[2017 NBA Finals] Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

RIP Cavs; last 6 winners SAS has picked have gone 0-6

 

Yes, nothing like watching Kelly Olynyk take on the carcass of LaMarcus Aldridge to make the Finals great again...finally.

 

Kyrie Irving's left ankle is "good," but how will it be after game one? May all your landings be safe during the battle of the unlikable part III.

 

I don't know, part of me says Warriors because they're just a much better team than any team in the NBA but then part of me says Cleveland because Lebron is just a much better player than anyone in the NBA.

If there's something i've learned from this league, it's to not underestimste the King.

Go Cavs!

 

Warriors in 5.

 

Cavs in 6. Love will play inside/out at a high level.. Kyrie will eat up Curry..and, LBJ will do LBJ things. They have a great flow...The Cavs have elevated their level of play. Forget about it.

 

Should rename the thread: east allstars vs west allstars.

 

Warriors are clear favorites to me but I hope they lay couple of eggs here and there to NOT make it a gentleman sweep.

 

Harden shouldn't have quit but that man Stephen A should have!!

 

It could mean he's due to get it right

 

Holy hell thats hilarious

 

Spoiler

Woj 'praising' LeBron? Must be getting ready for his move to ESPN.

He has a chance, even without getting to six, because he's going against this great Golden State team. To beat that Warriors team last year & now with Durant, if he beats this team again, to me, he doesn't have to get six. The greatness & how deep that Warriors team is with superstar talent, it gives LeBron a chance to shortcut that six titles by beating that team again. Michael never had to beat a team as wildly talented & deep as this Golden State team is.

The easy way is to say Kobe has more titles...I get it. You can just point to that. If that's your barometer, then LeBron never reaches Michael except if you watch with your own eyes. He's dominated this game over an incredible period of time without walking away & coming back. When Michael left the game, at the time of the passing of his father helped pushed him out, towards baseball & back...There is an incredible pressure on players of that stature to do it over & over. This Cleveland team & how they've approached the postseason with rest, this team was a 2 seed. Next year, do they take more rest? They've shown we'll put less value on the regular season. Next year, the older he gets, the less you see of him in the regular season & everything towards these 2 months. You'll see more of that as he gets older. That's different from Michael but Michael also took 2 years off during his prime & came back. People ask how many more titles would he have won if he stayed? We'll never know. He may have burned out. His body may have broken down. We'll never know what that baseball break did. LeBron will put himself in a situation with great players around him & should be able to continue to compete at a high level, especially in the East right now. Cleveland has the East on lock the next couple of years.

If Golden State wins, Durant will have that ring. Will he have the respect he's after as well?

It may not be exactly...you look back when LeBron went to Miami & there was a sense of he ganged up & won't get that credit but he did. That wasn't a 73-win team he jumped onto. It was a team loaded once they all got together. Because people have seen the super team era...I do think in some ways LeBron cleared the way for Kevin to get some credit for this but he may not get all the credit he hoped he would. I'm not sure that's exactly why he did it. I think he's happy with this team & group. Day in & day out, he's a different person than he was in OKC. It's clear he's more relaxed & likes being a part of this team. He'll live with whatever/however he's judged. The experience has been positive. In the short term, maybe people say he gravy-trained but as time passes, they'll remember you won a championship (or multiple if that's how it goes there). It's inevitable people won't give him as much credit because he walked into that group but as time passes, they just remember how many titles you won.

Steve Kerr not involved in the Finals?

Talked to him after game four in SA. Walked with him down the hallway. That was just a few days ago. Hard to imagine, for as a difficult time it was for him, hard to imagine a scenario within several days that would all turn around & he'd be ready for the noise/lights that make his physical condition hard to deal with. I didn't talk to anyone around the Warriors who had confidence his health could turn that quickly. They're 12-0 with Mike Brown. Steve will put the team first. Hard to imagine him on the sidelines in the Finals. Going forward, he'll fight to continue to want to fight this team. Hard job to walk away from. If he was coaching anyone else, you'd might have seen him take a step back & walk away. To walk away from this team would be hard. He'll fight to be the coach of this team but it's heartbreaking to see what he's going through. He's in real agony.

Mike Brown vs. his former team. Story line at all?

They are actually paying him. Not an accident Golden State is only paying him $500K. His market value, he'd be over $1M. He's fine taking that because Cleveland has to pay the difference. If Golden State pays him more, that's less Cleveland has to pay him. For Mike, whether he'll continue to coach Golden State or maybe an opportunity somewhere else...Mike is much more relaxed. He's a good guy. He's loosened up. Some life experiences the last couple years. He's a much different guy. He was a good compliment for Steve Kerr as his top assistant. If Steve couldn't continue going next season, I'd have a hard time imagining GS opens up that job. It's there for Mike to continue. If it did open up, it'd have to be the greatest coaching opening in the history of anything.​

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even a broken clock is right twice a day. Stephen a Smith got it right this time

 

Cavs in 7

 

Cavs in 6. When I saw Durant's smile right after the game in Game 4 against San Antonio Spurs, I think he was satisfied being in the NBA Finals than winning the NBA Finals. Korver is going to be John Paxson and Steve Kerr.

 

Warriors have not lost a single game with a healthy roster since mid February when the Nuggets tied team record for 3 pointers made.

Top 5 teams by SRS(regular season+postseason):

96 CHI 13.7
71 MIL 13.1
97 CHI 13.0
72 MIL 12.7
16 GSW 12.4

Currently pre-finals healthy 2017 Warriors are at 14.2 SRS

It's going to be somewhat boring finals(couple blowouts) with Warriors winning in 4 or 5 games. People that actually think Cavs will win are delusional.

 

I don't know... never underestimate what driven superstars like MJ and LBJ can will their teams to do when it's all on the line. The Warriors have a bunch of beta b****es other than Green. Look at game 7 last year. Green goes for 32/14/9 while Curry and Thompson combine for 31 points on 33% shooting. People say Green is the X factor but he's really the alpha of the Warriors surrounded by a bunch of great shooters with no killer instinct that shrink up in crunch time.

I see Cavs winning because there is still just one ball and LBJ will rise to the occasion and Green just isn't as good.

 

I don't know... never underestimate what driven superstars like MJ and LBJ can will their teams to do when it's all on the line. The Warriors have a bunch of beta b****es other than Green. Look at game 7 last year. Green goes for 32/14/9 while Curry and Thompson combine for 31 points on 33% shooting. People say Green is the X factor but he's really the alpha of the Warriors surrounded by a bunch of great shooters with no killer instinct that shrink up in crunch time.

I see Cavs winning because there is still just one ball and LBJ will rise to the occasion and Green just isn't as good.

 

Stick to your day job because reading people definitely isn't your thing.

Nobody is under more pressure in the Finals than KD. Not even close. His matchup with LeBron is the #1 topic of discussion. If he doesn't deliver the goods and the heavily favored Warriors lose, writers and fans will justifiably fillet him.

Meanwhile, if the Cavs win, LeBron will have two sets of KD antlers on his wall and the debate about him and MJ will become even more intense.