So the NBA Finals are finally here...well, not really, there's still 4 long days of waiting ahead of us. But while you wait, why not read the BigFooty NBA Finals preview below:
How We Got Here
Come with me on a journey, back to the year 2000.
It is a time of ugly uniforms and directionless franchises. Where the biggest star on the Cleveland Cavaliers is an overweight Shawn Kemp and the Golden State Warriors rank dead last in fan attendance.
From here, let's start travelling forward in time through the Chris Mihm era and past such such ignominious events as Ricky Davis shooting at the wrong basket, the lottery selections of Desagana Diop and Luke Jackson, Carlos Boozer backstabbing his blind team owner, Playoff exits clouded by rumours of player-mother relationships and, of course, The Decision.
...We also travel through the Eric Dampier era and past such ignominious events as Chris Mills shooting at the wrong basket, the lottery selections of Ike Diogu and Patrick O’Bryant, fans booing the new team owner, a solitary playoff appearance in a span of 18 seasons and, of course, the cap-crippling Decision not to Andris Biedrins.
If we stop our time machines at this moment and reflect on these events, we can easily surmise that the passage of time has brought about the de-evolution of the Cavs and Warriors within the NBA society, their existence only serving as easy fodder for the perennial Championship contending teams.
It is a de-evolution just as H.G. Wells had envisioned.
…But we won’t stop our time machines here. Instead, let’s move forward to October 12, 2014:
The start of the NBA season is merely weeks away and the atmosphere on the Basketball Board is filled with optimism and perhaps the odd dash of trepidation, as BigFooty posters express their hopes for a prosperous 2014/15 season.
Sure, many of these hopes and dreams will eventually be crushed in various ways: foiled by injury (OKC), stunning collapse (Clips), general ineptness (Knicks) and general Kirk-ness (Bulls).
But on this day back in October, noted Golden State fan Oliver King gives us his outlook on his Warriors team for 2014/15 in the Season Preview Thread. He writes:
Hmm, so it turns out Indiana fans weren’t the first ones to predict that their team would “make some noise” in the postseason...
As we continue travelling in time through the 2014/15 season we see that in actuality, this Golden State team made noise right from the opening tip: starting the season on fire and staying that way throughout, a stark contrast to the Cavaliers who struggled for a good number of months amid a haze of Blatt criticism, Love confusion and LeBron sabbaticals.
But no matter the path taken, these are the two teams that today are left standing in the 2015 NBA Finals.
Very soon, one of them will win an NBA Championship and bring a moment of joy that will overshadow all those years of futility and despair.
Scenes From The Conference Finals
LeBron and the Cavs coach share a quiet word at the end of Game 4 against Atlanta:
The Golden State Warriors celebrate with the Western Conference Championship trophy:
The Efficiency Graph, reprised
Let's take one last look at the Efficiency Graph. This time, the Graph shows the unadjusted Offensive and Defensive Efficiency during the Playoffs for the 2 Finalists (and the previous 10 NBA Champs).
The 2 dot points for Golden State and Cleveland denote the Pre and Post All Star break Efficency for these 2 teams, a small indication of how they've progressed throughout the season.
Stewie Griffen's matchups to watch
Kyrie v Steph
If only Kyrie were fit.... Hopefully the rest does him good coz he's going to need to bring his A game against Steph.
Teague was able to get to the rim against him with ease, then again Curry will have to work both ends this series. Its all about Kyries fitness tho
Shump v Klay
A tough matchup for Klay. He had Ariza shut him down for long periods in the Houston series, breaking the shackles in patches, but was guarding Harden on the other end. Here he gets a slightly easier matchup on the other end of the floor which should free him up.
Shump did a great job in the Atlanta series helping shut down Korver, but Klay has the ability to take guys off the dribble, whereas Shump will look to be more of a spot up shooter.
Iggy v Lebron
Man this is gonna be good to watch. Iggy was finally unleashed on Harden today and destroyed him, but Lebron is a different beast altogether. He's been playing a lot more post in the playoffs so i expect him to try and take advantage down low.
The plus for the Dubs is they can throw a variety of looks at him. If Iggy cant handle him down low they might look at Green, indeed they may well start with Green....
Green v Thompson
Thompson was superb against the hawks and will need to back it up again if the cavs are to have a chance. I'm intrigued to see how the Dubs look to counter him and whether it is Green who gets first crack or do they look at Barnes.
Absolutely must keep him off the offensive boards and if he's going to score keep him out the paint. They'll look to pull him out the paint on defensive.
Bogut v Mozgov
Battle of the defensive bigs, neither of whom should have too much of an impact offensively you would think.
Your Predictions
In reality, we can’t travel forward in time to see the outcome of this series, but that doesn't stop us from making a prediction.
Here's how BigFooty sees the NBA Finals panning out:
So it appears the Warriors are the BigFooty favourites. If they lose, will it be seen as the biggest choke in Golden State since this?
NBA Finals Schedule
All times Australian EST:
How We Got Here
Come with me on a journey, back to the year 2000.
It is a time of ugly uniforms and directionless franchises. Where the biggest star on the Cleveland Cavaliers is an overweight Shawn Kemp and the Golden State Warriors rank dead last in fan attendance.
From here, let's start travelling forward in time through the Chris Mihm era and past such such ignominious events as Ricky Davis shooting at the wrong basket, the lottery selections of Desagana Diop and Luke Jackson, Carlos Boozer backstabbing his blind team owner, Playoff exits clouded by rumours of player-mother relationships and, of course, The Decision.
...We also travel through the Eric Dampier era and past such ignominious events as Chris Mills shooting at the wrong basket, the lottery selections of Ike Diogu and Patrick O’Bryant, fans booing the new team owner, a solitary playoff appearance in a span of 18 seasons and, of course, the cap-crippling Decision not to Andris Biedrins.
If we stop our time machines at this moment and reflect on these events, we can easily surmise that the passage of time has brought about the de-evolution of the Cavs and Warriors within the NBA society, their existence only serving as easy fodder for the perennial Championship contending teams.
It is a de-evolution just as H.G. Wells had envisioned.
…But we won’t stop our time machines here. Instead, let’s move forward to October 12, 2014:
The start of the NBA season is merely weeks away and the atmosphere on the Basketball Board is filled with optimism and perhaps the odd dash of trepidation, as BigFooty posters express their hopes for a prosperous 2014/15 season.
Sure, many of these hopes and dreams will eventually be crushed in various ways: foiled by injury (OKC), stunning collapse (Clips), general ineptness (Knicks) and general Kirk-ness (Bulls).
But on this day back in October, noted Golden State fan Oliver King gives us his outlook on his Warriors team for 2014/15 in the Season Preview Thread. He writes:
Hmm, so it turns out Indiana fans weren’t the first ones to predict that their team would “make some noise” in the postseason...
As we continue travelling in time through the 2014/15 season we see that in actuality, this Golden State team made noise right from the opening tip: starting the season on fire and staying that way throughout, a stark contrast to the Cavaliers who struggled for a good number of months amid a haze of Blatt criticism, Love confusion and LeBron sabbaticals.
But no matter the path taken, these are the two teams that today are left standing in the 2015 NBA Finals.
Very soon, one of them will win an NBA Championship and bring a moment of joy that will overshadow all those years of futility and despair.
Scenes From The Conference Finals
LeBron and the Cavs coach share a quiet word at the end of Game 4 against Atlanta:
The Golden State Warriors celebrate with the Western Conference Championship trophy:
The Efficiency Graph, reprised
Let's take one last look at the Efficiency Graph. This time, the Graph shows the unadjusted Offensive and Defensive Efficiency during the Playoffs for the 2 Finalists (and the previous 10 NBA Champs).
The 2 dot points for Golden State and Cleveland denote the Pre and Post All Star break Efficency for these 2 teams, a small indication of how they've progressed throughout the season.
Stewie Griffen's matchups to watch
Kyrie v Steph
If only Kyrie were fit.... Hopefully the rest does him good coz he's going to need to bring his A game against Steph.
Teague was able to get to the rim against him with ease, then again Curry will have to work both ends this series. Its all about Kyries fitness tho
Shump v Klay
A tough matchup for Klay. He had Ariza shut him down for long periods in the Houston series, breaking the shackles in patches, but was guarding Harden on the other end. Here he gets a slightly easier matchup on the other end of the floor which should free him up.
Shump did a great job in the Atlanta series helping shut down Korver, but Klay has the ability to take guys off the dribble, whereas Shump will look to be more of a spot up shooter.
Iggy v Lebron
Man this is gonna be good to watch. Iggy was finally unleashed on Harden today and destroyed him, but Lebron is a different beast altogether. He's been playing a lot more post in the playoffs so i expect him to try and take advantage down low.
The plus for the Dubs is they can throw a variety of looks at him. If Iggy cant handle him down low they might look at Green, indeed they may well start with Green....
Green v Thompson
Thompson was superb against the hawks and will need to back it up again if the cavs are to have a chance. I'm intrigued to see how the Dubs look to counter him and whether it is Green who gets first crack or do they look at Barnes.
Absolutely must keep him off the offensive boards and if he's going to score keep him out the paint. They'll look to pull him out the paint on defensive.
Bogut v Mozgov
Battle of the defensive bigs, neither of whom should have too much of an impact offensively you would think.
Your Predictions
In reality, we can’t travel forward in time to see the outcome of this series, but that doesn't stop us from making a prediction.
Here's how BigFooty sees the NBA Finals panning out:
So it appears the Warriors are the BigFooty favourites. If they lose, will it be seen as the biggest choke in Golden State since this?
NBA Finals Schedule
All times Australian EST:
- Game 1: Friday, June 5, 11:00 AM
- Game 2: Monday, June 8, 10:00 AM (Queen's Birthday public holiday everywhere except WA)
- Game 3: Wednesday, June 10, 11:00 AM
- Game 4: Friday, June 12, 11:00 AM
- Game 5: Monday, June 15, 10:00 AM
- Game 6: Wednesday, June 17, 11:00 AM
- Game 7: Saturday, June 20, 11:00 AM
