NBA Finals Preview

Here we are. After two months of playoff battles, we have two teams left standing. For the third straight year, its the same two teams in the finals. The rubber match is on, its Golden State against Cleveland. This is the finals matchup that has really been a surprise to nobody from the start of the season. The question wasn't whether or not these two teams would get to the finals, but how easily they would reach the ultimate showdown. So lets break it down shall we.

For the third straight year, we have the same exact matchup in the finals. It's the Eastern Conference Champions the Cleveland Cavaliers taking on the Western Conference Champions the Golden State Warriors. This is the Golden State Warriors' third consecutive trip to the NBA Finals. Golden State finished the year 67–15, their second most wins in franchise history. Golden State became the first team in NBA playoff history to start 12–0, sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals, and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. Entering the Finals, this twelve game win-streak tied third for the most consecutive wins in the postseason.

As for Cleveland, this marks the third consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, and fourth appearance overall. This will also be the seventh consecutive NBA Finals appearance for LeBron James, and the sixth for James Jones (who technically qualified for the 2011 NBA Finals along with James, but did not play). The Cavaliers finished the season with a 51–31 record, securing the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round, swept the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and defeated the Boston Celtics in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Here are the dates and times for every game in this series:
June 1 9:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
June 4 8:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
June 7 9:00 pm Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland,
June 9 9:00 pm Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland,
June 12 9:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors* Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
June 15 9:00 pm Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers* Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland,
June 18 8:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors* Oracle Arena, Oakland, California

Here we are once again, Golden State and Cleveland in what is quickly becoming a rivalry. Think about it, this marks the third straight year that the two clubs are meeting for the crown. Golden State won the title two years ago in six games, while Cleveland overcame a 3-1 deficit last year to win the series in seven games. So the rubber match is on between the two teams. Its crazy to think about that this is the rubber match, because never before have the same two teams faced each other in three straight finals. Before this year, there had been 13 distinct runs of at least three consecutive Finals appearances by one team. Some of them have overlapped, but none have happened concurrently.  And between the two teams, they've only suffered one loss to get here, that was Cleveland losing game three to the Celtics in the Conference Finals. This year, everybody here and healthy.

For the Cavs, they played the first finals against the Warriors without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, both of whom played last year, whit Irving hitting the winning shot in game seven. They still have the best player in all of the game in Lebron and they have soplid role players like Tristan Thompson, and Iman Shumpert and JR Smith, so there's plenty of talent to go around on this team. Look at some of the shooting numbers for the Cavs so far in the playoffs. Cleveland has a postseason field goal percentage of 59.8 percent, which is the highest in NBA history. Channing Frye (72.7 percent), J.R. Smith (66.1 percent), LeBron James (62.5 percent) and Kyle Korver (62.3 percent) all rank in the top 10 in effective field goal percentage among the 88 players who have taken at least 50 shots in the playoffs. Clearly its not just a one man show, even though King James is still the leader on this team.

Lets not forget that the Warriors are kinda good too. Last season, Draymond Green was controversially suspended for Game 5 on account of his accumulated flagrant fouls -- which turned out to be a really big deal, as he missed a pivotal moment in the series. The Warriors were three minutes away from going up 3-1 (famously) when he was called for a flagrant on LeBron. The Cavaliers won three in a row to take the title. They have their big three of Green, Klay Thompson and of course Steph Curry. Oh yeah, they also have some guy on the team named Kevin Durant, and I believe he's kinda good. Golden State can score there's no doubt about that. Three guys on the Warriors finished with over 20 PPG average: Curry (25.3), Durant (25.1) and Thompson (22.3). They also had Green finish with 10.3 points per game, which means that their big four had been carrying the team all season long. Golden State can defend too. The Warriors held Portland, Utah and San Antonio, who just so happen to be three of the top-12 offenses in the regular season, to 11.5, 9.8 and 5.6 points per 100 possessions fewer than their regular season averages, respectively.

So what does that all mean for this year's final? It could mean a lot actually. This series has all the makings of another classic like last year's was. There's no doubt in my mind that it will go at least six games and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes the distance (for the record, we haven't seen a sweep in the finals since the Spurs swept the Cavs in 2007). Lebron is the best in the game today, maybe ever, there's no denying that. yes he does have a fantastic supporting cast with Love and Irving and company. I don't know about this being their year in Cleveland. Cleveland can score with Golden State, no argument there, but it might not be able to get stops at the same rate. So assuming Green stays eligible for every game this time, and since we didn’t believe Lue’s claim that defending the Celtics was harder than defending the Warriors, this might be a somewhat easy outcome.

Prediction: Golden State Warriors in seven!