Just in time for summer, the NBA will wrap up its season beginning tonight as we begin....wait for it....The Finals. With any luck, the series will wrap up in time for the Fourth of July holiday, and then training camps can open up two weeks later. I Love This Game!
The prevailing wisdom seems to indicate the Spurs will officially reach Elite Team status by taking this series, thereby capturing their fourth title in eight years, which qualifies as a dynasty in today's NBA. However, the league mandates that the games be played, so let's take a look at how this will shake out.
LeBron James has arrived, and led the Cavs to the promised land. The fact that this team has made it to here is in many ways a victory in itself for the city, and the franchise. To say the city of Cleveland is starved for a title (none since 1964) is like saying Nicole Ritchie needs a sandwich. The stunning elimination of the Pistons made for some of the most compelling hoop of this year's playoffs, as King James proved that he was 1.) unstoppable and 2.) willing to let his teammates shoulder the load when he was double and triple teamed.
San Antonio has been strictly business as usual thus far, though the suspensions in the Phoenix series led us to wonder how things would have played out had Robert Horry not decided to hip check Steve Nash. Regardless, the Spurs are poised, polished, and playoff tested. Coach Gregg Popovich has had plenty of time to watch and prepare a plan to defense the Cavs, and it is highly unlikely the King can defeat Tim Duncan and Co. all by himself.
We want to believe that Cleveland can stay with the Spurs and make this a great series, but the coaching ability gap between the two coaches is wide enough to drive a semi through. James will undoubtedly be the best player on the floor, and when the floor also contains Tim Duncan that's saying something, but we feel the Spurs will be able to adequately defend the other four guys on the court, and score enough to take the series, though it would not be unusual to see many of the games be decided by less than 10 points.
The pick? Spurs in 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment