For the third straight year, Cleveland and Golden State will meet in the Finals after the Warriors cruised through the playoffs undefeated and the Cavs lost just once. After splitting the previous Finals matchups, we should see two teams looking to make a statement. Each team won on their home court to split the regular season series but both games were before the All Star break.
Obviously, LeBron James is the focal point for Cleveland. For the Cavs to have a shot at the upset, he will need to dominate on both ends. As good as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love can be, LeBron is the only player on the court who Golden State has no answer for. I expect to see monster triple-double like numbers from him this series and if the role players can make open shots, the Cavs can make things interesting.
Meanwhile, Golden State will continue doing what they do – push the pace as much as possible and dare the Cavs to keep up. The Warriors led all teams in the playoffs averaging 22 points per game in transition, with almost 20% of their possessions coming on the fast break. Cleveland was one of the worst transition defenders during the regular season and they will be doing everything they can to slow the pace down and force half court sets. But if the outside shots aren’t falling, Golden State can now isolate Kevin Durant and keep the offensive machine going.
From an investor perspective, I think looking at Golden State’s team total going over will have value. It will be a big number but I don’t think Cleveland will be capable of slowing the Warriors down. We should get some big numbers on the spread in the first two games and I will also be looking at Cleveland against-the-spread for one of the two games at Oracle Arena.
This should be an aggressive, physical series. I think LeBron has a huge chip on his shoulder about Golden State becoming the NBA’s darlings and I expect the Cavs to be very physical, grabbing, holding and pushing as much as they can get away with. But as good as LeBron has been, I just don’t think the Cavs can keep pace. Warriors in 6.
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