If he’s allow to hit the market again next year, his service time plus a likely spike in the NBA’s salary cap puts him in the $35 million per season neighborhood, which is obviously a good neighborhood to be in. They still have LeBron, but we still have Steph, plus Klay and Draymond and don’t forget Andre! “Some of those shots there’s nothing you can do about it”. Lebron James and his team are different beasts than what the Warriors faced in previous year.
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Last season’s runner-ups, the Cavs, made it to the Finals earlier this postseason after only needing six games to dispatch the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Durant vowed not to let the emotional letdown of losing to the Warriors even after grabbing a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series guide his path in July.
Both teams have had two different head coaches throughout the season and made it to the championship.
Offensively, the Warriors’ game plan should be is simple: Get the ball to whomever Kyrie Irving is guarding. With Westbrook and Durant, the Thunder are one of the best teams in the National Basketball Association, but without either of them, they become much less appealing.
“This is our first time doing it”, Curry said, “so we’ll figure it out”. Andre Iguodala came off Golden State’s deep bench past year to earn the NBA Finals MVP award and sometimes unheralded heroes can have great impacts when a title is on the line.
Far be it from me to try and tell you what will happen.
The Warriors got the better of the Cavaliers during the NBA Finals last season, beating them 4-2 to win their first NBA title in 40 years.
Game 3 Wed., June 8: Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers 9 p.m.
Attention now turns to another battle with a former MVP in LeBron James. They can hurt the Warriors from deep as well and can go inside for layups and dunks. You don’t match them.
Such a lineup could force Cleveland’s Kevin Love or Tristan Thompson to the bench, but Lue is going in with the idea his team might be able to capitalize on its size when the Warriors go small.
For the Cavaliers, they will have a complete and upgraded squad. Their win, 96-88, in Monday’s Game 7 secured a finals rematch against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Curry also found time for eight assists.
If the Cavs, as expected, open Game 1 conventionally, Kyrie Irving will draw the assignment of defending Curry, who averaged a league-best 30.1 points as the Warriors went a league-record 73-9 in the regular season, while J.R. Smith will guard Thompson, who averaged 22.1 points in the regular season.
And Green is key to the Warriors small line-up. “We’re disappointed about not having a different outcome”. “But the mindset that we have going into each game, I think the way this series went from Game 1 to Game 7, we’re ready for anything”.
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“That’s the biggest difference for our team”.
