Storyline: Cleveland has evolved into a championship team and the Cavs haven’t plateaued. Even with the addition of Kevin Durant, Golden State won’t be able to stop the Cavs from repeating. Written by Austin Feela, Denver, CO.
The Background
Last year LeBron James won his third NBA title in the last five years. It was his 6th overall appearance in the NBA Finals. It was James’ second straight appearance in the Finals in his return to Cleveland.
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In 2015–as in 2016–it was James vs. the Golden State Warriors. But in ’16 LeBron was without his star point guard and elite scorer, Uncle Drew (Kyrie Irving). He was also without his best big man, Kevin Love.
In ’15 LeBron knew that he had to do it by himself. He dropped 44 points in the first game for his career high in a NBA Finals game, and he almost stole Game One from the Warriors. LeBron came back strong for Game Two with a triple- double, playing over 50 minutes. LeBron had a huge Game Three, almost dropping a triple-double again in a Cav’s win.
The Warriors came back in the next three games and dominated the Cavs, winning by 21, 13, and 8, respectively. LeBron not winning a championship was a killer–for him and the city of Cleveland. He was now 0-2 in a Cavs’ uniform with his other loss coming in 2007.
LeBron knew he had to win it the following year. In ’16 the Cavs coasted through the Eastern Conference, losing only two games to the Raptors. On the other side, Golden State was coming off the best regular season in NBA history (73-9). The Warriors were also coming off of an impressive comeback win against an extremely hungry Thunder team, after trailing 3 games to 1.
The Warriors were clearly favored in the Finals, but they didn’t know what was ahead. The Cavs had their two All-Stars back and Uncle Drew was ready to compete in his first-ever Finals. But the Cavs lost three of the first four games.
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How could LeBron let this happen? James almost had a triple-double in Game 4, but Steph Curry was simply just too good, finishing with 38 point. He also made Kyrie Irving look like a back-up point guard.
While the Warriors were hungry for a repeat, the Cavs had other plans. LeBron and Irving each dropped 41 points in Game 5. LeBron had another dominant performance in Game 6, putting up 41 points. So it was going to come down to Game 7.
There was no way LeBron was letting Curry affect his legacy…again. LeBron put up his first ever triple-double–only the third time that a player has had a triple-double in a Game 7. Curry, the back-to-back regular season MVP, was held to 17 points. He played horribly in the most important game of the series, and he didn’t fare much better in the series. He put up 20+ points in only three of the seven games.
James, on the other hand, put up 40 points twice and was only held under 20 points in one game. LeBron dominated Curry in every aspect of the game–points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. But he didn’t just beat Curry in all of those categories: he led every other player, too. James might have had the greatest series ever by an individual in NBA history: 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.6 steals and 2.3 blocks.
Prediction for This Year
Heading into the 2016/2017 season the Warriors are the favorites at 3-2. Those odds went up significantly with the addition of top 5 player, Kevin Durant. Will the Warriors coast to the NBA championship this year?
No.
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Getting Durant was not easy for the Warriors. They had to give up Harrison Barnes, who was basically a trade for Durant. That trade did not hurt them at all, but they also had to give up three role players–Leandro Barbosa, Festus Ezeli, and Marreese Speights. These were all good bench players for Golden State and a big reason why the Warriors had the best bench in the league.
The Cavs, on the other hand, did not have any major signings, but they also didn’t give up anything. LeBron is still in his prime and he’s not slowing down.
I’m only talking about those two teams because I believe they’ll meet in the Finals again this year. I also believe that the Cavaliers WILL win the NBA Finals … again … this year.
We all know that LeBron absolutely goes off every time he’s in the NBA playoffs. Curry, on the other hand, has had shaky performances in consecutive Finals.
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But the Cavs will won for more reasons than those. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving have now played in a NBA Finals and they both know what to expect. James and Irving will be too much for the Warriors and Durant will not be able to stop LeBron. Irving will once again shred Curry on offense because Curry is an average NBA guard, at best.
It’s about time to stop disrespecting LeBron James. He is either the greatest or second best to ever play the game. If LeBron puts up another Finals’ performance, then there’s no way he’s going to lose.
Now that the Warriors have a super team, LeBron will make sure he shows he’s the best player of all time.
