Cavs vs. Warriors -- 2017 NBA Finals

[Chris]

My head says Warriors in 5. Just too much.

Hope I'm wrong. Nothing would make me happier than the Cavs beating them again.

 

[Pioneer10]

21 reasons why I think we will win:

1. Law of Diminishing Return- The Warriors have 3 players that are lethal in the same spots. Curry, Klay & Durant are all 3 pt shooters. While each has other strengths at the end of the day, it is one of three guys jacking up a three point shot. Because their skills overlap so much, how many shots can they realistically take & make? Could be a ton, but they will not be as effective in other areas within the flow of the offense.
2. Klay Thompson is struggling. He will eventually catch fire, but as long as he struggles that is one less hot shooter they have available. Making the impossible task of defending the team, possible.
3. Mike Brown will eventually need to call shots. These will all be close games and at some point Mike will need to draw up something to make a difference. Something he has struggled at many times.
4. The Warriors have a lack of depth. Sure their top 5 is great, but after that its a pretty steady drop off. They no longer have guys like Bogut, Lee, Ezeli, Barbosa (who always seems to get hot), etc.
5. In fact, I would go as far as saying out bench is much deeper than theres. They have a bench headlined by Shaun Livingston & a worn down Andre Igoudala. We have Deron Williams (Olympian & multiple time all star) Kyle Korver (best shooter available), Iman Shumpert (has been playing great defense, attacking the hoop & shooting within rythym), RJ & Channing. All of which would be taken over their bunch. If you guys recall, 15 & parts of 16, the lack of depth really hurt us when Lebron or Kyrie went to the bench. This year Livingston will be neutralized and they will not be nearly as effective as a bunch.
6. Curry cant guard anyone. There isn't a guy in our top 8 that couldnt seriously take advantage of him. In years past, he was able to sag off on Delly & get a breather. He barely handled that task 2 years ago. Last year he was worn down guarding a struggling Shump or JR. This year, Kyle will be running around strictly to gas him.
7. KD & Curry tend to disappear. Both have struggled in the big moments. Without Iggy, 2015 is a different story. If both are struggling, who can even pick up that slack anymore?
8. Kyrie & Lebron have been feasting in the paint against teams with shot blockers & legit 7 footers. Neither of which are on GSW. TT & Love will feast in the paint as well.
9. Javale McGee will be a net negative on the floor. They will play him because of his size and skill set, but he wont be able to stop the constant attack of our offense.
10. Kevin Love is balling out of control. He is finally healthy & comfortable in this offense. There is no reason he cant emulate his game 7 or his ECF performances. His stats in the ECF were "TOP PF" numbers.
11. Our 3 pt shooting has been out of this world. Frye & Deron are 50%+, Shump & Love are 47% a piece. JR/Curry & Lebron/KD are shooting identical percentages.
12. Lebron is playing pressure free. For the 1st time in his career, he doesnt "have to" win. He won rings in Miami & came home to be a champion. There is no pressure.
13. Lebron's shooting outside of one game has been off the charts. He is unguardable ATM.
14. Kyrie owns Curry. Plain & simple.
15. Our top 8 is greater than their top 8. Its not even close.
16. Igoudala is banged up & old. He will be more of a liability this season then ever.
17. Kyrie looks hungry. He showed up in the ECF and looks ready to dominate.
18. Everyone talks about Draymond missing a game, but no one brings up Love's concussion. A healthy Klove could have shaved a game off of that series.
19. Draymond played out of his mind in game 7 last year. I recall looking up and he was shooting 100% at some point or something ridiculous with a ton of 3 pt shots made. If he doesnt have that game, the block, the shot and the stop are never needed.
20. We have Lebron James & Kyrie Irving. Both can win one game on their own at any given moment.
21. The Warriors can be sloppy at any moment and are the kings of bad shots. If they aren't falling, they tend to get flustered.

I like all your reasons except the bench portions. Their bench hasn't been a weakness: Livingston has been good as usual, West is West, and McGee has been terrific. Now compared to last year I think our bench has improved significantly with Korver and Williams but it's not as a big edge in particularly becuase of McGee. The Finals will be an oppurtune time for Denver McGee to show up again

 

[Pioneer10]

My head says Warriors in 5. Just too much.

Hope I'm wrong. Nothing would make me happier than the Cavs beating them again.

I get where you are coming from just not ready to count the Cavs out and I wouldn't be surprised to see us and really take it to GS. They've played shit in terms of the quality of opponents and while they are more talented particularly in terms of two way players our team meshes real well. I just wish our defense showed as much improvement as on offense but right now I'd say it's 60/40 odds in favor of GS. Biggest factor in our favor IMO is they have no one who guards Irving well on that team

 

[Goodbyehorses]

durant has been holding lebrons pocket for years. Can't even count how many fruit cups been straight up snatched.

Wedding night, KD calls LeBron into his chamber and asks him if he wants a go first. LeBron like, fuck nah man, but I'll take a slice of her pie. KD just looks at the ground and shrugs.

Fucking Beta.

 

[Omar The Horse]

My head says Warriors in 5. Just too much.

Hope I'm wrong. Nothing would make me happier than the Cavs beating them again.

My rational mind says Warriors in 6. Cavs win 1 in Oakland and 1 at home.


Kyrie and LeBron give us everything they have. Love is inconsistent.

The NBA gets what it wanted... a semi-competitive series instead of their biggest fear of a violent sweep.

And the Cavs are forced to make some tough choices this summer.

I hope I am very wrong.

 

[Ohio]

I still can't find it - where is the SportsNation poll map that showed about 2/3 of the country, and almost every state besides Cali, wanted the Cavs to win game 7, regardless of whom they thought would actually win?

People really do support the underdog, and Everytown USA vs. the Bay Area really had a David vs. Goliath feel off the court as well as on the court for a lot people, I think.

Majority saw the Warriors for what they really were during The Finals last year and wanted the Cavs to win by the end. Majority will want the Cavs to win again.

America wants us to save basketball once again. For the culture. Fuck the Warriors.

 

[melecoaze]

I actually like the fact that we start on the road. We have been playing well away from home and "stealing" one early might be good for setting the tone.

 

[BigJ]

I think we have the much closer more cohesive Team this year.. better Chemistry.. we know exactly who we are and our guys play their Roles to perfection..

We have such a huge advantage in terms of heart,clutchness,resillience etc that it makes up any Talent Gap.

Would be the Ultimate Full Circle ... Lebron gets his one tarnish because a more cohesive,closer better Chemistry,Smarter Team beat him in 2011.. The Mavs spoiled the Superteams first Year.. now we are the 2011 Mavs in terms of chemistry,resillience etc.. GSW is the "Amazing on Paper but still question marks especially about pecking order and Chemistry". Lebron becomes the GOAT by spoiling the Superteams first year while he is on the close,resillient, cohesive "older" Team.

 

[BigJ]

I actually like the fact that we start on the road. We have been playing well away from home and "stealing" one early might be good for setting the tone.

Yeah noticed that too.. we are actually much better on the Road. I think we should aim to get both games in Oracle.. why aim low? get both if you can and put GSW in a huge shock flled hole. Propably only getting one is realistic but still.. dont be sattisfied with 1. The 2014 Heat made that mistake.. they could have both In SA.. the Series would maybe have turned out differently..

 

[Real Deal]

Well holy shit, 1st time I ever got put in timeout on Twitter, be careful boys, don't go calling Durant a pussy now.

 

[bboy]

Cavs in 6...Warriors are great but something about Kyrie's attitude lately...Kobe like...he's not messing around...K Love will be a different player as well...don't fear greatness!

 

[Ohio]

How about this throwback, for the lulz:

 

[6.19.2016]

America wants us to save basketball once again. For the culture. Fuck the Warriors.

Thank you, thank you.

I've noticed from these graphs that Celtics fans have, not surprisingly, seemed to be more anti-LeBron than anywhere from day one. Also seems like across most sports Nevada people support NorCal teams (i.e. look at the NFL fan maps - probably didn't hurt that Kaepernick played college in the Silver State, and Utah also breaks that way because of Steve Young.)

 

[Goodbyehorses]

Well holy shit, 1st time I ever got put in timeout on Twitter, be careful boys, don't go calling Durant a pussy now.

Can we just give the name The Cuck?

The truth
The answer
The chosen one
The cuck

 

[jvpertz]

In 2015, Lebron was HORRIBLY inefficient during the whole playoffs. He didn't have one game against the Warriors in 2015 where he shot above 45 percent. While he scored a ton of points and we grinded out those two wins with hustle and D, the Warriors still prevailed because Igoudala was good enough to stop him ENOUGH.

In 2016, lebron was atrocious in games 1 and 2. He also took less than 25 shots in both games. In Cavs victories, games 3, 5, and 6 Lebron took 25 shots with a field goal percentage of 52% or higher. That is INCREDIBLE stuff. The Cavs got very lucky that game 7 came down to a total war of attrition where are all of the major scoring stars outside of Kyrie were having very inefficient games. Thompson, Lebron, and Curry were all terrible. Kyrie was very good and Dreymond Green had the game of his life to keep the game from basically being a comfortable Cavs win.

In 2017, I think the series will once again rest on what kind of Lebron we get and what kind of usage he has. If he shoots 55% percent with 25 plus field goal attempts to go along with 8 assist and 8 rebounds then there really isn't any kind of performance by the Warriors that is likely to overcome that kind of thing. Lebron is pretty much the only player in the world that can have a 40-10-10 game on 55% shooting.

However, if the Warriors make his very human like in 2015, then I don't see how we can win. There's no way we will defend well enough to win a defense first series.