Courtesy – Basket4us.com
After Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals, it looked like the Golden State Warriors were going to breeze by the Cleveland Cavaliers to victory. Golden State was able to take away Game 1 from the Cavaliers in overtime, but it was Cleveland that came back strong in Game 2 to win in overtime and tie the series up 1-1. Game 3 was a whole different story, where Cleveland truly dominated, even having a 20-point led before a fourth quarter comeback from the Warriors.
LeBron James is currently having one of the best Finals performances in NBA history. Without Kevin Love or Kyrie Irving, both who are out with injuries, LeBron has been playing without any big name stars next to him. Without stars, James has been able to put this team on his back and carry them to a 2-1 lead in the 2015 NBA Finals. James also has everybody on the roster playing above their talent threshold. No player has been able to rack up points, assists, blocks and control the game single handily by himself, other than Michael Jordan, on the biggest stage of basketball.
James has scored 123 points in three games so far and is currently averaging 41 PTs per game. No other player, in NBA history, has scored more points in Finals history. His performance has been truly historic and amazing to watch. Not to mention, James has his hand in almost every aspect of Cleveland’s offense. LeBron has created and contributed to nearly 70 percent of Cleveland’s offense. We have heard LeBron be referred to as ‘King James’ and during this Finals performance; there should be no doubt that his nickname has definitely been earned.
A true leader makes his teammates better and that is exactly what James has been doing. Before James re-signed in Cleveland, they had a lottery roster that Cleveland had to cleanup for the King. Now that we are in the Finals, and the Cavaliers are two stars down, James has done the improbable and has an unlikely supporting cast just two wins away from winning the 2015 NBA Finals.
The unlikely pair between LeBron James and Matthew Dellavedova, aka Delly, has shocked the NBA world. Without the young stars, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, Dellavedova has stepped up to help support James. Dellavedova is an undrafted backup guard, who is extremely aggressive on defense and has repeatedly shut down this year’s MVP, Stephen Curry. Delly has played a lot of minutes due to Irving’s injury. For this year’s Finals, Delly has played 90 minutes and 81 minutes were in Cleveland’s last two wins. Delly is loved by Cleveland because he plays with his heart and gives his all to the team, which is why he is such a great supporting player for LeBron and probably one of the biggest reasons that this team has yet to collapse.
LeBron has also taken two ex-Knicks players, Iman Shumpert and JR Smith, who New York had given hope on and turned them into overachievers in Cleveland.Shumpert is doing a great job of helping the Cavaliers expose Golden State’s offensive weaknesses and JR does have a deadly shot when it’s his night. Even though their contributions are not huge, they have certainly been there for LeBron in games two and three when their numbers were called.
Now, the biggest question left, can the Golden State Warriors control the chaos and come back? Tonight is Game 4 of the 2015 NBA Finals. It also is the most important game of the series. If the Cleveland Cavaliers can continue to be led by James and Delly can continue to shut down Curry, then the Cavaliers have a strong chance of completing one of the biggest NBA upsets in history.
