NBA Finals - Who ya got?
The long awaited NBA finals finally start tonight as the defending NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers (boy that's got a nice ring to it) take on the Golden State Warriors and this marks the first time two teams have met three straight years in the finals. The Cavs come in 12-1 in the playoffs while the Warriors are 12-0 and have won an amazing 27 of their last 28 games.
ESPN polled 27 NBA experts and 23 have the Warriors winning with most picking them to prevail in 5 (top bet in Vegas by the way). Speaking of Vegas they have Golden State as a prohibitive -240 to win the series (you have to put up $240 to win $100) and the odds to win the finals MVP are Durrant the favorite at 7-5, Curry #2 at 8-5 and LeBron #3 at 2-1. Clearly the entire world thinks Golden State will make quick work of the Cavs.
Me? Well I think just about everybody here knows I'm not seeing things that way. I think as long as #23 is on the court Cleveland has a "punchers chance" of defending their title. I've got the Cavs in 7 in an epic repeat of last year's finals with a red hot Kevin Love being the surprise X factor when all is said and done.
Go Cavs!
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After last night, this looks to be the most realistic post.
I don't really like either team so I don't really care who wins. Not a huge Lebron fan, also not a huge Draymond fan. I think the Warriors will win and have more talent, but they're definitely vulnerable. They were getting their butts kicked by the Spurs until Kawhi went down. I just hope it's an entertaining series, these NBA playoffs have been incredibly dull and uneventful.
Yeah that Lebron guy is known for being a lazy bastard. All he does off the court is smoke cigars, hit up casinos, play golf and have affairs.
That's a good guess. I believe the number of adult males who are overweight is almost exactly 75%.
I have the Penguins in 5. Band wagon fan since 1990.
I expect to be disappointed.
jdon
Everything he cheers for ends up losing too. Indians lose 3-1 series lead when he attends the World Series. He shows up at a Hillary rally in the twilight of the election and Trump pulls off the political upset of the century (it proves my point so I had to go there, sorry about that). The one goddamn thing that he goes to and his side wins has to be The Game this past year. I speak for nearly every Michigan fan on here when I say LeQueen can go fuck himself
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Draymond against Lebron.
I got neither.
Go meteor strike!!!
GS sweeps and lebron cries...
Obviously Cleveland has the mental edge because they won the series last year. The X-Factor is the new guy. If Durant doesn't come to play in the series, Golden State for surely doesn't win. They have a damn good shot if he plays great.
Warriors. I don't like Bron Bron.
People like to point out that GS wins last year if they stay healthy, but you could say the same about Cleveland in 2015. Yes, the Warriors adding Durant matters, but what I think matters more, as it usually does in the NBA, is that Cleveland has the best player on the floor. Barring a LeBron injury, which is almost unheard of, give me Cleveland.
But... Cabs have both an inside game and an outside game (they shoot/make as many 3s as GS). And they can man up on D. Plus both Lebron and Kyrie seem to me to be bigger crunchtime guys than Stef or KD or Klay have been -- in that GS really hasnt been tested late.
Gotta say, it hurts, but Cavs in 6.
gsw. So i don't have to hear Lebum yell " Cleveland this is for you"
50 commercials
I honestly have no clue...but this is LeBron's biggest challenge. I agree with the ABC analysts right now.
The Warriors should win in 5 or an easy 6. But if LeBron pushes this to 7, hoooo boy. So much respect.
But if I have to pick anyone but Cleveland and Ohio State homer Lebron.
This pleases me.
I still can't believe Durant left OKC for a 73 win team. The ultimate beta cuck move.
Nothing beta about 38/8/8 with a win.
LOL @ the use of "cuck" on a Michigan blog.
He still couldn't get it done with his team. Up 3-1 they lost.
Can you imagine Jim Harbaugh joining OSU to get a Big 10 title? Cause that's what Durant did. Very wimpy.
I understand that people think he took a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach, but it's more complicated than that.
LeBron chose to join a top 2 SG and a top 3 PF to win his championships. and look what happened, now those two Miami rings have made the LeBron-MJ conversations *legitimate*. Now he's back with a top 5ish PG and a top 5ish PF and adored for being a perennial finalist.
This generation of players grew up with the boom in sports programming, blogging, message boards.
They've seen Charles Barkley and Shaq go back and forth about ringzzz.
They've seen Wilt get discounted because he only won two championships.
They've seen players spend entire careers with one team and come up short.
They've seen players jump around and come up short.
All else being equal, rings matter. All else being equal, longevity matters. The solution, if you're already a great player, is to get as many rings as possible and attain team success for as long as possible.
Durant could have stayed on his team with Westbrook and fought to make it out of the West and history would have just categorized him with Barkley and Ewing and Stockton and Malone and Iverson in the second or third tier.