By Eli Braginsky
Sports Reporter
As the first three rounds of the NBA playoffs draw to a close, two teams have risen above the rest and dominated their competition.
The Western Conference champions, the Golden State Warriors, are led by this year’s most valuable player, Steph Curry, while the Eastern Conference champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are led by arguably the best player of this generation in Lebron James.
Let’s take a look at how each team got to the NBA Finals.
How The Warriors Got Here:
The Warriors enjoyed a historic regular season, finishing 67-15, which put them on the level of some of the greatest teams of all time, such as Larry Bird’s Celtics of the 80s, and only a step below Jordan’s Bulls of the 90s.
The Warriors’ storyline is an intriguing one. After decades of mediocrity, Golden State finally made some noise last season. The team finished as the sixth seed in a stacked Western Conference and lost in the first round to the powerhouse Los Angeles Clippers.
It was clear even then that the team had immense potential, but that coach Mark Jackson could not get the most out of his talented roster. The Jackson-led Warriors ran far too many isolation plays, instead of the complex offensive sets that more team-play oriented squads, like the San Antonio Spurs, had mastered.
The Golden State front office had a difficult choice: stick with an underachieving coach that had brought the team further than it had been in decades, or fire Jackson and look for a replacement.
They decided to fire their coach, and hired former player and commentator Steve Kerr as Jackson’s replacement. Because Kerr had never coached at the collegiate or pro level, the move was considered risky at the time.
It has clearly paid off, as the Warriors, anchored by stellar defense and lights-out shooting by guards Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, have dominated teams this season en route to the franchise’s first finals appearance in 40 years.
How the Cavs Got Here:
The Eastern Conference champions have a very different but equally intriguing storyline. In the summer of 2010, Cleveland-born superstar LeBron James, who had been a Cavalier his whole career, left the team in free agency and took his talents to the Miami Heat. There, he enjoyed four finals appearances in as many years, two of which culminated in championships.
Last summer, LeBron entered free agency once again. The whole basketball world waited with baited breath to see where the best player in the world would sign.
Eventually, LeBron made an announcement that even non-basketball fans would hear about for months. In a letter he published with Sports Illustrated, LeBron told the world that he would return home to Cleveland, and would once again be a Cavalier.
Since then, it seems like everything has gone Cleveland’s way. They won the 2014 draft lottery, allowing them to draft highly-touted prospect Andrew Wiggins. The Cavaliers traded Wiggins for star power forward Kevin Love, and completed a number of other trades in order to obtain important role players like J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Kendrick Perkins, and Timofey Mozgov.
Together with this supporting cast and the Cavs’ electrifying point guard, Kyrie Irving, LeBron’s team dominated the Eastern Conference and entered the playoffs looking like a legitimate contender.
The Cavs experienced a setback in their first round series with the Celtics when Kevin Love dislocated his shoulder during an altercation with Boston’s Kelly Olynyk. Love, who provided valuable three point shooting and rebounding for Cleveland, is out for the remainder of the playoffs.
Despite this major injury, the Cavaliers have not had much trouble reaching the finals, as they did not lose more than two games in any of their first three playoff series.
The two teams in the finals have had remarkably similar playoff runs thus far. Both the Cavs and Warriors swept talented but inexperienced teams in the first round, the Celtics and Pelicans respectively. Both teams were then down 2-1 against tough, defensive-minded teams (the Cavs against the Bulls and the Warriors against the Grizzlies).
Finally, both teams easily beat the one or two seed they faced in the conference finals. Cleveland swept the struggling Atlanta Hawks, and Golden State won a five-game series against the Houston Rockets, led by MVP runner-up James Harden.
Key Factors
Storylines aside, two very tough teams will take the floor for tip off this Thursday.
The first factor that will help determine the winner of the finals is injuries. The Warriors have had some of the best luck in the NBA this year when it comes to injuries. Almost none of their players have missed significant time, not even their oft-injured center and defensive anchor Andrew Bogut.
It seemed that the team ran out of luck during their series against the Rockets when Curry fell hard and hit his head and arm after a collision from Houston forward Trevor Ariza in game four and was forced to leave the game.
After passing a concussion test, Curry subbed back into the game, but appeared to still be a little rattled, uncharacteristically airballing his first shot. He played well in game five, but it remains to be seen if he will have any lingering issues in the Finals.
The more worrying injury is that of Klay Thompson. The Warriors’ shooting guard was hit in the head in game five against the Rockets, and team doctors later issued a statement that he was concussed.
Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr expects Thompson to be ready for the Finals, and a report on Tuesday stated that he has been cleared to play by team doctors. Because concussion recovery time varies widely on a case by case basis, however, it remains to be seen if Thompson will be 100% for the series.
The Cavaliers have had injury issues of their own. Kevin Love’s shoulder injury has kept him out of the playoffs, starting shooting guard Iman Shumpert is playing with a pulled groin, and Kyrie Irving has struggled with injuries throughout the playoffs.
Kyrie missed two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, and although he played in game four and has had significant time to rest, Cavaliers’ coach David Blatt has said that the point guard will most likely not be fully healthy by game one. This could cause major issues for Cleveland’s offense, as Irving is the team’s second leading scorer, behind LeBron.
The second key factor will be the play of each team’s best player and of each team’s bench.
Golden State’s offense revolves around MVP Steph Curry, who has been stellar this entire season and postseason. His incredible shooting and dazzling ball handling has been making defenders look silly this year, and as long as he can keep up his amazing play, the Warriors’ offense will continue to be top notch.
Golden State’s bench, anchored by Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, has been reliable this season.
The Cavaliers’ leader, LeBron James, has been a man on a mission this postseason. He has stepped up in response to the team’s injury woes, putting the team on his back.
The only knock against his playoff performance has been the shooting slump that he is currently in. James has shot an abysmal 14% from the three point line, and will need to get his percentages closer to his regular season average of 35% for Cleveland to win.
Every other aspect of his play has been extraordinary, however, as his rebounding, scoring, and playmaking have all been top-notch. The team will need him to keep this performance up to beat the tough Golden State squad.
On the other hand, as last year’s finals showed, even LeBron can’t win the Finals on his own. If his teammates don’t show up, the series will be over quickly. So far, the lights-out shooting of Smith and Irving, the rebounding of Tristan Thompson, and the all-around strong play of Shumpert has allowed the team to thrive without Kevin Love; the Cavaliers need this trend to continue if they want to win.
The Cavaliers have dominated thus far in large part due to their hot shooting and strong presence on the glass, but the Warriors are even better on the boards and from behind the arc. Their three point shooting is the best in the league.
The Warriors defense is the biggest thing that sets them apart from Cleveland. The Cavs’ defense is above average, but the Warriors’ defense has been incredible this whole season, mainly behind the strong play of Bogut and Draymond Green, and ranks first in the league. Klay Thompson has played a big role as well, but Andre Iguodala can do a more than satisfactory job in his absence.
Writer’s prediction
The Cavaliers certainly have a tough team, but the Warriors’ tough defense and sharp shooting will be too much for Cleveland to overcome. The Irving and Thompson injuries cancel each other out, and even a superhuman performance from LeBron may not be enough to win the series for the Cavaliers. Warriors in 6.
