I, too, could see the Cavs winning maybe one game, but that’s about it unless something dramatic happens, like Curry rolling his ankle (within the realm of the possible) and Durant or Thompson going down. Throw in a Draymond Green meltdown in game 4 of 5 for good measure, and maybe, just maybe, the Cavs can somehow at least make the Finals watchable.
But the Warriors just have too many ways to spread the floor. The Warriors were already a perennial title contender without Durant, but KD’s addition gives them a third scorer. He also adds the dimension of being a baseline and paint scorer, which was what they didn’t always have before. This year’s Warriors were probably not quite as good as they were last year, but still good, and still arguably one of the best teams of the last 20 years.
Btw, this is the 4th straight year the NBA finals have featured the same two teams. How often has that happened in history for any other major US sport? Were there four straight Yankees-Dodgers World Series at some point?
[ul]
[li]1978-1979: NYY & LAD played back-to-back. NYY won both.[/li][li]1957-1958: NYY & Milwaukee Braves played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1955-1956: NYY & Brooklyn Dodgers played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1952-1953: NYY & Brooklyn Dodgers played back-to-back. NYY won both.[/li][li]1942-1943: NYY & STL played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1936-1937: NYY & NYG played back-to-back. NYY won both.[/li][li]1930-1931: STL & Philadelphia Athletics played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li] 1921-1923: NYY & NYG played 3 straight. NYG won the first 2, NYY won in 1923.[/li][li]1907-1908: CHC & DET played back-to-back. CHC swept (and then never won again until 2016 — ending the so-called Curse of the Billy Goat and the longest World Series championship drought in history).[/li][/ul]
To my eye, those are all of the repeated World Series matchups.
several back-to-back matchups, and only one 4 straight, 2015-2018:
[ul]
[li]2015-2018: Golden State Warriors & Cleveland Cavaliers are currently playing in their 4th straight. The Warriors took 2. And when 2018 is done, I hope it’s 3 of the 4.[/li][li]1997-1998: Chicago Bulls & Utah Jazz played back-to-back. The Bulls swept.[/li][li]1984-1985: Boston Celtics & LA Lakers played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1982-1983: LA Lakers & Philadelphia 76ers played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1978-1979: Seattle SuperSonics & Washington Bullets played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1972-1973: LA Lakers & NY Knicks played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1968-1969: Boston Celtics & LA Lakers played back-to-back. The Celtics swept.[/li][li]1965-1966: Boston Celtics & LA Lakers played back-to-back. The Celtics swept.[/li][li]1962-1963: Boston Celtics & LA Lakers played back-to-back. The Celtics swept.[/li][li]1957-1958: Boston Celtics & STL Hawks played back-to-back. They split.[/li][li]1952-1953: Minneapolis Lakers & NY Knicks played back-to-back. The Lakers swept.[/li][/ul]
Not really? The Cavs made a series of personnel moves after last season and during this season, so their roster is significantly different than this time last year. Jordan Clarkson, George Hill, Jeff Green, and Larry Nance Jr. are all getting significant minutes for the Cavs right now and weren’t on the team last year. Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye are no longer on the team.
For the Warriors this is mostly true, Ian Clark isn’t on the team and Zaza Pachulia isn’t getting minutes, but otherwise the same players are involved. (Save for rookie Jordan Bell, who can’t be faulted for his lack of production in last year’s finals.)
So this looks like the closest you found - four series in five years with the same two teams. Arguably, the Boston Celtics vs. whichever team Wilt was on in the 60s is a closer match thematically, but many of those series were conference finals and not league finals.
Lebron is amazing, but he’s not going to win another title in Cleveland unless the Cavs get more talent to compensate for the loss of Kyrie Irving. They mistakenly believed that IT was that guy, but turns out he was the beneficiary of a team concept that helped him on offense. Even in Boston, there was no papering over Thomas’ weaknesses as a defender. Kyrie Irving may not have been as good a defender as Lebron but he is an damn good player overall. And not having him is crushing the Cavs. They were having a hard time keeping up with the Warriors even with Irving last year - not having him makes a Warriors championship inevitable.
Assuming Lebron wants to stay in Cleveland - far from certain at this point - he could benefit by having at least one more big scorer. Someone like CP3, or Kevin Durant. Demarcus Cousins would give them scoring and rebounds.
In the last game Durant made four 3’s from 30 feet out, which is more than any one team in a playoff game in the last 20 years.
KD and Lebron have played against each other in 13 finals games. KD has gone 8 and 5 (soon to be 9 and 5) - kinda neat that their PPG are both exactly 32.6, not to mention being surprised that Lebron didn’t have maybe a little bit more.
Tomorrow is Lebron’s final game in Cleveland, pretty safe to say.
I’d lay odds that Cousins will never be even 3/4 of the player he was before his injury. If even that. The record for recovery from blown achilles tendons in the NBA isn’t great even with a lot of rehab and Cousins doesn’t have a reputation for being particularly diligent about keeping in shape. That’s even aside from his personality issues.
If I were a GM I wouldn’t take a chance on him unless I got bargain basement prices.
He pretty well made that clear in this underbussing of his teammates and the franchise yesterday.
James is like Wilt Chamberlain, a great individual talent who wasn’t quite good enough to consistently win it all by himself against true teams like Bill Russell’s Celtics.
Duncan (+Parker, Ginobli, Robinson, Leonard, and Greg Popovich)
Kobe (+Shaq and Phil Jackson, again)
LeBron (+Wade and Bosh)
Curry (+Thompson, Green, and Durant)
That’s it. That’s your whole list of guys who were “the guy” on a team that consistently won championships. Every single one of them did it in the company of multiple Hall of Famers.
James has done more with less than anyone who has ever lived. There is no example of anyone since George Mikan winning multiple titles without a monster team surrounding him.
I really liked watching the Dubs rise from a middling playoff team into a juggernaut. When Durant joined them, I couldn’t root for them anymore - it would be like adding an in his prime Nowitzki to that 72 win Bulls team.
The Warriors are, to me, the best team ever. They have at least 7 or 8 players that are starter level players.
One wrinkle that I’ve noticed that the Warriors have added is their quick inbound and push after made baskets - reminds me of the Showtime Lakers.
8 straight years of LeBron, 4 straight years Heat in Finals, 4 straight years Cavs in Finals, 4 straight years Warriors in Finals, you call this engaging basketball, NBA???