Welcome to the NBA Finals Predictions and Arguments thread, an open forum for discussion about the Warriors-Cavs championship rematch. Here, feel free to speculate wildly, pretend you're an NBA analyst, be a LeBron hater, a Curry stan, or part of the Warriors bandwagon.
Oddsmakers heavily favor the Warriors.
Here's why we think the oddsmakers are right:
The 2017 Warriors are better than the 2016 Warriors. Kevin Durant might be the purest scorer in the game, and he's paired up with the greatest shooting backcourt of all time. Draymond Green is arguably the most versatile--and most gifted defender--in the league. Were it not for his game 5 suspension last year, the Warriors probably win the series at home. And with no Harrison Barnes to leave unguarded, LeBron will have his hands full on defense.
Here's why the Cavs will upset the Warriors:
NBA pundits keep insisting that the Warriors have a huge talent advantage. But here at VladTV we're not convinced. We give the Cavs the advantage at point guard: Kyrie at his best is unguardable and right now he's playing the best basketball of his career. At the 2, Klay Thompson and the Warriors have the undeniable advantage. While the matchup at the 3 will feature the two best players in the league in KD and LeBron, advantage LeBron: he's the greatest player of his generation, he's been in 7 straight NBA finals, and is putting up historic playoff numbers. At the 4, advantage Draymond: even if the best version of Kevin Love shows up, Draymond is one of the most well-rounded players in the game and a beast defensively. And at 5, do we really have to say Tristan has the edge on Zaza Pachulia?
Essentially, what we're saying is that the talent differential is not as vast as everyone seems to think.
Our prediction: Cavs in 6.
Game 1 is Thursday at 9:00 PM EST at Oracle Arena. Tell us why we're wrong.
--Dane and Turin
