The Cavs have an incredible opportunity as they face the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals starting tonight. It’s an opportunity to achieve greatness, and this is what most athletes crave more than anything.
Forget the 52-year championship drought in Cleveland. Forget about what happened last year. This is about an extremely talented Cavs team led by one of the all-time great players going up against another great team chasing history.
This Warriors team is awfully impressive, and their ability to go on runs fueled by insane three-point shooting by Steph Curry and Klay Thompson certainly presents a challenge. But as pointed out by Joe Posnanski in his column, the Warriors have not been playing as well in the playoffs and should have lost to Oklahoma City. If the Cavs play well, they should and probably will beat this team.
But they have to play well. Lebron and Kyrie need to be aggressive but also play team basketball. Lebron has to play hard in the post. Kyrie has to make shots. Kyrie and Kevin Love have to work hard on defense, and the rest of the roster has to hit their shots. If the Cavs play balanced basketball, they can handle the Warriors.
The Cavs have talent and they have depth. Their role players have been excellent, with Delly, Channing Frye, Shump and Richard Jefferson coming off the bench.
Expect the Cavs to run and push for easy baskets. The key will be getting back on transition as well, and don’t be surprised if Tyronn Lue goes even deeper to get some minutes from Timofey Mozgov and even Mo Williams if needed at key times to keep the rotation fresh.
Vegas has the Warriors favored, but that means nothing. It’s up to Lebron and the Cavs to play well and show just how good this team has become.