It’s the match-up everyone was hoping for
The NBA play-offs may have been something of a damp squib, with injuries and a lack of competitive series failing to grab the imagination, but that should all change now that we’ve gotten the dream NBA Finals match-up between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Both sides wrapped up their Conference finals victories early, leaving an unprecedented eight-day wait before Game 1 of the Finals. All the hype is about the potential David vs Goliath battle between Stephen Curry and LeBron James, but are plenty of other storylines to heighten the intrigue ahead of Thursday’s tip-off in San Francisco.
Here are the main reasons why you should be watching:
1. It’s the best team against the best player
Curry may have won the regular season MVP award (and deservedly so), but there’s no question that LeBron is still the King. James has willed the Cavaliers to the Finals in the absence of his best two team-mates, point guard Kyrie Irving and forward Kevin Love, instead elevating the play of a squad full of retreads, cast-offs and unheralded youngsters. He’s only averaged the 31 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in Cleveland’s last two play-off series. It is James’s fifth consecutive appearance in the Finals, something nobody since the dominant Boston Celtics teams of the 1960s has achieved. Not Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan (thanks baseball). Just LeBron.
Golden State, meanwhile, coasted to the league’s best regular-season record playing a relentless brand of team basketball that has bludgeoned teams into submission on both ends of the floor. In amassing a 67-15 record, Golden State completed one of the ten best regular seasons of all time, both in terms of pure win-loss record and more analytical measures such as point differential. These Warriors became just the eighth team in NBA history to with a points differential in double-digits, and of the previous seven only the 1972 Milwaukee Bucks failed to win the title (thanks to a Los Angeles Lakers team which also features on the list). As good as they are putting the ball in the basket, they are just as adept on the defensive end and can throw four or five different guys to challenge LeBron.
2. LeBron’s redemption
James soured his relationship with his hometown team and fans after using an ill-advised prime-time special, The Decision, to announce he was joining the Miami Heat in 2010. Four years and two championship rings later, James is on the road to redemption. He shocked the rest of the NBA by opting out of his Heat deal and returning to Cleveland, penning a lengthy open letter titled ‘I’m Coming Home’ that doubled as an apology for the manner of his departure and a mission statement outlining his determination to end the city’s title drought.
By returning to the downtrodden Cavs, LeBron suddenly altered the way his career will be judged. Yes, as his generation’s greatest player he will still be measured against Michael Jordan’s six rings and Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan’s five, but if he is able to deliver even one title to a city that hasn’t triumphed in any of the major professional sports in more than 50 years there will be the sense that his legacy is secure.
3. The Steph Curry heat-check
Curry has been the story of the season, the underdog who most thought was too small or too fragile to ever be considered among the very best in the league, despite his pedigree. The son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell (backcourt team-mate Klay Thompson is also a second-generation pro, the son of 1978 number one overall pick Mychal), Curry has already put his father’s career in the shade, developing into the most feared shooter and ball-handler in the league.
We’ve covered enough of Curry’s incredible plays over the course of the season, and when he catches fire, which he is almost guaranteed to do at least once during the series, it’s a revelation.
Speaking of revelations…
3a. Riley Curry
While Golden State comprehensively outplayed Houston in five games, the real breakout star of the Western Conference finals was Curry’s daughter, Riley. The delightful two-year-old has been taking over her dad’s post-match press conferences and, aside from a few uptight media grumps bemoaning the ‘distraction’, pretty much everyone just wants more Riley.
Of course, she now also has her own parody Twitter account…
https://twitter.com/itsRileyCurry/status/604492726919413762
https://twitter.com/itsRileyCurry/status/604382572353835008
4. The supporting actors
The headliners are Curry and James, but there are a host of secondary characters capable of putting in a game-winning display on any given night. Top of the list are Thompson and Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving, both of whom are unlikely to be at 100 per cent – Thompson was only cleared on Tuesday from a nasty concussion suffered in the series-clinching Game 5 against Houston, while Irving has barely played or practised since injuring his left knee a fortnight ago.
But both are among the purest scorers in the game, capable of explosive bursts of long-range shooting. Thompson broke the NBA record for scoring in a quarter earlier this season, while Irving posted the two highest scoring games of the year with hauls of 57 and 55. There’s also JR Smith, the unpredictable yet lethal long-range shooter that the laughably bad New York Knicks couldn’t wait to offload.
Manning the paint are Warriors defensive anchor Andrew Bogut and Cleveland rebounding machine Tristan Thompson, while Golden State’s Swiss Army knife Draymond Green can defend every position on the floor.
5. The Coach of Warriors Past
Steve Kerr is a five-time former NBA champion, a three-pointer specialist who played a key role in title runs in Chicago and San Antonio, and was a failure in a short stint as general manager of the Phoenix Suns, but regardless of his pedigree to have led the Warriors to the Finals in his first season on the bench at any level is a remarkable achievement. Much of the ground work, especially defensively, was laid by former coach Mark Jackson, who was relieved of his duties despite leading the franchise to its first 50-win season in 20 years. It has proved to be the right move, but Jackson has to wonder Golden State would be here under his leadership. Fortunately, Jackson is set for commentary duties during the Finals, so we should get some idea what he really thinks.
6. Cleveland clearout?
It is the first time two rookie coaches will meet in the Finals, but while Kerr is being universally applauded for his guidance of the Warriors, Cavs head David Blatt is in the bizarre position where he could lose his job even if Cleveland win. Blatt, a veteran of the European and international games, has often looked out of his depth in the NBA, no more than when he almost botched the end of a play-off game against Chicago Bulls by trying to call a timeout the Cavs didn’t have.
If Blatt can save his seat on the bench with a more composed performance in the Finals, Kevin Love has to sit and watch as he recovers from a dislocated shoulder. Love was a marquee addition via trade after the arrival of LeBron but hasn’t fit in, leading to tensions between the pair that have cast doubt on whether Love will return to Cleveland for the final year of his deal, which he continues to claim is his preference. But James shares an agent with Tristan Thompson, who shares a position with Love, and if he excels in the Finals it will make it easier for Cleveland to move on from the third man in their big three.
7. Could we see a passing of the torch?
Curry and the Warriors play with an infectious zeal that has captivated America and turned them into everyone’s second favourite team. The Warriors haven’t been in the Finals since winning it all in 1975, and are in only their fourth play-offs since 1994, but their home court crowd is as fearsome as any in the league and they are justifiably favourites, despite lining up opposite the finest player the league has seen in nearly 20 years. We are smack bang in the LeBron Era, but with Curry, Thompson, Green and Harrison Barnes all 27 and under, the West’s best are here to stay.
