NBA Finals 2015: What to Watch for
The 2015 NBA Finals are finally upon us!
After a postseason that it would be fair to categorize as mediocre, the last round of this year's postseason offers plenty to be excited about, including the potential to make people overlook what came before it.
This year's Finals bring with it new cities, new faces and two first-year NBA head coaches. The Warriors haven't won the Larry O'Brien Trophy since Rick Barry helped hoist it. The Cavaliers have never won it.
On one side, there is a Western Conference power, fueled by a stingy defense and the sharpshooting of MVP Stephen Curry and fellow Splash Brother, Klay Thompson.
For the fifth year in a row, LeBron James is leading the team representing the Eastern Conference into the Finals. According to Bleacher Report Milestones, he is the first player to go to five consecutive Finals since 1966.
In the regular season, Golden State laid claim to the league's top-rated defense as well as the second-best offense in the NBA. In the playoffs, those numbers have dropped a bit but not enough to prevent the Warriors from being where most expected them to be all along: playing for a shot at the championship.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have run through the East despite their injury woes. They swept the Boston Celtics but lost Kevin Love in the process. They took care of the Chicago Bulls in six games, but Kyrie Irving's injuries reached a point where he had to sit out for two of the first three games against the Atlanta Hawks.
No matter, the Cavs swept them.
Now, this postseason's two best teams will slug it out for the right to end its city's championship drought. Here's what to watch for along the way.
Pace of Play
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The 2015 NBA Finals are finally upon us!
After a postseason that it would be fair to categorize as mediocre, the last round of this year's postseason offers plenty to be excited about, including the potential to make people overlook what came before it.
This year's Finals bring with it new cities, new faces and two first-year NBA head coaches. The Warriors haven't won the Larry O'Brien Trophy since Rick Barry helped hoist it. The Cavaliers have never won it.
On one side, there is a Western Conference power, fueled by a stingy defense and the sharpshooting of MVP Stephen Curry and fellow Splash Brother, Klay Thompson.
For the fifth year in a row, LeBron James is leading the team representing the Eastern Conference into the Finals. According to Bleacher Report Milestones, he is the first player to go to five consecutive Finals since 1966.
In the regular season, Golden State laid claim to the league's top-rated defense as well as the second-best offense in the NBA. In the playoffs, those numbers have dropped a bit but not enough to prevent the Warriors from being where most expected them to be all along: playing for a shot at the championship.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have run through the East despite their injury woes. They swept the Boston Celtics but lost Kevin Love in the process. They took care of the Chicago Bulls in six games, but Kyrie Irving's injuries reached a point where he had to sit out for the first three games against the Atlanta Hawks.
No matter, the Cavs swept them.
Now, this postseason's two best teams will slug it out for the right to end its city's championship drought. Here's what to watch for along the way.
Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield 3.0
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OK, perhaps that's overhyping it, but Thompson vs Green will be a slugfest. What's so cool about this matchup is it represents two players who could potentially earn max contracts despite neither one being much of a scorer.
Chances are that Thompson's deal will fall below the max, especially if he stays in Cleveland. Green may also choose to take less money in favor of remaining with the team that drafted him. However, the fact that two players who average less than 12 points per game are in line for large paydays shows how far the appreciation for the game as a whole has come.
This postseason, Thompson is relentlessly hounding the glass, averaging 9.9 rebounds per game, including four offensive boards per contest. He is making opponents pay for helping off him in an effort to stop James.
Even when it is three against one, Thompson makes opponents earn the rebound; sometimes, they don't. In a conversation with Chris Fedor of Northeast Ohio Media Group, he revealed a rebounding tip he learned from injured teammate Anderson Varejao and more.
"He said on offensive rebounding 'box out your man and push him underneath the rim. That gives you a good chance of getting the ball.' Then watching film on (Dennis) Rodman," Thompson said. "I have a couple cheat sheets I've acquired along the way."
There will be plenty of small ball in this series: Thanks to Green's defensive versatility and playmaking skills on offense, Golden State is most effective when moving him up to center. In 27 minutes together this postseason, the lineup of Green, Curry, Thompson, Barnes and Shaun Livingston has a net rating of 43.7, far and away the highest mark of any of the team's units that have played in at least five playoff games together.
Meanwhile, the second-most frequent lineup Cleveland uses features Thompson at center. This unit has a net rating of 29.2, the second-best mark out of all the team's lineup combinations that have played a minimum of five playoff games together.
When the Cavaliers and Warriors go small, Green will be tasked with protecting the rim against the likes of James, as well as keeping Thompson off the glass. Accomplishing both requires a great deal of help and communication.
The ferocity with which Thompson attacks the glass will also buy time for his teammates to get back on defense, helping curtail Golden State's fast-break attempts.
The Best Ball-Handlers of This Generation
3 of 5"#IVERSON on #Kyrie & #StephCurry - "Those guys are next level. I didn't have the handle they do." AI in his own words Saturday at 9p.
— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) May 14, 2015"
That's how impressive Curry and Irving's handles are. Both can embarrass you with the ball in their hands. They might give each other a taste of what it's like being the one on the floor as you watch your opponent drive by you in spectacular fashion. They will have the crowd and spectators at home oohing and aahing at various points during the Finals.
Even after sitting out of the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals, Irving was clearly not at 100 percent when he suited up for Game 4. However, he did score 16 points, dish out five assists and even pull in four rebounds during 22 minutes of action.
There's no one whom the Cavaliers can hide Irving on this series; when he's in, he will likely have no choice but to defend Curry. Such a proposition is sure to have the Warriors licking their chops, as they can either let Curry attack the injured point guard off the dribble or force him to fight through screens.
When Irving is on the floor, one route Golden State could choose to go is utilizing his defender to help when James drives. Kerr and Ron Adams, the Warriors defensive coach, may also decide it is best to neutralize Irving's ability to penetrate the defense by playing back even when he has the ball in his hands.
According to ESPN.com, Irving is shooting just over 48 percent from three-point range in his first trip to the postseason. Still, if between injury and faced with taking more than the 4.3 attempts from deep he is averaging in the playoffs, Golden State isn't sold on how he will hold up, this may be how the team chooses to approach him.
Of course, the Warriors could also leverage his injury as an opportunity to worry less about his ability to get to the basket. In this scenario, Golden State will be banking on Irving's man being able to recover when beaten and that its rim protectors will do their job should he get there.
The reality is the Warriors will likely employ both strategies in addition to playing him straight up and blitzing him on pick-and-rolls at times.
It will be interesting to see how much of an impact Irving, whom Bleacher Report's Dan Favale tabbed as Cleveland's X-factor, is able to make in his first Finals appearance.
Containing the King
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You can't stop James; you can only hope to contain him. In an effort to do so, Golden State will throw the kitchen sink at him.
Harrison Barnes is likely to be the defender primarily assigned to James. At 6'8" and 225 pounds, the athletic and versatile forward has the physical tools necessary to defend the four-time MVP on the perimeter and in the post.
Unfortunately for Barnes, as CBSSports.com's Matt Moore points out, he is not the most skilled post defender, which makes trying to stop James on the block a daunting task: "This does not forecast well for Barnes. Barnes has been great in the playoffs, contesting shots and making them on the offensive end. However, opponents are shooting 52.4 percent against him in the post, for a .964 points per possession mark—which is very good for them."
Whether it be in the post or on the perimeter, when James does beat Barnes, the Warriors must decide whether they will live with how the situation plays out or if they want to send help. How steadfast they are in their approach will depend on the results.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, Atlanta stubbornly clung to its decision to help off Cleveland's shooters when James drove. Consequentially, 26.7 percent of the Cavaliers' three-point attempts were either open or wide-open looks. They shot 43.8 percent when open and 38.6 percent when wide open.
James also had little trouble generating points for himself against an Atlanta squad that was banged up. He averaged 30.3 points en route to Cleveland's sweep of the Hawks.
He is the game's greatest player for a reason, and he is going to get his usual numbers. Again, the Warriors' goal is simply to make him less effective.
To do so, they will throw a variety of looks at him. In addition to Barnes, Green, Andre Iguodala and Thompson are all likely to spend time on him.
The Warriors are known for their defensive versatility, which will allow them to switch when James comes off a screen. At times, they may also trap him to force the ball out of his hands. When they go this route, the key is the other three defenders being able to effectively react to and communicate their way through what happens once the ball leaves James' hands until everyone has recovered.
Among other prestigious head coaches, Steve Kerr is a disciple of Gregg Popovich, whose San Antonio Spurs faced James in the past two Finals and defeated him last year.
In both encounters, Popovich chose to make James a jump shooter by walling off the rim and going under on screens. In the 2013 Finals, LeBron looked uncomfortable in the first three games, failing to shoot even 44 percent from the field. However, he did solve the puzzle in time to win his second championship.
Golden State will likely go this route as well. After all, James is shooting just 29.9 percent on jump shots this postseason. But be warned: In last year's Finals loss, the only time he shot below 50 percent from the field was in the deciding game.
Fresh Blood
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Since 1980, only 10 different teams have won the NBA title, per Basketball-Reference.com. The Warriors haven't hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy since Rick Barry helped the franchise win its lone title in Golden State 40 years ago. What's even more astounding is the city of Cleveland hasn't produced a champion in any of the four major American professional sports since 1964.
Unless you are a fan of the team on the losing end or the staunchest LeBron hater (The Decision was five years ago, just saying), it will be hard not to feel good seeing a new city soak in the joy of celebrating a championship.
Beyond welcoming back a franchise to the championship pantheon for the first time in 40 years or adding a new member to the exclusive club, this matchup pits two first-year head coaches against each other in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1947, the league's inaugural season, per Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk.
Helin shares an intriguing anecdote, in which David Blatt nearly accepted a job as one of Steve Kerr's assistants, before being offered the job as Cleveland's head coach:
"When they first met last June (something set up by their shared agent), David Blatt and Steve Kerr found they had a common vision for how the game of basketball should be played — ball movement, spacing, player movement off the ball, playing uptempo. All of it designed to create just a little space, which is all the best players need to make the defense pay. The two became fast friends and got along so well that after a couple of meetings Kerr offered Blatt a seat next to him as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors.
But before Blatt accepted, his phone rang. That call ultimately became owner Dan Gilbert and the Cleveland Cavaliers offering Blatt their head coaching job.
"
Blatt spent much of this season being criticized and maligned. He never expected to be coaching the game's greatest player in his first year in the Association, nor did he have much time to prepare for the burden that comes with doing so.
However, he has proved to be effective in his first venture into the NBA postseason. James deserves a lion's share of the credit, but Blatt has co-piloted a Cavaliers team, sans Love and with a gimpy Kyrie Irving, all the way to the Finals.
As for Kerr, the NBA's runner-up for Coach of the Year has been tremendous in his first year at the helm. He guided the Warriors to a league-best 67 wins, maintained the defensive principles former head coach Mark Jackson instilled in the team and helped Golden State improve from being a top-three defense in 2013-14 to having the best defense period this season.
He did this while installing a fast-paced offense that is predicated on spacing and movement with and without the ball. The Warriors' shooters and athletic swingmen thrived. Kerr's system helped convert the Dubs into one of the league's best offenses, as they trailed the Clippers for the top spot in offensive rating by the narrowest of margins.
Fresh faces, new coaches and cities that haven't thrown a championship parade in far too long—enjoy these Finals and the ushering in of basketball's new era.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited.
Bobby Krivitsky covers the NBA and NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @Bobby_K91.
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