The NBA Finals matchup was predicted by many to be the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors. The trilogy is on course and the Warriors will be the victors at the end of it. The odds are in the Warriors favor and for the right reasons, but here are three big reasons why the Dubs will win this year and be champions.
1. The team is on a vengeance
The Warriors will never forget what happened last year when they were embarrassed and heartbroken to let the Cavaliers come back and win it all being down 3 to 1. The team is simply seeking vengeance now and believe they were the better team last year and should have won.
More specifically though, Steph Curry wants revenge, while Durant is out to win his first ever ring and prove the haters wrong. Curry hurt the team by throwing the ball away carelessly in the last game of the finals. Curry did not really play well the whole series. It is not his fault for the whole situation, but he did contribute to the losses greatly. Finally, Kyrie Irving stunned the Warriors and Curry by hitting a clutch three-pointer to put the dagger into the team's chances and the team itself.
Draymond Green wants revenge for being suspended last year, contributing to the Warriors losing. Green will surely be playing hard the whole series passing the ball around, rebounding, and hitting threes.
But, not enough can be said about Kevin Durant after not getting it done on the Oklahoma City Thunder and shedding tears after he lost being up 3 to 1 against the very team he joined. Durant is out to prove people wrong and finally get a ring for himself. He can say whatever he wants, he needs to silence haters and get a ring being the high caliber offensive player and star that he obviously is.
Durant is not going to be denied a ring, proving to fans and haters that he made the right decision to go to the Warriors at the end of it all.
2. The king can not do everything
LeBron James is one of the greatest basketball players in the game today and might go down as the greatest yet, but he cannot win on his own. This team that he is facing now is not the same as last year.
The Warriors are a perfect 13 and 0 in the postseason. We all know what the result was when he tried to do everything himself two years ago without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.
Looking back at game 1, J.R Smith, Kyle Korver, Tristan Thompson, and others did not contribute much. Thompson was absent the whole game and Korver along with J.R shot poorly. LeBron needs help from his shooters and if he does not get it the Cavaliers will be going home pretty early. The Dubs have a much better bench in Andre Iguodala, big man JaVale Mcgee, veteran David West, Shaun Livingston, and Ian Clark.
What is more jarring and scary is that the Warriors could be better. Klay Thompson is in a shooting slump right now, but it won't last for long.
If Thompson gets it going, along with Durant and Curry the Warriors will be unstoppable. Either way, he is making up for it on the defensive end.
Simply put the Warriors are better offensively and defensively. They ended the season last year with 73 wins and 9 losses and now have added a superstar like Durant on their team. Durant has fitted in pretty nicely and is now at full speed in these Finals.
3. Defense wins championships
Well, critics have been saying how Cleveland is simply not good defensively this year. It was evident in the first game when Durant was jamming the ball on them all night. The bottom line is defense wins championships and the Golden State Warriors are a better defensive team.
The Warriors also have better defensive players as candidates for defensive player of the year: Draymond Green, along with Iguodala, Livingston, and shot blocker, McGee. The Cavaliers do not have a big man to protect the rim this season. The injury to Andrew Bogut was heartbreaking because they needed a strong lengthy center to block shots and score. The Cavs had bad luck with Bogut, Chris Anderson out for the season and backup center Walter Tavares who had a lot of potential.
But the Cavaliers are not out of it yet, they could make it into an interesting series. There is hope left for the Cavs and it is evident that they will need it.
