The Daily Dose: Dose: Waiting for the Finals
Tuesday, June 02, 2015
Unless you’re into god-awful draft related leaks from teams and agents, there isn’t a whole lot going on right now as we wait for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Since we’ve broken this series down for you guys already I’m not going to break the series down here. But if you want you can check out my podcast, where we had Jimmy Spencer of Sporting News out of the Golden State camp and Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal on to break it all down.
You can also check out Mike Gallagher’s previews here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).
To follow me on Twitter you can click here.
OKAY FINE LET’S BREAK THIS DOWN A LITTLE BIT
On one hand, you have LeBron James sitting on the doorstep of true respect and adulation around the league if he can lead an upset of these Warriors. On the other hand you have the next challenger to LeBron’s popularity around the league in Stephen Curry, who could explode in these Finals and hammer home his own legend in these next few weeks.
To top it off, two long suffering sets of fans will get a chance at redemption and in the case of Cleveland their drought covers all the major sports. I used to be a Warriors fan before my media days, and I still am to the degree it doesn’t impact my coverage, but I’ll be kicking back a few cold ones in celebration if they can win.
Of course LeBron’s supporting cast has to continue to play big and Kyrie Irving has to stay upright for the Cavs to win. That’s basic. In fact, Lloyd breaks down his thoughts on Kyrie’s injuries on the podcast if you’re trying to read between the lines, but nobody really knows how he will do.
Both teams have answers for the other team’s big guns, but the answers aren’t good enough to present a defensive advantage so to speak.
It’s really about the Cavs having the NBA’s best player and then the Warriors having the second (Curry), third (Draymond?) and fourth (Klay?) best players depending on how far you want to drop Kyrie. The Warriors have the depth, but sometimes depth doesn’t matter as much in the last rodeo when the games are spread out.
The way I look at it, LeBron has to be the guy we’ve all wanted him to be in terms of aggression and bending the defense. If he plays at the level he has been playing, which I believe to be far and away the best of his career, it’s possible that the Warriors’ depth and slew of superstars start to look a little bit mortal.
Still, he can’t be casual about his approach as he has been for his entire career. Letting the Warriors off the hook with jumpers or unproductive passing isn’t going to cut it. He’s going to have to carry a ton of the burden on the offensive end keeping his foot on the throat of the Warriors’ defense, because outside of Irving there aren’t any other true offensive engines.
Mostly, he needs to dominate on that end to keep the Warriors from getting a head of steam. Because the Warriors might be a bit wobbly early on due to inexperience the goal will be to get in their heads. If I’m gambling I’m looking at the Cavs early on against the spread and I don’t think home court will be as big as the Warriors’ record there makes it seem.
Like I said earlier, if you want a more detailed breakdown go check out the cast. Spencer and Lloyd kill it. For me, I’m taking the Warriors in seven games and I think this could threaten to be an all-time best Finals, lacking only the hatred of a rivalry to really fuel the fire.
NEWS AND NOTES
Klay Thompson has completed the NBA’s concussion protocol testing and has been cleared for Game 1 in the NBA Finals. No big surprises there.
Marreese Speights (calf) is “ready to go” as well and that’s probably bigger news for the Dubs, even if he isn’t a lock to get rotational minutes.
The Bulls announced Fred Hoiberg as their next head coach and some of the local press was outright giddy over it.
Bigger (and better) news is that Darren Erman is probably going to be moving to New Orleans to become Alvin Gentry’s top defensive assistant. Erman is the guy that got fired for taping conversations under Mark Jackson in Oakland, and yet the press still loves him and he had absolutely no slowdown in the demand for his services around the league. New Orleans is having an above-average offseason so far as they retool their coaching staff.
Danilo Gallinari will play for the Italian National Team and it’s good news because it shows he’s continuing to proceed through his rehabilitation after major knee issues, but one hopes he gets enough rest and relaxation in the process.
Carl Landry will miss 4-5 months after having right wrist surgery to repair a torn ligament. What a disaster of a signing, and if you have any question about what’s going on in Sacramento I was on the Cowbell Kingdom podcast laying out the last two years of leaks, rumors and innuendos.
Unless you’re into god-awful draft related leaks from teams and agents, there isn’t a whole lot going on right now as we wait for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Since we’ve broken this series down for you guys already I’m not going to break the series down here. But if you want you can check out my podcast, where we had Jimmy Spencer of Sporting News out of the Golden State camp and Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal on to break it all down.
You can also check out Mike Gallagher’s previews here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).
To follow me on Twitter you can click here.
OKAY FINE LET’S BREAK THIS DOWN A LITTLE BIT
On one hand, you have LeBron James sitting on the doorstep of true respect and adulation around the league if he can lead an upset of these Warriors. On the other hand you have the next challenger to LeBron’s popularity around the league in Stephen Curry, who could explode in these Finals and hammer home his own legend in these next few weeks.
To top it off, two long suffering sets of fans will get a chance at redemption and in the case of Cleveland their drought covers all the major sports. I used to be a Warriors fan before my media days, and I still am to the degree it doesn’t impact my coverage, but I’ll be kicking back a few cold ones in celebration if they can win.
Of course LeBron’s supporting cast has to continue to play big and Kyrie Irving has to stay upright for the Cavs to win. That’s basic. In fact, Lloyd breaks down his thoughts on Kyrie’s injuries on the podcast if you’re trying to read between the lines, but nobody really knows how he will do.
Both teams have answers for the other team’s big guns, but the answers aren’t good enough to present a defensive advantage so to speak.
It’s really about the Cavs having the NBA’s best player and then the Warriors having the second (Curry), third (Draymond?) and fourth (Klay?) best players depending on how far you want to drop Kyrie. The Warriors have the depth, but sometimes depth doesn’t matter as much in the last rodeo when the games are spread out.
The way I look at it, LeBron has to be the guy we’ve all wanted him to be in terms of aggression and bending the defense. If he plays at the level he has been playing, which I believe to be far and away the best of his career, it’s possible that the Warriors’ depth and slew of superstars start to look a little bit mortal.
Still, he can’t be casual about his approach as he has been for his entire career. Letting the Warriors off the hook with jumpers or unproductive passing isn’t going to cut it. He’s going to have to carry a ton of the burden on the offensive end keeping his foot on the throat of the Warriors’ defense, because outside of Irving there aren’t any other true offensive engines.
Mostly, he needs to dominate on that end to keep the Warriors from getting a head of steam. Because the Warriors might be a bit wobbly early on due to inexperience the goal will be to get in their heads. If I’m gambling I’m looking at the Cavs early on against the spread and I don’t think home court will be as big as the Warriors’ record there makes it seem.
Like I said earlier, if you want a more detailed breakdown go check out the cast. Spencer and Lloyd kill it. For me, I’m taking the Warriors in seven games and I think this could threaten to be an all-time best Finals, lacking only the hatred of a rivalry to really fuel the fire.
NEWS AND NOTES
Klay Thompson has completed the NBA’s concussion protocol testing and has been cleared for Game 1 in the NBA Finals. No big surprises there.
Marreese Speights (calf) is “ready to go” as well and that’s probably bigger news for the Dubs, even if he isn’t a lock to get rotational minutes.
The Bulls announced Fred Hoiberg as their next head coach and some of the local press was outright giddy over it.
Bigger (and better) news is that Darren Erman is probably going to be moving to New Orleans to become Alvin Gentry’s top defensive assistant. Erman is the guy that got fired for taping conversations under Mark Jackson in Oakland, and yet the press still loves him and he had absolutely no slowdown in the demand for his services around the league. New Orleans is having an above-average offseason so far as they retool their coaching staff.
Danilo Gallinari will play for the Italian National Team and it’s good news because it shows he’s continuing to proceed through his rehabilitation after major knee issues, but one hopes he gets enough rest and relaxation in the process.
Carl Landry will miss 4-5 months after having right wrist surgery to repair a torn ligament. What a disaster of a signing, and if you have any question about what’s going on in Sacramento I was on the Cowbell Kingdom podcast laying out the last two years of leaks, rumors and innuendos.
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