Picture: Front entrance to Quicken Loans Arena on May 30th, 2018. (There were no new decorations yet for the 2018 NBA Finals as the Q renovation project takes place. Decorations were added today.) |
Cavs rotation
Star players who are core players: F/G LeBron James, F/C Kevin Love
Role players who are core players: G George Hill, G/F J.R. Smith, C/F Tristan Thompson, F Jeff Green, G/F Kyle Korver
Role players who are situational players: G Jordan Clarkson, F/C Larry Nance Jr., G/F Rodney Hood, F/G Cedi Osman, G Jose Calderon
Bench players who are secondary backups: C/F Ante Zizic, C Kendrick Perkins, F Okaro White
*Not on playoff roster: Two-way players: G/F John Holland, G London Perrantes
Warriors rotation
Star players who are core players: F Kevin Durant, G Stephen Curry, G Klay Thompson, F/C Draymond Green
Role players who are core players: [G Andre Iguodala], C/F Kevon Looney, G Shaun Livingston, G/F Nick Young, G Quinn Cook
Role players who are situational players: C/F Jordan Bell, F David West, G Patrick McCaw, C JaVale McGee
Bench players who are secondary backups: C Zaza Pachulia, C Damian Jones
*Not on playoff roster: Two-way players: F Chris Boucher
It has been an evolution of a championship rivalry. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are meeting in the NBA Finals for a fourth consecutive year. No other Finals rivals have met more consecutively than two times in a row. (A quick review of the past 3 series is included at the end of this article.)
The Warriors are the clear cut favorites in this series. The Hamptons 5 had a successful playoff run for a few games until Andre Iguodala suffered a knee injury vs. the Rockets. GM Bob Myers has added several players to help Coach Steve Kerr compensate for Iguodala while he is out, including young point guard Quinn Cook, veteran swingman "Swaggy P" Nick Young, and rookie center Jordan Bell. As Bell has started some games during the regular season, he may rejoin the starting lineup in place of Looney if Iguodala misses the bulk of the series and Looney struggles on defense vs. the Cleveland starters. The Warriors have relied on spurts of in-game dominance on both ends of the court to win their playoff games. They remain a fundamentally strong team, but they do show signs of being less physically fit than last season. Regardless, they will look to push the tempo early on in this series and try to sweep the Cavs.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have been playing the role of underdog throughout the playoffs. Numerous analysts and fans had predicted that the Pacers, Raptors, and Celtics would beat the Cavs in less than 7 games in each series. Yet, they battled their way to the Finals behind the MVP play of LeBron James. Having trained under previous GM David Griffin, new GM Koby Altman made some bold, aggressive moves in order to re-establish a contending team.
Without the dominant scoring ability of former Cavalier guard Kyrie Irving, Coach Tyronn Lue might use the Cavs' strategy vs. the Celtics in Game 7, which was similar to their 2015 Finals strategy: i.e. slow the game down to preserve LeBron's energy and limit the Warriors' fastbreak points while rotating bench guys in and out in order to figure out who will play well in this series. If doing so, this would be radically different than last year's Finals, when Coach Lue kept a faster pace in order to wear down the Hamptons 5 and force Coach Kerr to use his bench players more often. Whether or not Coach Lue tries to have the Cavs slow the game down, he will continue to encourage the Cavs to capitalize on fastbreak opportunities when they arise.
The ability of the Cavs' role players to perform in this series will determine if the Cavs can pull off the series upset. With this in mind, Coach Lue must get more out of Kyle Korver this Finals, as Korver was rendered a non-factor by the competitive Golden State defense last Finals. Coach Lue must also trust his bench, including giving Cedi Osman and Rodney Hood opportunities to prove they can play against the Warriors. As some statistics listed below show, Hood, George Hill, Jeff Green, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., and Jose Calderon have had some personal success against the Warriors in the past, with Hill, Clarkson, and Nance Jr. getting some regular season wins and Green getting a couple playoff wins.
Some stats from the new guys
In regular season games vs. the Warriors over the past 4 years:
> George Hill has averaged 12.0 ppg and 2.0 apg in 5 games with 20 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals in a 2016-2017 game; teams went 3-2
> Jeff Green has averaged 7.4 ppg and 3.0 rpg in 10 games with a high of 16 points in 2014-2015, teams went 0-10
> Jordan Clarkson has averaged 13.3 ppg in 15 games with 5 20-point games and a high of 25 points in 2015-2016; team went 3-12
> Larry Nance Jr. has averaged 7.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, and 1.8 spg in 11 games; team went 2-9
> Rodney Hood has averaged 15.3 ppg in 6 games with a high of 26 points earlier this season; team went 0-6
> Jose Calderon has averaged 4.8 ppg, 3.0 apg, and 1.8 rpg with 2 games of 6 assists in 2016-2017, teams went 0-6
In playoff games vs. the Warriors over the past 4 years:
> Jeff Green averaged 8.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 1.8 apg in 6 games in 2015 (with Memphis)
> Rodney Hood averaged 6.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, and 1.8 apg in 4 games in 2017 (with Utah)
> George Hill averaged 7.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 3.0 apg in 1 game in 2017 (with Utah)
Schedule
> Game 1 @GSW: Tonight 9pm
> Game 2 @GSW: Sunday, 6/3 8pm
> Game 3 @CLE: Wednesday, 6/6 9pm
> Game 4 @CLE: Friday, 6/8 9pm
> Game 5 (if necessary) @GSW: Monday, 6/11 9pm
> Game 6 (if necessary) @CLE: Thursday, 6/14 9pm
> Game 7 (if necessary) @GSW: Sunday, 6/17 8pm
A quick review of the past 3 series:
2015: Warriors win, 4-2. Having lost Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and Anderson Varejao to season-ending injuries, LeBron James led an underdog Cavs squad to a spirited 2-1 lead, with center Timofey Mozgov serving as the team's second-leading scorer in the series. Assistant coach Tyronn Lue was credited with designing a successful defense that included standout performances by Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert. In response, Coach Steve Kerr unleashed the "Death Lineup" of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green to re-establish the tempo of each game. Likewise, Coach Kerr played a deep bench and got helpful contributions from several role players, including Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, David Lee, and Festus Ezeli.
Coach David Blatt had a couple notable miscues in the series. First, he played an injured Irving for 44 minutes, which ended with Irving's devastating knee injury that still bothers him to this day. Second, Coach Blatt opted not to use veteran wing defender Shawn Marion, a former champion who was at the end of his career. Coach Blatt even neglected to put Marion in at the end of the Game 6 defeat, as NBA coaches traditionally give retiring players a retirement moment in that player's last game. It was not surprising that GM David Griffin eventually fired Coach Blatt in the middle of the next season due to disconnects in the Cavs locker room and a lack of connection with the general NBA culture.
2016: Cavs win, 4-3. #ALLin216 may go down as the masterpiece year of GM Griffin and new head coach Lue. Taking over at midseason, Coach Lue established the team's culture with the help of free agent swingman Richard Jefferson (who had actually spent one season as a bench player for Golden State's underdog playoff run in 2013). In addition to Jefferson, GM Griffin brought point guard Mo Williams back to Cleveland at the beginning of the year, added sharpshooting forward Channing Frye at the trade deadline, and signed veteran guard Dahntay Jones at the end of the season to help boost the Cavs bench. In turn, Coach Lue leaned on Frye's 3-point shooting in earlier rounds and turned to Williams and D. Jones for help in Games 6 and 7 to close out the 3-1 comeback win. Other successful coaching decisions by Coach Lue included removing Dellavedova from the rotation during the Finals as he struggled to recover from an earlier playoff ankle injury and rotating Love, Jefferson, and Shumpert in and out of the lineup at the end of Game 7.
Much has been said about D. Green's Game 5 suspension, Andrew Bogut's season-ending injury during Game 5, and Curry's nagging injury issues that year. However, Coach Kerr also had some miscues in managing the post, with Ezeli, Marreese Speights, and GM Bob Myers's stunning midseason free agent signing Varejao all struggling throughout the series. In particular, when Coach Kerr called on Ezeli to help out in the 4th quarter of Game 7, James focused on exploiting Ezeli with pick-and-roll plays that forced unwanted defensive switches.
2017: Warriors win, 4-1. 2017 may go down as the masterpiece year of GM Myers. Golden State's "Death Lineup" evolved into the "Hamptons 5" as the Warriors replaced Barnes with former league MVP Kevin Durant. In addition to Durant, GM Myers added big men David West, Zaza Pachulia, and JaVale McGee and aging swingman Matt Barnes as veteran contributors. The Warriors went 16-1 in the playoffs as they rode the dominance of the Hamptons 5 with different game-by-game contributions by different older and younger role players.
Looking to compete with Golden State's newfound dominance, GM Griffin did his best during the season to add standout role players, bringing Kyle Korver, Deron Williams, and Derrick Williams to Cleveland. In turn, Coach Lue saw the team's best chance at beating the Warriors by playing fast in order to wear down the Hamptons 5 and force Coach Kerr to use his bench. Coach Lue maximized Love's talent this time around but found that the new Hamptons 5 lineup made it difficult to play Love and Tristan Thompson at the same time, which hurt the Cavs' rebounding. Korver also struggled in the series. Meanwhile, Coach Lue opted not to play Derrick Williams, who could have served as one extra wing defender, rebounder, spot-up shooter, and fastbreak scorer to help out against the Hamptons 5 lineup.
GM Griffin made a few 'minor' roster decisions that may have actually had major implications. First, he waived Jordan McRae, who had become a close friend of Irving, in order to sign former Warrior center Bogut (who ended up sustaining a season-ending injury in his only game with the Cavs). Second, likely with guidance from Coach Lue and James, GM Griffin waived guard DeAndre Liggins (who had played about 19.5 minutes per game as a primary defender against the Warriors in the regular season) in order to bring back veteran guard D. Jones to help stabilize the locker room. McRae and Liggins may have been viable bench options in the Finals, with McRae's departure arguably adding fuel to Irving's desire to leave the team.