The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are set to duke it out in the NBA Finals for a fourth consecutive season.
Digital journalists/wannabe hoops insiders Mark Bergin, Eric Heubusch and Lara Saavedra try to answer some of the most-pressing questions ahead of the 2018 Finals.
What’s your tweet-length prediction for the 2018 NBA Finals?
Mark Bergin: Since NBA fans never got LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant in the Finals, Nick “Swaggy P” Young vs. J.R. Smith is a good consolation.
“Swaggy P” becomes an NBA champion. The Warriors win the series in six games.
Eric Heubusch: The upset of the year: LeBron James beats the Warriors in six games.
Or LeBron gets swept. Or loses in five games.
Basketball will be played.
Lara Saavedra: Warriors suffocate the Cavaliers with their multiverse of talent and the admirable Steve Kerr (and crew) win another NBA title.
"Season 4 of Cavs vs. Warriors was recorded in front of a live studio audience." pic.twitter.com/xQJOdJAHSl — CBS Sports (@CBSSports) May 29, 2018
Which team will LeBron James play for in the 2018-2019 season?
Bergin: Many considered the Houston Rockets as a favorite to land LeBron even a few weeks ago, but why try to fix something if it isn’t broken? LeBron has reached eight straight NBA Finals in the Eastern Conference, and I don’t think he’ll want to deal with the stiff competition in the West.
I think LeBron winds up staying another year in Cleveland until we get to do it all over again next summer!
Heubusch: The Jacksonville Icemen.
Saavedra: The Cavaliers -- No matter where he goes, it’ll be hard to beat the Warriors in the playoffs. Warriors guard Klay Thompson is signed through the 2018-2019 season, so Golden State’s nucleus remains intact for at least another year.
How tired is the LeBron vs. MJ debate?
Bergin: If it were a horse, it’d be glue by now.
Saavedra: The debate is played out -- they are both great in their own right -- why compare them? Why does it matter? Let LeBron be. Once he retires, the basketball faithful on each side can hash it out.
Heubusch: It’s an interesting one, and you guys are both being silly. Why is it such a bad thing? You know what debate annoys me? The one Lara will have with me any time I say ANYTHING!
Literally every LeBron vs. Jordan debate on Twitter pic.twitter.com/hCumbBTcrW — Mark Strotman (@markstrot) May 22, 2018
Which team are you rooting for?
Bergin: As much as I want to see Nick “Swaggy P” Young become an NBA champion, I’d rather see Cleveland Browns safety Damarious Randall have to buy thousands of jerseys if the Cavs win it all.
Since Randall got traded from the Green Bay Packers to the Browns in March, he’s decided to support the Warriors instead of the Cavs. If the Cavs win, Randall is on the hook to buy more than 640,000 jerseys.
Randall’s base salary is about $1.09 million in 2018, according to Spotrac. Doing some basic math here, Randall’s tweet has 640,000 retweets (and counting) and if each jersey costs $50 (a conservative estimate) then it’ll cost him about $32 million.
If the Cavs actually make a run at the title this year, I can’t wait to see how this situation unfolds.
If the Cleveland Cavaliers win the 2018 NBA finals I’ll buy everyone who retweet’s this a jersey... — Damarious Randall (@RandallTime) May 29, 2018
Also at stake if the Cavs win -- a shirtless J.R. Smith becomes the fourth-most compelling storyline of the NBA offseason behind which team LeBron decides to play for, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Twitter fiasco and what happens in June’s draft.
Heubusch: I’m rooting for “Bron Solo.” He is the man and should’ve gotten an Oscar before Kobe.
Saavedra: The Warriors will win handedly -- I don’t think season four will be any different than last year when Golden State won the series in five games.
Would you want to see Cavs vs. Warriors part five?
Bergin: Depending who is still on Cleveland’s roster, maybe during the 2018-2019 regular season.
Consider this too -- four consecutive Finals matchups have not happened in the history of the NBA, MLB, NFL or NHL.
Heubusch: Yes. LeBron-less, Stephen Curry-less basketball is both my and America’s least favorite kind of basketball.
Saavedra: It would be good for the NBA if we had some other teams in the conversation. Predicting who will be in the Finals at the beginning of the season is not always inviting.
Which will be greater? Nick “Swaggy P” Young’s attempted field goals or his total points scored?
Bergin: Swaggy P is a legend in his own mind.
Dennis Rodman speaks to him in his dreams. He doesn’t have time for Emmy-Award winning sportscaster Ernie Johnson because he wanted to “turn up” after winning Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, which he scored a whopping 3 points.
Here’s Young’s log through 17 games this postseason:
• 7 games where he attempted more shots than points scored
• 5 games where he attempted the same amount of shots as points scored
• 6 games where he scored more points than attempted shots.
I think he will record more points scored than attempted shots against Cleveland.
Heubusch: Shooters gotta shoot!
Saavedra: Oh, Nick Young. Your strange sense of reality is one to be studied. I predict he’ll stick to his lackluster postseason average of 2.9 points per game.
Mark Bergin is a journalist with 10News WTSP. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. You can also email him at mbergin@wtsp.com.
Eric Heubusch is a researcher with 10News WTSP. Follow him on Twitter or email him at eheubusch@wtsp.com
Lara Saavedra is a journalist with 10News WTSP. Follow her on Twitter or email her at lsaavedra@wtsp.com
© 2018 WTSP