This year’s NBA Finals matchup will feature LeBron James, the consensus best basketball player alive, going up against the best basketball team of the season in the Golden State Warriors, which also has a very special player of its own. It’s definitely an intriguing matchup, though no one really knows for sure how this championship series will unfold.
This is where the experts come in. With their endless monologues, passionate analysis, and well-articulated breakdowns, we’ve found out that they’re more split than what most people want us to believe—that the Warriors are heavily favored to win this series featuring two squad starving for a championship.
Let’s find out just what these experts think about this series and why they see it going for one side over the other. Meanwhile, check out our preview of Game 1 of the series here.
[sc:NBAArticles ]What the Experts are saying about Cavs vs. Warriors
Pro-Warriors: They have Stephen Curry and are deeper
[sc:NBA240banner ]It’s easy to see why the Warriors are favored to defeat Cleveland. For starters, they have a guy who goes by the name of Stephen Curry, the league’s worthy regular season MVP, who’s averaging 29 points per game and shooting close to 44 percent from beyond the arc in the playoffs.
Curry’s top sidekick, Klay Thompson, is quite a player too. Both players are the excellent floor-spacers, whose knack for making shots from anywhere on the court forces opponents’ defenses to break down.
Sean Deveny of Sporting News, while recognizing the Splash Brothers’ abilities to inflict damage on Cleveland, also points to Golden State’s terrific supporting cast. The Warriors’ bench is deeper, while the Cavs only have Matthew Dellavedova, J.R. Smith and James Jones beyond their first five according to Deveny.
Pro-Cavs: They have LeBron James
But for Matt Dollinger of Sports Illustrated, all the Cavs need to overcome the Warriors is LeBron James, LeBron James, and have we mentioned LeBron James yet? Dollinger believes the Warriors have the best tools to slow down James, but goes on to say that no one can really stop the four-time MVP “when he’s in the zone.”
The entire Eastern Conference certainly couldn’t contain King James, who has averaged 27.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 8.3 assists thus far in the playoffs. And those are his numbers while he’s in arguably his worst shooting slump ever (43% field goal percentage and 17% three-point percentage).
Pro-Warriors: The Dubs have the bodies to defend James
That assessment is directly opposite to what other experts like Ken Berger of CBS Sports is saying. Berger notes that the Warriors have the length and athleticism to deal with James, specifically coming from Draymond Green, Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes. Berger, who has Golden State winning the series in seven games, also raises the absence of Kevin Love as to why he likes the Dubs’ chances.
Pro-Warriors: The Cavs will miss Kevin Love
Love’s absence is a huge for the Cavs. For Adi Joseph of Sporting News, unless Love comes back and plays in the finals, the Cavs are shot. They will miss having that extra big body who can spread the floor with his shooting, while also crash the boards against that deep Warriors team. James has been incredible in playing the four in Love’s absence, but the beating he’s taken in these playoffs will have to take a toll sometime soon.
Pro-Cavs: They haven’t missed Love yet
Joseph, however, may have overlooked the fact that the Cavs have played better (at least defensively) with Love in a suit and tie rather than in a Cavs jersey. As explained by Dollinger, the Cavs have a defensive rating of 99.1 since Love went down with a shoulder injury. By comparison, the Cavs had a 104.1 defensive rating back in the regular season.
Pro-Cavs: They are a match for the Warriors
Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com also points out in his position-per-position breakdown that the Cavs aren’t at as much of a disadvantage as other experts are saying. Tristan Thompson is a beast on the glass, and can stand toe-to-toe with Draymond Green, while JR Smith offers the type of explosive, instant offense that the Warriors are lacking on their bench.
Experts aren’t cut from the same cloth. They all have different points and angles when it comes to breaking down matchups such as Cavs vs. Warriors. But only one side is going to be correct in the end—that we will have to wait and see.
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