in the series for me. He has to be great for Cleveland to remotely have a chance. he's capable but it won't be easy dealing with Curry on the other end and being defended by Klay Thompson. These will be the tough decisions for Ty Lue. I think against the Death Lineup he should go really small and play Irving and Dellavedova together with James at the five. Dellavedova can guard Curry and Irving can hide on Iguodala. Problem with this is it takes Tristian Thompson off the floor and his offensive rebounding is one of your only big advantages in this series. The cat and mouse game as far as lineups is going to be very interesting.
Lebron's numbers were off the charts in last year's series but from an efficiency standpoint he was way down. Andre Iguodala, like he just did against Kevin Durant, did an amazing job on James last year limiting him to 35% shooting from the field. Now to me James looks much better and fresher than he did at any time during last year's playoff run and he obviously has more help. He's going to have a big series. Will it be enough to get four wins?
Golden St struggling with and then overcoming the Thunder in the fashion they did was the worst thing that could have happen for the Cavaliers. Cleveland doesn't have the personnel to duplicate what OKC was able to bother the Warriors with. Long, athletic bigs who can switch. And even that ultimately wasn't enough. The Champs got their mojo back and now they're about to go Back to Back. They're simply too good, it's their league, it's their time. Warriors in 5
