Finals Preview
The Warriors are the prohibitive favorites in the 2018 NBA Finals. Not often is there a player of LeBron’s caliber that is expected to get steamrolled, but that is the situation that James and the Cavaliers are up against. It seems impossible for them to win a single game against Golden State, let alone the series. Here are three things that the Cavaliers must do if they want to have any chance to dethrone the defending champs.
1. The Cavaliers must shoot 40% from three on at least 30 attempts per game. That means JR Smith, Kyle Korver, George Hill, Kevin Love (assuming he’s healthy) and the rest of the supporting cast must be ready to let it fly when LeBron finds them. The Rockets provided a blueprint for beating Golden State and that was hoisting endless threes. Houston just went cold at the wrong time. If the Cavs can sustain a reasonable clip on high volume from distance all series Cleveland will have a puncher’s chance.
2. The Cavaliers must slow down the pace. The more possessions a game has, the more likely it is that the more talented team wins. Therefore, the Cavaliers must turn this series into a dogfight. Cleveland needs to go back to how they played in the 2015 Finals when Matthew Dellavedova shared the court with LeBron as Kevin Love and Kyrie were sidelined with injuries. LeBron can’t will his team to 115-111 victories in this series, but he can will them if the score winds up in the high 80’s or low 90’s.
3. The Cavaliers must be ultra-focused in the third quarter. The Warriors in the third quarter are another animal. In Games 6 and 7 against Houston, Golden State overcame double digit halftime deficits in the blink of an eye. Tyronn Lue must making sure that his team is laser focused after intermission will be pivotal to preventing the third quarter onslaughts that the Warriors are known best for.
Ultimately, this is all for naught. The talent disparity is just too drastic. Golden State could play poorly, while Cleveland is firing on all cylinders and the Warriors could still pull away and win by 20 points. A Rockets-Cavaliers series would’ve been all the more interesting, but the basketball gods didn’t allow for that to happen. I’ll say LeBron is able to win a game by himself. Warriors in 5.
