WarriorsOffenseCavaliers
No matter how dire the circumstances, or how disjointed the team might look at times, it invariably comes back to Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. No team in the history of the Finals had three such historically great shooters. Since the fateful Game 7 in the 2016 Finals against Cleveland (without Durant), they’ve delivered when it really matters. ... The Warriors eased off the Durant isolation plays in Game 7 against Houston after leaning on them too heavily; we’ll see if they default to that enticing temptation. ... Draymond Green usually gets at least three or four wide-open looks at a three-pointer. Watch out if he hits the first one, and remember his huge make near the end of Game 5 in Houston. ... Kevon Looney doesn’t rack up the points, but he works like a longshoreman inside and can be an asset. LeBron James led the league in minutes played per game , at age 33, and at a time when he looked exhausted, he played 46 minutes in Game 6 against Boston and the full 48 in Game 7. That’s mind-blowing. ... James led the Cavs past Indiana, Toronto and Boston despite experts casting the team as underdogs. “After all these years, we expect him to take us with him,” J.R. Smith said. “It’s a crazy feeling.” ... If it goes the distance: James has won six straight Game 7s. ... There’s no set date on Kevin Love’s return from concussion protocol, but the Cavs need it to be soon. ... James’ free throwing has been typically erratic. He lurches forward, making him subject to lane violations, and he tends to step in ahead of Kyle Korver (career 88 percent) to shoot the technicals. ... Beyond James, there’s no telling who will score.
Defense
Best defensive team in the league when they unleash the full measure. Houston scored at least 120 points 19 times in the regular season, topping out at 148. The Rockets’ last five games against Golden State: 85, 95, 98, 86 and 92. ... Injured Andre Iguodala is such a key here; he’s renowned for his defense on James — but he’ll need to be fully recovered. Without unlimited, explosive lateral movement, he’ll have no chance. ... Head coach Steve Kerr’s favored small lineups will make it tough for the Cavaliers to play Love and Tristan Thompson at the same time. ... Special moments: Whenever Green, the league’s best player and a master of suffocation without fouling, confronts James. Whatever the personnel — and it fluctuated wildly — the Cavs haven’t been able to assemble a roster of two-way players. Love, Smith, George Hill and Korver are best on the offensive end; Thompson can be invaluable defensively. Bottom line: The Cavs ranked 29th (next to last) in defensive rating this season. ... Given a rare playoff start, Jeff Green replaced Love in Game 7 against Boston and scored a crucial 19 points — but he’s best known for his defense. ... There’s no way Hill and Smith can stay with the Splash Brothers. ... James’ defensive intensity comes and goes. He’ll make the spectacular play, particularly on chase-down blocks, but he takes off a lot of plays to preserve his energy. That won’t work if he’s the primary on Durant.
Bench
Jordan Bell is the big story lately. Before his injury, he started both games at center against Cleveland this season, notching eight points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes on Christmas Day. Now he’s the spark plug behind Looney, and he earned a lot of trust in the halfcourt set with his instinctive between-the-legs pass to Curry (who hit from three) in Game 7 at Houston. ... Longtime NBA observers are astounded by Nick Young’s playing time, but he continues to do just enough off the bench — most recently, a timely three-pointer in Game 7. ... JaVale McGee and Zaza Pachulia, nearly invisible during the Houston series, didn’t get off the bench in either Cleveland game during the season. ... Patrick McCaw is in position to play some rotation minutes. Head coach Tyronn Lue really narrowed it down against the Celtics, trusting only Korver, Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson off the bench. Ante Zizic, Cedi Osman, Kendrick Perkins, Jose Calderon and Rodney Hood have been reduced to phantoms. ... Hood has eye-catching talent, but he has been out of the picture since refusing to enter Game 4 against Toronto with the Cavaliers way ahead in the fourth quarter. ... The explosive Nance will have his moments in this series. ... Dwyane Wade still has something left, and the Cavs might regret the midseason trade that sent him to Miami. Otherwise, it’s pretty clear they acted wisely in dispatching so many players. They don’t seem to miss Channing Frye, Derrick Rose, Jae Crowder, Iman Shumpert or Isaiah Thomas at all.
Coaching
Putting aside his ongoing health concerns, this has been Kerr’s most trying season. He felt he’d lost the club’s full attention at several stages of the regular season and he has been incensed over sloppy, unmotivated play during the postseason — particularly after the first half of Game 7 in Houston. But the players haven’t tuned him out, and Kerr never minds when Green becomes a coach on the floor. ... With critics abounding, Kerr publicly backed “Swaggy P” the entire season, an invaluable boost to Young’s confidence. ... Kerr was also about the only one who predicted a bright future for Looney in October, when the club chose to decline his fourth-year option. It seems that Lue’s name comes up only when the Cavaliers lose. In truth, he’s doing a masterful job with what he affectionately calls a “crazy” roster. T he results speak to his good instincts. He went with an offensive-minded group against Indy, mixed it up against Toronto, and leaned on his experienced players against Boston. ... The essence of his legacy to date: replacing David Blatt in the middle of the 2015-16 season and orchestrating a championship after the Cavs fell behind the Warriors 3-1. And he did all that while his mother fought breast cancer and his grandmother dealt with lung cancer. When it was over, Lue sat alone on the Cleveland bench, in tears.
Intangibles