This ‘NBA on NBC’-themed Warriors-Cavs video will get you amped for the Finals
Well, this is a pretty rad way to get amped up for the 2015 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers:
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Television producer and commercial director Ryan Eytcheson took Marv Albert’s fantastic prefatory voiceover from the 2001 NBA Finals between the Philadelphia 76ers, led by league MVP Allen Iverson, and the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and rebooted the visuals with contemporary clips. Now, 2015 MVP Stephen Curry’s Dubs takes Iverson’s place at “the consummate David,” while LeBron James, playing in his fifth straight Finals, finds himself cast in Shaq and Kobe’s role as “the ultimate Goliath.”
Those descriptors don’t quite work in the context of this series, of course. Curry’s Warriors, a deep and talented 67-win wrecking crew that became just the eighth team in NBA history to outscore its opponents by more than 10 points per game over the course of a full season and profiles as LeBron’s stiffest Finals competition by far, doesn’t exactly seem like a David, even if Curry’s comparatively small and slight. And this model of the Cavs — with Kevin Love in a sling, Kyrie Irving in need of a miracle and LeBron shouldering a staggering amount of shot-creating responsibility — actually stacks up more like that Iverson-led ’01 76ers squad. But let’s not let a little bit of size-disordered cross-matching get in the way of a super fun video. Just run it back, let Marvelous serenade your anvils, hammers and stirrups, and enjoy a little of “Roundball Rock,” just the way the basketball gods intended.
Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals tips off at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday night. You can check out our full BDL Playoff Preview of the Warriors-Cavs matchup here, and my Inarguable Power Rankings of which members of each team will matter most in the series here.
Hat-tip to Micah Peters at For the Win.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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