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The Cleveland Cavaliers will take on Steve Kerr's Golden State Warriors in this season's NBA Finals, starting Thursday, June 4th. The Warriors were the NBA's best and most complete team in the regular season, winning 67 games. They advanced with a win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. Neither team has won an NBA title in 30 plus seasons.
The Warriors are led by NBA MVP Steph Curry and his splash bro, Klay Thompson. Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green, the Defensive Player of the Year, headline a very good defense. The Warriors are a team that have embraced analytics and can play big or small, shoot lots of threes, and have no shortage of weapons. Without adding much in terms of personnel in the offseason, they were transformed into a juggernaut by big jumps from Thompson and Green, and the introduction of Steve Kerr.
David Blatt, before joining the Cavs, was set to become Kerr's lead assistant. You'll hear that anecdote six or 76 times over the next three weeks. For LeBron James, it represents a chance to win his third NBA title, but he'll enter the proceedings as something of an underdog. The Warriors are blessed with a depth the Cavs cannot match with Kevin Love lost. What Kyrie Irving has in the tank will, of course, play a huge role in how competitive the series will be.
We will have all kinds of analysis coming soon. The Golden State Warriors are next.