The Vortex: NBA Finals Preview

After several weeks of missed calls by the referees, trash talk (rather…trash laughter) from the press conference podium, numerous boring blowouts, and complaints about (unanimous) MVP voting results, we’ve finally arrived at the main event. The NBA finals are now upon us, and this should be a good one.

From the West we have the defending champion Golden State Warriors featuring the 2-time reigning league MVP Stephen Curry. Representing the East we have the Cleveland Cavaliers (last year’s runner-up) featuring multi-MVP award winner Lebron James. Unlike last year’s edition which saw the Warriors victorious in 6 games, this time King James has a full complement of healthy teammates around him, and they’re playing at a high-level at exactly the right time of year. The Warriors also come into these Finals at full strength. Ok, certainly Curry has been a little banged up these playoffs and may not be 100%, but the Warriors are about as healthy as you can expect a team to be after coming back from 3-1 down in a series against a very ‘game’ Oklahoma City Thunder team, and that was all after pushing themselves to cap a historic 73-win regular season. This is The Finals that most of us expected to see, and The Finals that we all deserve.

Before I delve into what I expect out of this series, I must pay my respects to OKC. The Thunder dispatched the 67-win San Antonio Spurs in 6 games, and then gave the 73-win Warriors all they could handle before finally losing in 7 games. They did all of this after questions swirled around the team concerning the benefit (if any) of hiring Billy Donovan as coach, whether or not Kevin Durant will bolt after the season, can Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant truly contend for the title as teammates, and whether the Thunder can close-out games late in the 4^th quarter. After that run, and given that this was only Donovan’s 1^st season as head coach, I think this team should stay together. Unlike Golden State and Cleveland, I think the Thunder, as presently constituted, can actually get better. I think GS and the Cavs have pretty much maxed-out with the groups they have, and would need a trade to get better. The Thunder, they just need more time to make their default basketball DNA more like the team we saw in the last 2 series, and less like the team that consistently blew leads during the regular season. I hope Durant stays, that their team sticks together, and that they remain healthy next season; if so, they’ll be in the Finals.

Oh, and shout out to the Detroit Pistons who, despite being swept, provided Cleveland with the most resistance during the Cavs run to The Finals (no disrespect Toronto).

This NBA Finals series has huge implications for team and player legacies on both sides. The Warriors have been dogged all year by suggestions that they only won the title last year because they were healthy and everyone else was hurt. By coming out and setting the all-time regular season wins mark, they quieted some of those suggestions. However, had they lost to OKC last round, those same doubts about their 2015 title run would’ve emerged full blast. Winning back-to-back titles would go a long way toward ending such critiques. Winning another title will also further add to Stephen Curry’s budding legend as one of the greats of this game…especially if he plays at the MVP level he displayed during the regular season. In so doing, Curry would also hush the chorus of people that think he only won the MVP because of his boyish, ‘guy-next-door’ looks and not because of his on-court skill, tenacity and prowess.

While Curry and the Warriors are playing to have everyone finally put some respek on their names, Lebron and the Cavaliers have the burden of history to contend with. The city of Cleveland hasn’t hoisted a trophy in any major sport for generations. This was the expressed reason why Lebron ditched Miami to return to his boyhood state of Ohio: to finally win one for “the land.” Additionally, for many people Lebron still needs to win a title without the assistance of Miami’s Dwyane Wade (in the same way Kobe had to win without Shaq) and establish himself as the sole centerpiece of a winning franchise. This may be his best chance, as he’s now on the backside of his prime as a player. If Lebron is able to lead the Cleveland Cavs to an NBA title, it would elevate him from his already vaunted stature as an NBA great into a god-like stratosphere…at least in Cleveland.

I actually think the Cavs stand a better chance of beating GS than they would have against either the Thunder or the Spurs. That’s because the Thunder could attack using both big and small lineups, and if Lebron is on Durant, who’s gonna defend Westbrook? The Spurs would’ve presented a problem for Lebron James specifically in the person of Kawhi Leonard. He has consistently matched or outplayed Lebron ever since he thoroughly outplayed Lebron in the last 3 games of the 2014 NBA Finals (yes LBJ fans, I’ve looked at every stat and every page that dissected that matchup…both pro- and anti-Lebron pages…and they all show that Leonard outplayed Lebron on offense and defense…accept it because it’s true).

But the Warriors don’t have the versatile bigs of OKC, or a lockdown defender who can stand in front of Lebron and make him work defensively like the Spurs. And the way the Cavs have begun to shoot the 3-ball might aid them in matching GS offensively, at least for a few games. Getting consistent offense from Kevin Love, and timely offensive sparks from Channing Frye and J.R. Smith off the bench are key to the Cavs winning. Their biggest challenge will be playing solid defense, especially in the 4^th quarters against a team that is never out of it until the final buzzer, and resisting the urge to only be a 3-point shooting team. For the Warriors to win, they’ll have to figure out some way to snatch boards away from the Cavs, especially from Tristan Thompson. OKC absolutely killed the Warriors on the offensive glass last series, and that was a major factor in each of the Warriors’ losses to them. Offensively Klay Thompson needs to continue to play as he did in the last series; that opens up numerous other options for the Warriors to attack with. Defensively Klay Thompson needs to continue to play as he did in the last series; that will set the tone that it’s not open season for the Cavs perimeter guys to just jack up 3’s uncontested. The biggest challenge for the Warriors will be limiting their turnovers; that has been their Achilles heel all season long. If they shoot like they shoot, keep turnovers low and match the Cavs in rebounds, they should win this.

Although my gut tells me that there’s something magical about Lebron winning one for Cleveland, and therefore they just might pull it off, my head keeps telling me Warriors in 6.

No matter what I think, both teams (and their respective stars) have a lot to play for, so the pressure’s on…

…ball in!

-Maelstrom

PS: I got the Warriors in 6 with Klay Thompson winning the Finals MVP!