Question #1
Warriors: Just how different is this team from the club that went 73-9?
It's crystal clear that in spite of the fact that Golden State has made it to the Finals, they are not as dominant of a beast as they were from October-April. They are lucky as hell to be here, as the Oklahoma City Thunder had the Dubs halfway in the grave before an incredible comeback/choke led to the Warriors repeating as Western Conference Champs. The Warriors "struggles" date back to their quarterfinal series victory over the Portland Trailblazers. Even though Golden State won the series in 5 games, every game aside from the first one was competitive, and it took Steph Curry's historical performance in Game 4 to keep things from getting interesting.
It's quite simple. If the Warriors from Games 1-4 of the Western Conference Finals show up, then Cleveland will be licking their chops. If the Warriors from Games 4-7/the whole regular season show up, Cleveland will be doing what Cleveland is used to doing.
Question #1
Cleveland: Is the West too strong
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a good basketball team. Hell, any team that has LeBron James on it is a championship contender. However, it must be said that they have not had a path to the finals anywhere near as difficult as Golden State has had. Detroit, Atlanta, and Toronto are not elite, and it's a product of a conference that is not elite. Cleveland cannot control who they play, but to erase any doubt that they are the real deal, they need to give Steph and the boys all they can handle.
Question #2
Golden State: Will the splash be back.
The bread and butter of the Golden State Warriors is their shooting. If they can't shoot, they will have a hell of a time winning this series. If they can shoot, well, Cleveland knows how it goes.
Question #2
Cavs: We know Lebron will bring it; what about the rest of them?
Jordan had Pippen. Shaq had Kobe and Penny. Magic had Kareem. Bird had Parish and McHale. Duncan had/has Parker and Manu. Durant has Westbrook. Curry has Thompson. James had Wade and Bosh. James now has..... Irving?
There is no doubt that Kyrie Irving can play. He is a quality point guard and will be for years to come. But is he a superstar worthy of being the right-hand man to the greatest player of my generation? We might get our answer in this series. The Warriors have a great supporting cast to back Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson officially became an NBA superstar last Saturday in
Oklahoma. I'm not so sure you can say the same for LeBron's crew.
Kevin Love is not the force that he was in Minnesota. Tristen Thompson is an impressive rebounder for his size but hardly worthy of his $15,000,000 a year salary. J.R. Smith is a role player who thinks he's a basketball immortal. Channing Frye is dangerous from 3-pt range.
Without Steph Curry, the Golden State Warriors are still one of the better teams in the league. Who knows where the Cavs would be without "The King"? Maybe that question will develop a clearer answer quite soon.
Question #3
Golden State: So.... who is guarding LeBron?
The prospect of anybody from Oakland keeping LBJ at bay is nearly impossible. LeBron will get his, but how much he will get will be affected by whoever Steve Kerr decides to put on him. In my opinion, that man should be Andre Iguodala. As basketball fans should remember, the turning point of last year's series between these two teams was when Iggy was inserted into Kerr's starting lineup just before Game 4. Andre's performance both on offense and defense was a large factor in the Dubs taking the next three games and the title, and a lot of his contributions came from the way he defended #23.
Kerr knows what works, and I will be surprised if anybody else is checking 'Bron.
Question #3
Cleveland- Can Delly stop Curry?
It is true that in 2015, Matthew Dellavedova did neutralize Stephen Curry for a brief time. It's also true that Curry is a superstar who has turned into a megastar since last summer, while Dellavedova is no such thing. So, I would say no.
Question #4
Golden State: Will Draymond Green get suspended?
This may seem like a sarcastic, sort of comedic question, but it is not. We all know how important Draymond Green is to his ball club, and we also know how stupid he can be on the court at times. Draymond gave Stephen Adams a kick to the lower area that should have resulted in a suspension, and the league is likely carrying a zero tolerance policy into this series when it comes to Golden State's #23. Hopefully, Green will be cool enough not to be bothered by the league office.
Question #4:
Cleveland: How much of a liability will Kevin Love be on defense?
Kevin Love will need to put on his big boy pants if the Cavs are to win this series. He needs to be better offensively. He needs to play an unfamiliar role of being the #5 and create easy scoring chances for LBJ. Perhaps most importantly, he needs to at least be adequate regarding defending the pick-and -roll.
There has been a great debate as the whether or not the absence of Love and Kyrie Irving prevented Clevland from being crowned champs last season. I have said for awhile that the answer to that question is no. The reason I say this is because neither Irving nor Love are great defensive players, so my theory is that Golden State would have just pick and rolled Cleveland to death and won the title anyway.
If Love is a defensive liability like he often is, I will consider my theory to be valid. Cleveland better hope Love proves me wrong. If he doesn't, well, familiar tears.
Question #5
Both Teams: Who will win?
This is it. This is the rematch. This is the series that everybody wanted. We have two great teams with stars everywhere. It's going to be fun to watch, but in my opinion, Golden State is the deeper and, overall, better team. They have come too far not to finish the deal, and if OKC couldn't finish them off after the massacres in games 3 and 4, I don't think anybody can stop the Dubs. That doesn't mean it won't be a hell of a fight.
Warriors in 7.
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