Cavaliers vs. Warriors Game 1 TV Schedule, Live Stream Guide for 2016 NBA Finals
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are repeat conference champions, but the two teams that will meet in this year's NBA Finals are far different than their predecessors.
On paper, the parts are the same. Stack up the roster pages, and you'd think we were in for a by-the-books sequel. The Cavaliers subtracted one Anderson Varejao and the Warriors added one, but a layman without historical context would wonder what's so different from 2015 to 2016.
The answer: a metric expletive-ton.
A year ago, Cleveland was a full-steam-ahead locomotive that saw its wheels fall off at the worst possible time. Kevin Love suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the first round, and Kyrie Irving followed him out the door late in Game 1 of the Finals.
The Cavs won two games and stayed in the series entirely on the back of a Herculean effort from LeBron James, who killed himself on both ends of the floor in an all-time performance.
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Andre Iguodala is your reigning Finals MVP because he prevented another player from winning a title all by himself. That's how great LeBron was last year.
This time around, the Cavs are fully healthy. They rampaged through the first two rounds with sweeps before going six games against the Toronto Raptors in a series that was never in doubt. There hasn't really been a question about who would be the Eastern Conference representative since about last July. The Cavs have even settled their own internal turmoil after firing coach David Blatt, as Ty Lue has taken the reins without missing a beat.
Lue points to a fateful March meeting—after a dispiriting loss to the lowly Brooklyn Nets—as turning Cleveland's season around.
Lue told Tom Withers of the Associated Press:
"We had a chance to sit down and talk. I just think the Big Three sitting down and getting on the same page of understanding what they need from each other on a nightly basis and understanding that they have to trust each other and also trust the team. We had that talk in front of everyone and everyone kind of gave their opinion and kind of talked about what they expected and what we needed to do better.
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The Warriors, meanwhile, have all their players in name but perhaps not in health. Stephen Curry looked like a shell of himself for stretches of the Oklahoma City series, struggling to navigate the Thunder's long-limbed defenders as he recovered from a knee injury. Curry scored 30-plus points in all three of the Warriors' wins in their historic comeback, but he still shot under 50 percent in five of the seven games.
Draymond Green has emerged as perhaps the sport's most polarizing player. His penchant for flailing legs and arm bars have left fans of opposing teams calling for suspensions—and even some members of national media have agreed.
The NBA is currently reviewing Green pulling down Steven Adams in Game 7 against Oklahoma City, according to RealGM.com, which could lead to a suspension. The All-Star forward is one flagrant away from triggering an automatic one-game ban due to the accrual of flagrant points.
“Draymond is going to have to be very careful,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, per Harvey Araton of the New York Times. “He’s got to understand the circumstances, which he does.”
Even if the NBA doesn't come back and assess a flagrant to Green, he's one mistake away from having to sit out a Finals game. The difference between having Green on the floor and not is massive for Golden State; his ability to stretch the floor, pass and defend larger players is paramount to everything the Warriors do.
Despite their historic 73-win run through the regular season, this is a far more vulnerable Golden State than a year ago. This is a far better Cleveland team than a year ago.
The Warriors are still the favorites for obvious reasons. Curry has probably eclipsed James as the best player in the world, and the Splash Brothers backcourt is already an all-time great. Green is going to present problems for Love or Tristan Thompson, and Klay Thompson has improved enough as a defender to adequately move with Irving on the perimeter.
But these Cavaliers aren't going to be struggling to keep their head above water, overwhelmed by an obviously superior roster. This has the makings of an all-time classic, and it's going to go a long way toward building the legacies of all involved.
