Thursday night is the night we have all been waiting for, the NBA Finals will be underway and we have the matchup that we have been dreaming of with presumably the two best teams in the NBA going head to head(the Cavs’ finished runner up in the regular season to the Atlanta Hawks). Even though no one would have cried seeing Lob City, San Antonio or Chicago in the Finals. This is by far the best matchup we could have gotten.
King James, the Savior has returned home to Cleveland where he left the fans and the city high and dry in 2010 to win back-to-back titles in 2013-2014. LeBron James has now been to 5 straight NBA Finals and hopes to go above .500 in winning titles in those trips. Much like in Miami LeBron has company with All Star Kyrie Irving running the point, Timofey Mozgov anchoring the center , and James’ new running mate Matthew “Delly”vadova taking down opponents with his hustle and flat out frustrating the competition. He had Kevin Love to round-out his “Big 3” before losing him in the first round to a shoulder injury against the Boston Celtics.
The Cavaliers road to the Finals has been anything but an easy trail as there has been much controversy as to “Who” is running the show for the Cavs. Whether it be James or rookie head coach David Blatt. Bad relationships that led to the ousting of Dion Waiters, and trades to bring Mozgov, JR Smith and Iman Shumpert to Kings James aid. As well as plenty of questioning of Loves desire and effort. Now with Love out and Kyrie Irving battling tendinitis if James finds a way to win this title he will have truly deserved it. James is under immense pressure to bring this all the way home, improving his Finals record to 3-2 instead of the latter, and bringing the Championship to his home town.
Now out of the West we have the young and gunnin’ wild and exciting Golden State Warriors, led by the “Splash Brothers”. Steph Curry and Company have made us all utter the words we never thought we would hear, “The Warriors are headed to the NBA Finals!!” We are witnessing history as Curry may be the best shooter the game has ever seen! He has such an effortless silky smooth release that is a joy to watch! Surrounding Curry is his running-mate Klay Thompson who can get equally as hot as Steph, setting an NBA record for 37 points in single quarter during the regular season. Draymond Green was edged out of the Defensive Player of the Year award by San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard, former All Stars Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala.
Rookie head coach Steve Kerr has gotten this team to buy into his system and has gotten them farther than former head coach Mark Jackson could ever dream of. Not only are the Dubs fast to pull the trigger averaging 110.0 points a game but they are a equally as good defensively featuring Andre Bogut and Festus Ezeli clogging the middle and Barnes, Green, and Iguodala smothering the wings freeing up Thompson and Curry to run the floor.
After two straight games in which Curry had a scary fall onto his head and neck and another in which Thompson took a crushing knee to the head from Trevor Ariza. (Klay Thompson has now been cleared to play Game 1 after displaying major concussion symptoms and passing the NBA’s concussion protocol). The Dubs hope that “The Splash Brothers” are 100% so they can continue to blister the nets and get Oracle Arena rocking. So far they haven’t put one of their incredible performances together at the same time but they caught fire in enough stretches to propel the Warriors into the NBA Finals.
These Finals are giving fans exactly what they deserve as James tries to prove that he is the greatest of this generation and the Splash Bros and Co try to show they are here to contend for years to come. There is greatness among us and it will be on full display!
I have no ties to either of these teams so therefor I am not biased by any means and predict this series will go the stretch of 7 games where the depth of the Golden State Warriors proves to be just too much for LeBron to overcome. LeBron’s will to be the greatest will get him 3 games but it just won’t be enough with a gimpy Irving and no Love. This will be a NBA Finals for the ages.
Golden State Warriors 2015 NBA Champions 4-3 over the Cleveland Cavaliers.