Well ladies and gentleman, we’ve now come to the fourth consecutive season in the NBA where the Golden State Warriors will be facing Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Finals. I’m not surprised at all that the Warriors are representing the Western Conference once again after a long and hard fought seven game series with the Houston Rockets. However out East, it does come as a bit of a surprise that King James and the Cavs have yet again made it out of the Eastern Conference.
When you look at the state of the Cavs throughout the year, based on what transpired and the circus surrounding Cleveland, I never thought they could make it out of the Eastern Conference. The Kyrie Irving trade, key injuries to Kevin Love during the regular season and in the playoffs, health issues with head coach Tyronn Lue, and several internal conflicts within the organization prior to the Isaiah Thomas trade amongst teammates, particularly with Love and Thomas. Despite all the chaos, whispers of failure and the never ending conversation whether Lebron stays or goes after this season, the Cavs are once again in the NBA finals.
They are obviously a heavy underdog in this series and based on these teams past finals appearances and their current personnel, it’s clearly understandable why. The roster and depth that the Golden State Warriors possess is clearly head and shoulders above what the Cavs can offer out on the floor or coming off the bench. Whether the Warriors insert the “Hampton Five” lineup or any other combination out on the floor when healthy, they’re virtually unbeatable when exercising proper ball movement, spacing, and defense.
Golden State has the greatest shooting backcourt to ever play in the NBA with the likes of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. The “splash brothers” can light up any team and shift the momentum within a matter of minutes as clearly witnessed previously in game 6 and game 7 of the Western Conference Finals vs the Rockets. It’s hard to stop either one of them and even if you can shut one of them down, you still have to deal with Kevin Durant who can pull up and score from anywhere on the court.
We can’t forget about the Warriors equalizer and vocal leader Draymond Green. Green is not only a force in the paint as a great rebounder, but he also is outstanding on defense. Speaking of defense, Kevin Durant is also a very good on ball defender and rim protector. He clearly showed that last year during the 2017 NBA Finals. Klay Thompson is also great defensively, often matched up on smaller guards who get worn out chasing him all over the court as he’s raining down three’s from beyond the arc. Golden State also has an advantage coming off the bench with the likes of Andre Iguodala, David West, Nick Young, and Shaun Livingston. Let’s see how much Iggy can make a difference in this NBA Finals since he’s banged up with that knee injury.
When it comes to Cleveland, the conversation always starts and ends with Lebron James. King James has put up some historic numbers in these 2018 NBA Playoffs. He’s averaging 34PPG, 8.8 Assists and 9.2 Rebounds, nearly a triple double in the postseason. We all know that Lebron doesn’t really care about personal stats, he’s more about winning and being a very unselfish teammate.
The most amazing thing to me is how he was able to take a subpar roster and still elevate the Cavs to the Finals. I’m not throwing his teammates under the bus by any means, but when you look at their postseason numbers (excluding Lebron) vs what the Warriors roster has put up, there’s no debating what the glaring weakness is on Cleveland. I do have to acknowledge that Kevin Love has played well at times despite missing the last two games of the Eastern Conference Finals with concussion like symptoms, and Jeff Green showed up big time in game 6 & 7 of the conference finals as well. Tristan Thompson has also made an impact defensively and on the glass, particularly in the series vs the Celtics.
George Hill, Jr Smith, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. must show up and perform at a high level on both ends of the floor if the Cavs are to have any chance at pulling off an upset in this series. Even if all of them step up and play better, barring a serious injury on the side of the Warriors with one of their star players, I still don’t believe it will be enough. The Warriors are just that good and they’re very hard to beat in a seven game series, just ask Houston about that. Even if the Cavs lose but can take this finals to six or even seven games while playing hard and scrappy, I’d be thrilled to see that happen.
Unfortunately what I may or we may want to see happen isn’t always the end result. When it comes to the coaching aspect, Steve Kerr is a better coach than Tyronn Lue. Kerr is very good about making in game adjustments and dealing with all the different personalities on Golden State. He never seems to panic in tense situations and the play of the Warriors reflects that of their coach.
Tyronn Lue is very underrated and has done an outstanding job as well this year keeping the Cavs relevant out East. I don’t agree with some of the moves they made going into the trade deadline, but if they somehow can pull off one of the greatest upsets in NBA history by beating the Warriors in the Finals, than many lips including mine will be sealed.
None of us including myself really know how much longer Lebron will continue to play, but let’s just sit back and relish the greatness that we’re seeing in him because this type of generational player doesn’t always come around. Since I’m such a big fan and admire the King and his greatness, my heart is with Lebron and the Cavs to win it, but my mind and everything else is telling me the Warriors will win this series in 5 games.