By: Lamar "L.A." Smith
A magical season has created a Finals matchup with 2 compelling storylines. One city contains a kid who was born a shooter, he knows the NBA landscape all two well and looks to end a 40 year drought in the Bay Area. He's the "Baby-Faced Assassin", "Chef Curry", half of the "Splash Bros." and his city's "Golden Boy" who has led his team to the league's best record and was crowned this season's MVP. The other city contains a 6'8 250 lb meta-human who came back home to finish what he started and has lifted a team who held the No. 1 overall pick in the draft last year to their 2nd NBA Finals for the first time since 2007. The only thing connecting these two players would be the fact both were born in the same hospital and same city. Other than the two players ties to Northeast Ohio, one may not be able to find two superstars who were more polar opposites than Curry and James. A gifted all-around player and arguably "the best shooter we've ever seen" goes up against a guy who may go down as one of the top 10 greatest players of all-time. Therefore, we should have a good show on our hands.
Splash Bros. vs. King James & Uncle Drew
The most scrutinized players in this series by far could possibly be a deciding factor in this series. The superstars: LeBron James and Stephen Curry will play at a high level and make the other players around them better throughout the series. The real question is which player will play at a another level in the Finals, will a struggling Klay Thompson find his shooting stroke or will Kyrie Irving give the Cavs just enough to bring home the golden globe to Northeast Ohio for the first time?Uncle Drew is playing with left knee tendinitis and a sore right foot. These are some serious injuries and 8-days of rest is definitely not enough to cure tendinitis. Tendinitis is one of the worst lingering injuries one could have and playing on a bum knee will slow him down. LeBron will be LeBron, but the nets will be worn out due to the smooth shooting touch between the duo of Curry and Thompson.
Warriors have the slight advantage.
"The Other Guys"
The Warriors have a bench consisting of proven veterans who are former starters in: Andre Iguodala, David Lee, Shaun Livingston and former Sixth Man of the Year and Brazilian Blur in Leandro Barbosa. Marreese Speights aka. "Mo Buckets" will also be a threat if given a chance to play. The Cavaliers have a bench consisting of: Australian pest Matthew Dellavedova, South Beach sniper James Jones and the enigma J.R. "Swish" Smith. The Warriors have one of the best scoring benches in the league which scores by committee and brings a different level of versatility to the table. The Cavs bench has lots of grit, consists of three shooters and one of the best scoring bench players in the game.Cleveland has two bulldogs down low in Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov and another on the perimeter in Iman Shumpert. The trio has made Cleveland much more physical as well as better defensively. Mozgov and Thompson are great at getting offensive rebounds, scrap for loose balls and are high-energy guys.
"The Other Guys" for the Warriors are just as talented and have more overall depth than Cleveland. The team can go 10 deep and have an array of guys who can put the ball in the basket. Since putting the ball in the basket is how you win the game, I have to go with the supporting cast which resides in Golden State.
Which MVP is slowed down?
Curry is the 2015 NBA MVP and James is a 4-time MVP winner and both will be a handful to stop. How do you stop these MVPs?''Well, the same way you slow me down...You can't.''
LeBron said this when asked on how to stop Stephen Curry. LeBron was spot on so, the best way to describe this is to talk about the matchups. LeBron will be guarded by 2015 All-NBA Defensive First Team defender Draymond Green, All-NBA Defense Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and even Klay Thompson and Shaun Livingston at times. Curry will be guarded by Irving, Shumpert and probably J.R. and Dellavedova at times in the game. James faces the tougher opposition on defense but neither player will be stopped. Expect the two stars to cancel each other out.
3-PT Shooting
Golden State! Golden State! The Warriors are the best shooting team in the league and one of the best 3-pt shooting teams in NBA history. Steph made 286 3-pointers this year breaking the record for 3s made in the regular season (he set the record last season) and Klay Thompson was not far off hitting 239 3-pointers during the regular season.Cleveland has shooters in: James Jones, J.R. Smith, Kyrie, Shumpert and Dellavedova. The Cavs shooters get great looks due to the attention LeBron James draws through double teams and Irving when he penetrates instead of spotting up.
The Warriors will let LeBron get his and will not double team as much as the Hawks did in the Eastern Conference Finals. Thus more contested 3s will be taken and contested jump shots will easily swing in the Splash Bros. favor time and time again.
The Clutch
This part of the game is very close. On one-side you have the best player in the game in James and Irving who rises to the occasion consistently and hits big shots in the clutch. Golden State has two guys in Thompson and Curry who can hit shots from anywhere on the court and are big-time shooters.In an area of the literally split by threads, the edge goes to LeBron. Close games in the playoffs usually go to the team with the best player therefore Golden State must execute consistently to prevent LeBron from stealing a few games for the Cavs.
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