Is it just me or do you also believe that the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will end up meeting in the NBA Finals without a loss in the entire 2017 NBA post season?
Tonight, Lebron James and the Cavaliers will enter game two of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics with a one game lead. King James is averaging 34 points per game in the playoffs (2017) and has led Cleveland to nine straight wins. The Cavs did away with the Indiana Pacers in the first round in four games despite never winning by more than six points, Cleveland handled its business. Then in the second round, the Toronto Raptors were declawed in four games never getting closer than seven points in any of its losses.
Fast forward to Wednesday night when the Cavaliers after not playing since May 7th unleashed a fury of points in the beginning of game one against the Celtics, knocking Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder for a loop before they could adjust, Cleveland showed pure dominance. Lebron James led the way dropping in 15 points in the first quarter scoring at will and finished the night with 39 points. The scoring may be expected of the Cleveland star, but what I’m getting at is that he is making his teammates better. Not only is Lebron getting his, he is making sure his teammates get theirs. Kevin Love scored 32 points in game one and grabbed double-digit rebounds, Tristan Thompson scored 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, while Lebron dished 7 assists and grabbed nine rebounds of his own. The frightening part about what I just mentioned is (if you’re a Celtics fan) that have not mentioned Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith nor Iman Shumpert, who can also make an impact when Collab with the King.
Many people compare Lebron to Michael Jordan, but what Lebron is doing these days is truly putting him in that rare air. He only needs 104 more points during the playoffs to pass ” MJ ” at the top of the NBA postseason All-time scoring list. Not to mention he is the third All-Time Assist leader in the postseason (behind NBA legends John Stockton and Earvin “Magic” Johnson). I bring all of that up to say this at the age of 33 when most players would appear to have reached their peak and start a decline in performance, James appears to be reaching his potential playing like he has another level. Combine that with the experience and knowledge he has picked up in his 14 seasons in the league and he becomes a lethal weapon against opponents like the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors.
I mention the Warriors because the way Steph Curry and company are handling the Western Conference playoffs is totally absurd. Golden State opened the postseason having their way with the Portland Trailblazers in four games winning by margins of 12, 29, 6 and 25 points. Then the Warriors made quick work of the Utah Jazz winning every game by double digits. Saturday, The Warriors enter game three of the Western Conference Finals with a two-game lead over a San Antonio Spurs team that has already lost Point Guard Tony Parker and may or may not have their leading scorer Kawhi Leonard back from an ankle injury.
When you have the Splash brothers (Steph Curry and Klay Thompson) averaging a combined 42 points per game in the playoffs, In addition to Kevin Durant and his 23 points per game average. I don’t think the Spurs can hobble their way to one win even if the next two games are in San Antonio. If the Spurs are fortunate enough to get Kawhi back it will make things competitive (and that’s if he is at 90-100 percent). Without their leading scorer, there is really no one to help big man LaMarcus Aldridge and crafty veteran Manu Ginobili keep the Spurs competitive with the Warriors. I see Cleveland and Golden State in the NBA Finals for the third year in a row and this time neither team will have a postseason loss when they meet.
Trevin A Jones
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