What You Missed From Game 7

By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - LeBron James, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36918817

Game 7 was quite the game. At half-time, there were Warriors fans were saying that the Warriors were going to win it all. Then came the final minutes of game 7. It was neck and neck and the Cavs pulled ahead to win it. That's when everyone went nuts and surprisingly everyone missed a lot of stats and things that happened in this game. People jumped to things saying, "Curry lost the game, LeBron James won it, Kevin Love was still horrible in the series and he'll be traded." Well, here I am, and here is what you probably missed from game 7.

Curry Lost The Game?
While Curry really did blow away any chances to win the game towards the end, did he really lose the game? Towards the end, Kevin Love was guarding Curry, and of course, Curry thought he could take advantage of it. But Kevin was on Curry tight. This left room for Curry to get to the rim, but instead of trying to drive, he was set on shooting a 3; a 3 that was well off. This was a big possession and was really the turning point in this game. Curry even said after the game he "settled". He settled for shots. While it didn't lose them the game, it really hurt their chances to get back in it. Instead of closing it out, Curry settled, and that led to the loss.

But What About Klay?
While Curry got a beating from the media, Klay left without a scratch, besides the fact that he left the game without congratulating the other team. Tell me, do you remember Klay making shots in this game? Because he didn't make many. Klay had only 14 points and shot 2-10 from 3-point range. He shot worse than Curry from 3 and didn't show up to the game, yet no one really mentioned Klay at all.

LeBron Carried The Team?
LeBron did a great job in this series, but right after the game, Kyrie's performances were forgotten. This guy was on fire throughout the whole series. While I think LeBron was no doubt the MVP, everyone seemed to forget about guys Kyrie, Richard Jefferson, and Tristan Thompson. Sure, LeBron was great, but recognition for the whole team wasn't there. After all, without these guys, would've they even come close to winning the championship?

Kevin Love Hurt The Team?
People wouldn't stop talking about Kevin Love's performance throughout the series and after it was over. What people missed was Kevin Love's amazing defense and rebounding in game 7. But if they didn't miss that, they sure didn't see his +/- advantage. Kevin Love was a +19 on the floor while Kyrie was only a +10. And LeBron James, he was a +4. When Kevin Love was in the lineup, it was extremely beneficial to the team. The fact that the guy had 14 rebounds in only 30 minutes of play alone was amazing. 

Draymond...
Everyone seemed to forget about Draymond's play after game 7. The guy had 32 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals. He also shot 6-8 from 3. However, no one said a word about it after the game.


And Last... Is Tristan Thompson Defensive Player Of The Year?
The media went crazy after LeBron's block on Iggy. Yet here is the thing, If Iggy didn't change his shot in mid-air, it never would've been blocked. It was a blocked shot. Now, LeBron was good defensively, but guess who was on Curry and Klay chasing out to the 3 point line through the whole game. It was Tristan Thompson. Let me make this clear... Tristan Thompson had 3 rebounds in game 7. Only 3. The reason why? He was chasing guys out on the 3 point line. Tristan Thompson contested 7 three point shots during game 7. That was more than anyone else on the team. He contested more 3 point shots than J.R., more than Irving, more than Shumpert, and more than LeBron. And guess who was doing it, that's right, the starting center for the Cavs. And even while he was out of the paint, he still managed to fit in 2 blocks. When your starting center can guard Stephen Curry, that does a lot. We see a block from LeBron and think he's the best defender, when people don't realize, there is a lot more to defense than that. LeBron might have saved a couple plays, Tristan Thompson might have saved the whole game.


 

NBA Finals Game 5 Preview

By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Kevin Love, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36918954

The Cavaliers are down 3-1 to the Warriors. A lot of people are saying, "Hey, the Warriors came back from a 3-1 deficit this post-season, why can't the Cavs. Now I'm not saying that the Cavs can't do it, but I am going to say that what the Warriors did was totally different. The Warriors only had to play 1 game on the road while they had 2 home games left. The Cavs only have 1 home game left and have to win 2 games on the Warriors home floor. Now, this isn't impossible because 2 of the 10 teams to comeback from a 3-1 deficit only had 1 home game left after being down 3-1. One was the Celtics from the Bill Russell days, and the other team was the Houston Rockets and their clutch city team. These are two historic teams. And no one has comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals, so if the Cavs were to accomplish this feat, it would be a very historic moment in NBA history.

Now, if you haven't heard, Draymond Green has been suspended for game 5 of the NBA finals due to his encounter with LeBron. He will be out of the lineup. I don't know what Steve Kerr is going to do, but I have to assume he'll start Iggy at the 3 and slide Barnes to the 4. What I do if I'm the Cavs, is start Love at the 5. Now you might think I'm crazy, but I can explain. Love at the 5 would most likely match him up with Andrew Bogut and Kevin Love is a guy that can really stretch the floor. Through the whole time Andrew Bogut is on the floor, I'd suggest the Cavs go into pick and roll/pop with Love. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving should just go into pick and roll/pop with Love until Steve Kerr decides to take Bogut out of the game. With shooters like Jefferson and J.R., if the Warriors help off of the pick and roll, these guys will have wide open shots and lanes to the basket. We've seen how the Warriors do against the small line-up in pick and roll when they have Bogut or Ezeli out there; it isn't pretty. With them down 3-1, they have to try something, and Love at the 5 might actually work for at least the first quarter.

With Draymond Green out, this really takes away the Warriors' versatility and option to go small. This is going to force them to have a big throughout most of the game and what the Warriors are going to have to hope to do is out-score the Cavs. I expect Anderson Varejao to play a big role for the team because of his versatility and hustle he brings. He can also somewhat stretch the floor. Same with Speights and I think he will also get some key minutes.









Game 5 is going to be Cleveland's best chance to steal a game in Golden State and you have to think if they can win the next 2 games, they will have a good shot at winning game 7 in Golden State.

The Warriors Are the Superior Team

Warriors Lead Series 2-0

I hate to say it, but sorry Cavs fans, the Warriors are just superior to your team. Now, I'm not saying the series is over at all. I'm just saying that the Warriors are the better team and the Cavs are going to have a really tough time trying to win against them. Game 2 was a prime example of it. The Warriors wore down the Cavs and the Cavs really just gave up.

The biggest thing I took from game 2 was the Warriors heart and will to win. And what I saw was the Warriors team rebounding. They out-rebounded the Cavs 46 to 34. The Warriors hit the offensive glass hard. The Cavs just didn't seem to want to board and the Warriors did. You could tell what team wanted to win that game.

Something I want to really point out is how underrated of a defender Andrew Bogut is. The guy had 5 blocks last night. Cool, right? But there is a lot more to defense than blocking shots. Bogut's positioning and timing defensively is amazing. He reads the defense so well. You can't forget that this guy also had 2 steals in the game. I also want to point out that Bogut is a great passer. While his own offensive game is lacking. Bogut plays the high post position exceptionally well and sees the floor better than most big men.

Richard Jefferson is honestly probably the best player on the Cavs right now. Now before I get a bunch of hate mail from you Cavs fans, let me explain this. Let this soak into your brains... This guy on defense was really good. Just like Bogut, Jefferson's defense was amazing as far as positioning. He was stopping his guy. He also did an amazing job on help defense and double-teaming. Offensively, Jefferson was just as good. The veteran made great cuts to the basket as he drew the defense towards him in the game. In fact, Rich might have to start from now on. And you might say LeBron James is the best player on the Cavs; well, he's been pretty brutal when he's been on the floor. LBJ had 7 turnovers and gave up a lot of points defensively. I was very impressed by Jefferson's play and I think he should start instead of J.R. Smith. This is for a few reasons. I think J.R. will be much more productive off the bench and he will provide a ton of bench offense. Also, I think that when he comes in to guard Thompson, the Warriors will have more limited options offensively. Richard Jefferson will be a big spark for the starting lineup too. His veteran presence would hopefully start the Cavs off the right way next game.

And let's not overlook just what the Warriors did defensively. They held the Cavs to under 80 points and under 36% shooting. This defensive effort was held out by almost every player on the floor. Draymond, Bogut, Curry, Thompson, and especially Iguodala were just amazing defensively. If they keep this level of defensive play, they are going to be really tough to beat since the Cavs aren't going to be able to rely on their offense to get them to the finish line.

Throwback Thursday (Sept. 24)

Happy Birthday

"Drew Gooden Wizards" by Keith Allison - Flickr: Drew Gooden. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons.

Drew Gooden!

Drew Gooden is a great role player. He knows his role and plays some great basketball. One of the great things that Drew Gooden does, can not be shown on the stat sheet. Drew Gooden sets great screens and takes a good amount of charges. That is what he will always be know as to me. Drew Gooden seems to always know where to be on defense. You may say that Drew Gooden averaged 0.2 Blocks, and 0.4 steals over his career, but his defense is solid. Drew Gooden is a player that does the little things. 

Drew Gooden started his rookie season in Memphis, but after 51 games he was traded to Orlando, where he started 18 out of 19 games played there. His rookie season, he averaged 12.5 PPG and 6.5 RPG. After his rookie season, he would stay with the Magic for one more season before going to the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

The Cavaliers was one of the best teams that Drew Gooden has ever played with. His first season there, he averaged a career high of 14.4 PPG and a career high of 9.2 RPG. He also played in all 82 games that season, starting in 80 of them. His second season was also good and was a big role player for his team. But his third season was the big one as Gooden played 80 games and started in all of them, as the leader of the Cavs, LeBron James lead them to the finals. A lot of their sucess had to do with Drew Gooden. In the playoffs, he started in all 20 games and played over 30 minutes per game. He averaged 11.4 PPG, 8 RPG, and 1 APG. The Cavaliers, however, lost to the Spurs in the Finals.

After they lost in the Finals, the Cavs kept Gooden for 51 more games before shipping him off to the Chicago Bulls. After that it was just chaos. Drew Gooden in the 2008-09 season went from the Bulls to the Kings to the Spurs. In the 2009-10 season he signed with the Dallas Mavericks, where he was then traded to the Washington Wizards. He was there for 4 days before being traded to the Clippers. However, he would average 14.8 PPG with the Clippers. The Milwaukee Bucks would end up signing him that free agency. He would be there for 3 seasons and would not get another offer from anyone. During the 2013-14 season, he was signed to two 10-day contract with the Wizards and was signed for the rest of the season. He currently plays with the Washington Wizards and was a big reason for their success this last post-season. He plays an important role coming off the bench. 

While Drew Gooden continues to play in the NBA, retirement is coming closer as the NBA veteran is going into his 14th season in the league. He has had important roles on multiple teams and Drew Gooden has been one of the best role players in the league. From the Kings to the Cavs to the Wizards, Drew Gooden has found himself on a team just trying to help, not do too much. Just help. And I hope he continues to do that for many more seasons to come. Happy Birthday, Drew Gooden. 

J.R. Smith: The Wild Card

"JR Smith Cavs - 2015" by Erik Drost from United States - Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons.

As you might have heard, J.R. Smith has just signed a new deal with the Cavaliers. What does this mean for the team? What does this mean for J.R.? All questions will be revealed.

What Impact will J.R. Smith Have on the Team? J.R. Smith really isn't your best 3 point shooter on the team. He shot 426 three pointers while only shooting 38% from 3 point range but that isn't bad knowing that Lou Williams shot 447 three pointers while only shooting just 34% from long range. J.R. Smith will be a help with just taking some ease off LeBron James and others. J.R. to me will have to some off the bench next season as Kyrie and Shumpert start at the Guard position. I think he will be at the SG position next to Mo Williams and you will see Smith's numbers go down to him being more of a team player next to Mo Williams.

What's Cavaliers Next Move? If the Cavaliers do sign Tristan Thompson, they will trade off someone. It could be Varejao or Mozgov, but one of those bigs will go and will be traded for a much better role player like Corey Brewer or Mike Dunleavey. Matthew Dellavadova (I'm sorry Cleveland fans but he) should not be in the lineup and should not play bench as he should be inserted in if someone gets injured. Other than that, I think he shouldn't really get much playing time due to the fact that there are plenty of much better guards than him on that team. I think that the team this year is going to have a much stronger bench and that they will be ready for another Finals run.

What about a J.R. trade? It is unlikely and I think that J.R. is going to be their support guy. I mean, c'mon, you never know if you will get a 2-22 night or an 8-8 night from 3 point range. But that is alright if he is a bench player. He will be their some nights, and the nights he isn't, the other guys will do great. I think J.R. is one the perfect team this year because the Cavs are not going to need him to score all the time if he does come off the bench. If he were to get traded just because something went wrong, I would assume him to be traded in a deal for a guy like Jamal Crawford or Gerald Henderson and he and Mozgov or Varejao would be sent away. That would be my assumption.

Does J.R. get more flagrant fouls? Yes, this guy has a very big temper, of course he does. That is something that J.R. will always have and it's not really a good thing. The last thing you would want is DeMarcus Cousins and J.R. Smith on the same team. Bad things would happen. You think George Carl and DeMarc are bad, think about them.

Did the Cavs make a good move? Yes, I think they made a wonderful more. J.R. Smith would be great off the bench and he will be an important piece for the Cavaliers to make the Finals. I think the Cavs made a great decision that they won't regret. Good luck to the Cavs and J.R.  

David Lee Saves The Warriors

"David Lee Warriors" by Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA - David Lee. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

David Lee just saved the Warriors hopes of winning a championship. How? Well, Steve Kerr finally listened to me and put David Lee in. It took him a while but he finally did it. Bogut is really not able to run in transition and has not really been great on defense. Once they put Lee in, the offense was flowing for the Warriors.

David Lee is really known for his passing and his great ability to finish at the rim, and it showed in the game. When he was on the court, the floor was spaced and when he drove, he either had an open layup or someone would be spaced out and open for a shot on the perimeter.

If David Lee didn't play in game 3 and game 4, the Warriors would be in most likely in a 3-1 losing in the series. He probably just saved the Finals series for the Warriors. Honestly, I don't understand why Steve Kerr hadn't played him before. Why was Ezlie playing over an All-Star PF? David Lee is very talented and for some odd reason, Kerr wasn't playing him.

The Warriors are now going back home as they tied the series. David Lee provides this team with a great moving and flowing offense that Andrew Bogut just doesn't provide. I honestly don't think that Andrew Bogut will play much and I doubt Kerr will put him in the lineup. One thing is for sure though. He will play David Lee, because David Lee just saved their championship run.

Warriors Lose in OT

The Warriors seemed a little tight and settled for far too many three points. Stephen Curry seemed like he was trying to prove that he could make all these shots but he kept on missing. It wasn't that fun seeing Curry miss all those shots but it was sure fun seeing a close game like that. If only all games could be that close.

LeBron looked like he actually had a great game like the ones he had when he was with the Heat. He actually shot pretty well from the field and 3 point range. LeBron has been bringing the ball up and if you are the Warriors, you need to force LeBron to go up and get the ball and also, you need a defender on the inbounder. Once the ball is into LeBron they should go and throw a trap to force LeBron to get the ball out of his hands. After that, Iggy just needs to play LeBron like he has been.

The main reason why I think that the Cavs won this game is because everyone was involved in the game. LeBron made sure that everyone touched the ball. That is what needs to happen in order for the Cavs to win. Yes LeBron, you can have your 40 point nights, other people just need to score too. The Cavs can do it. You can see that Curry was really struggling though. Klay was carrying his team. That is not how the Warriors usually play. You know that the Warriors have to get one in Cleveland. Let's see if they can do it.

No More Kyrie Means More Marion

"Shawn Marion Mavs" by Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA - Shawn Marion. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shawn_Marion_Mavs.jpg#/media/File:Shawn_Marion_Mavs.jpg

 

Kyrie Irving is out for the rest of the playoffs. To me, this Cavs team isn't done yet. They have key contributors that I think really could be a big impact for this Cavs team. Mike Miller and Shawn Marion are going to come and play. They both have great playoff experience. While this will be a hard task to take down the Golden State Warriors, all these 2 have to do is give some points and be great contributors. Take a look at what these guys have done in the past

Mike Miller:

• 5.2 PPG for the Playoffs over his carreer
• 7.3 PPG in the Playoffs last year for the Grizzlies
• 11.3 PPG for his career
• 40.7% from 3 point range over his career
• 4.4 RPG over his career
• 2.7 APG over his career

Shawn Marion:

• 4 time all-star
• 13.9 PPG in the Playoffs over his career
• 15.2 PPG over his career
• 8.7 RPG over his career
• 1.5 Steals over his career
• 1.1 Blocks over his career

I really don't understand why the Cavs aren't playing Marion right now. Why do they even have this player on their team if they don't even play him? This guy was a 4 time all-star with major playoff experience. He is also a great defensive player. This guy should be played but for some reason, Coach Blatt refuses to. I just don't understand it. But now with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving out, he should have to play them. I actually think the Cavs will play great with Miller and Marion on the floor, and that the Cavs are not out of the finals yet.  

The Finals Have Started!

The Warriors have won the first game of the Finals. It was a close game as it went into overtime. I have to admit, it was a little rough for both teams though. 

When I first started watching the game I saw LeBron miss a fade-away shot pretty badly and then the next time down the floor, J.R. Smith bricked a three off the backboard. The game wasn't too great to start off. However, by the end of the 1st, Cleveland had a 10 point lead.

One thing that was really surprising to me is that the Warriors didn't have a player who had over 7 rebounds but they still won the rebounding battle. Everyone on the Warriors had at least 3 rebounds. They all crashed the glass.

If you take a look at the Cavs scoring, It was really just LeBron and Kyrie with Timofey Mozgov giving some offense. Kyrie and LeBron combined had a total of 65 points. Besides Mozgov, LeBron, and Kyrie, the rest of the team only scored 17 points. For the Warriors, that's what you want. You want this to be a 3 on 5 kind of game. The Warriors love that. I think that you have to be happy with only 3 people really coming out and scoring points. 

I really think Bogut could do a better job on Mozgov and he didn't look that great on defense. He just wasn't filling up the paint like he usually does.

If you the Warriors, you have Klay Thompson back and he is looking good as ever. He played great basketball. If your the Cavs, you have to be really disappointed. Kyrie just went down and you could be missing 2 of the big 3 now. They need Kyrie. He is the next best offensive player after LeBron on the team. They need him. They really need him.

The last 32 seconds of regulation wasn't the best last 32 seconds that I've seen before. Stephen Curry had the ball but couldn't make the layup as he somehow got his layup blocked by Kyrie Irving. Then LeBron gets the ball and puts up a really dumb shot that he was going to miss. Really poor shot selection. Shumpert got the rebound and put it up last second and somehow almost won the game. But he missed and the game went into OT. The Warriors ended up making their free throws and played great defense as they limited the Cavs to 2 points that were scored in the last 24 seconds as the Warriors just kind of LeBron get a wide open layup. They were like "who cares, we won". It was a great game. But the series isn't over. We have 3 more games at the least and 6 at the most. It will be a great finals series, I can already tell.

Do You Remember The Klay and Love Trade Talks?

Do you remember the Klay Thompson and Kevin Love trade talks. Back when Kevin Love wanted to be traded from Minnesota and Minnesota was offering Kevin Love for Klay Thompson. But in the end, the Warriors said no and the Wolves ended up trading him off to the Cavs. Let's take a look at how it would affect the 4 teams.

"Kevin Love (15847116411)" by Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Kevin Love. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kevin_Love_(15847116411).jpg#/media/File:Kevin_Love_(15847116411).jpg

"Klay Thompson in 2015" by Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA - Klay Thompson. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Klay_Thompson_in_2015.jpg#/media/File:Klay_Thompson_in_2015.jpg

Cavaliers: If Love was traded to the Warriors, the Cavs would have Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, unless they found another team to trade them off to. But they wanted Love. Who else would be willing to trade off a franchise PF for these 2 first picks in the NBA draft two consecutive years. I'll tell you who. The 76ers. Of course this team would trade off Thaddeus Young, K.J. McDaniels, and draft picks for Wiggy and Bennett. They would be more than willing to do that. So you would probably see Thaddeus Young on this team and I honestly think that he would fit better for that role in Cleveland than Love. K.J. McDaniels would be a solid role player for the team. Now, I could go and breakdown how this would affect the Nets and all of that, but I'm not going to.

76ers: The 76ers would have Wiggins and Bennett (most likely). They would start both of them and they wouldn't have Mbah a Moute. It would be Carter-Williams, Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Nerleans Noel, and most likely Freeland. Carter-Williams wouldn't be traded off since they have all the talent they want as it will be a great starting 5 when Embiid comes back. This would be a team how the Timberwolves are except with even more potential. This would be a dominating future team.

Timberwolves: This would be a playoff team. They would have David Lee and Klay Thompson starting along with Rubio, Pekovic, and Brewer. Along with LaVine, Budinger, Mo Williams, Shabazz Muhammad, and Dieng off the bench. Great roster. I would actually expect this team to make the playoffs. Klay Thompson would work so well with Rubio and Klay would become an all-star. Brewer wouldn't be traded. Neither would Mo Williams. This would be a content team and they really wouldn't be the future team that you would think. The big thing though, K.G. might not come back to the Wolves. I honestly think that Kevin Garnett wouldn't come back to the Wolves unless the Wolves were to trade off David Lee for him. There would be no Wiggins on this team. That just wouldn't be there. It would be a totally different team with Klay Thompson as the face of it.

Warriors: The Warriors would take a big effect. They would have Curry passing to Love off great pick and pops with Kevin Martin coming off of weak side screens. That would be amazing. I honestly thought at the time that if the Warriors made this trade, they would be the best team in the NBA. I honestly thought they made a big mistake. And I still do. I think that if they took the trade, you would have so much better of a team. I know Klay is great. I know that. But Klay Thompson and a David Lee who has rarely played at all this season for Kevin Love and Kevin Martin who are both averaged over 15 PPG this season. I'd say that it would be worth it. That would be a great team. Not only that but you would have Draymond Green coming off the bench. A great player coming off the bench. So your bench would have a lot of strength. This team would have been unstoppable. And they are right now to.

So as you can see, it's very complicated. And I just did those 4 teams. As you can see, the Warriors and the Cavs would still be great, but the Wolves and the 76ers would have big changes.

Throwback Thursday (NBA Finals Edition)

"Rick Barry" by Corey Carter from Fremont, US - Rick Berry. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rick_Barry.jpg#/media/File:Rick_Barry.jpg

 

Today on Thursday, let's go back to 1975 where the Warriors won their last Championship over the Washington Bullets. It has been a long time since Warriors fans have had something to cheer about. Unless your a band-wagoner, then you just go around to the winning teams, and your always cheering and defending your team that your with for .5 to 2 years. But if you always have been a Warriors fan, this is your time to cheer, because you might not have another chance for another 40 years. So live while your young. You'd rather cheer at the age of 40 instead of 80, so do it now because you might not get another chance for a long, long time. And you band-wagoners can just do what ever the heck you want.
 

Also, you Cavs fans could actually get to see one of your teams win something. Remember this.

"LeBron James 18112009 1" by Keith Allison from Kinston, USA - LeBron James. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeBron_James_18112009_1.jpg#/media/File:LeBron_James_18112009_1.jpg

 

Yeah, that was LeBron's first time meeting with the Spurs in the Finals. Yeah, first time was not the charm. You people lost. But, to be fair, the Cavs were from the East and didn't have the best roster against a Timmy Duncan in his prime, Manu Ginobili playing great, and Tony Parker averaging about 20 PPG in the playoffs. Also, LeBron wasn't the great LeBron at that point. Tell me, is there anyone there who is in the Cavs picture (besides LeBron) who now starts for any team in the NBA. No. This was really a team that has no meaning now except for LeBron. So let's be fair, the Cavs didn't stand a chance this year. But now they have 2 all-stars, and great role players. Also, LeBron is way more developed now. So yes, this team is so much better now and they have a better chance of winning. However, they could use Kevin Love. But you Cavs fans need to cheer, because you haven't had much to cheer about out of the last 70 years. Although, you band-wagoners get to cheer every year so you just do what you want.

While we look at these pictures and remember, keep in mind, history is in the making.

The NBA Finals Outlook (Against the Grain Sports)

I am proud to announce that Jerod McCain from www.againstthegrainsports.com has come to NBA Inside The Play to give us his finals outlook. Here it is:

"NBA Trophy2" by NBA_Trophy.png: *NBA_Trophy.jpg: inboundpass from Manila, Philippinesderivative work: JoeJohnson2 (talk)derivative work: JoeJohnson2 (talk) - NBA_Trophy.png. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NBA_Trophy2.png#/media/File:NBA_Trophy2.png

 

The NBA Finals are set, we have the number 1 seed Golden State Warriors vs the number 2 seed Cleveland Cavaliers. Stephen Curry and the Warriors are here for the first time since 1974-75 when the won their first and only NBA championship. The Cleveland Cavaliers have their prodigy child LeBron James back home and a very good chance to win an NBA championship for the first time in franchise history. After 4 years of LeBron in Miami with 2 of those years resulting in 2 titles, the Cavs are hoping that James can do the same for Cleveland. MVP Stephen Curry has his eyes set on that same NBA championship trophy. I think this series will go to seven games with an action packed back and forth well fought battle between two super stars and very good supporting casts from both teams.

I will start with the Warriors, a team that can score in bunches and is dialed in on defense from the starters to the last man off the bench. Klay Thompson is primed for a very big performance seeing that he struggled a bit against the Houston Rockets just averaging 15 PPG, a little under 6 points from his regular season average. Draymond Green will continue to be Draymond Green with his energy and defense. I think he will be able to do what Atlanta failed to do and that's keep a body on Tristan Thompson and keep him off the boards and limit second chance buckets. The key to the Warriors victory over Cleveland will be Shaun Livingston, Leandros Barbosa, and Andre Igudala with an over dose of Harrison Barnes. If these guys can play extremely good defense and each have big offensive games in this series especially Harrison Barnes, the Warriors chances of winning increase tremendously. Barnes is by far more of a supreme offensive player than Shumpert and Jones of the Cavs and can give JR. Smith problems offensively if matched up. Stephen Curry may need to average 30 points in these finals to beat LeBron and his Cavaliers.

The Cavs need to all chip in to win this series and the NBA title. LeBron is by far the best NBA leader on and off the court we have seen since Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, with what he has done to rejuvenate JR. Smith's & Iman Shumpert's careers after being traded from New York. Kyrie Irving is going to be a major factor in the Cavs winning their first NBA title. He is going to have a tough task in containing Curry while still performing on offense. Irving has struggled during the playoffs with injuries but this is the finals and excuses just wont cut it. He will need to average 25 to 28 PPG against the Warriors for the Cavs to have success. The X factor will be if JR. Smith can continue his hot shooting and if Mozgov can keep Bogut off the boards and in foul trouble. Iman Shumpert will get the tasks of guarding whom ever is hot between Curry & Thompson and if they both ignite at the same time the Cavs will be in trouble. I predict that the Warriors will win in 7 and get their second ever NBA title.  By ATGS Jerod McCain

www.againstthegrainsports.com

     

Jerod McCain Co-Founder/CEO
Against The Grain Sports, LLC

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