The NBA Finals are only hours away, with game one tipping off Friday morning at 11AM. As was the case in 2015, Australia has two representatives contending for a coveted NBA Championship once again this year, as Victorians Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova duel for a ring.
Bogut’s Warriors go into the contest as short-priced favourites after a record-setting season, but the well-rested Cavaliers have emerged from the eastern conference with barely a scratch, and could prove hard to handle down the stretch.
What are the chances for our local ballers? We look at the ins and outs of the series from an Australian perspective.
It was a little disheartening to see Andrew Bogut play so few minutes in the Warriors’ crucial game 7 on Tuesday. Unfortunately it may be a sign of things to come during the NBA Finals.
The Warriors lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy last year, thanks in large part to a small-ball lineup that excluded the Aussie 7-footer. As much as it sucks for local fans, it would be ass-backwards for the Warriors to switch up the game plan at this point. When the Cavaliers start rolling out a roster with LeBron at power forward and Kevin Love at the 5, the heavy-footed Bogut will likely find himself riding the pine rather than chasing sharp-shooting Love around the three-point line.
Bogey is currently fetching $126 for Finals MVP. Etching himself into history alongside other centers who have won the award, including Shaq, Hakeem and Kareem, would require Bogut to either somehow gain a gang of speed to defend smaller opponents around the arc, or develop a devastating outside shot.
It's unlikely but hey, it’d be amazing if it happened.
Yo you never know. Like you just never know.
This time last year, Delly was ready to come in and play limited minutes during the Cavaliers’ finals campaign. Then Kyrie busts his kneecap in game 1 and bam, Matt from Maryborough is playing alongside LeBron as the starting PG in the NBA Finals.
Delly had a decent campaign, but defending Steph Curry was never going to be an easy task.
This year, it’s the same situation again. Dellavedova is ready to roll and do whatever is necessary for his team to win. The Cavs are facing a juggernaut, but you never know what twists are ahead of us.
Delly is paying $151 to take out Finals MVP. That’s less ‘speculative bet’ and more ‘get rich quick scheme.’ But man, you just never know.
The Warriors, rightfully so, are the favourites to take home the trophy and party up with Drake at his Calabasas mansion (probably).
They rolled through the greatest-ever regular season of all time, handled the first round without their two-time NBA MVP point guard, and during the Western Conference Finals, became one of only a handful of teams to come back from a 3-1 series deficit. The NBA Championship seems to be the 2016 Warriors' destiny, and it seems only an act of God (or a reckless Matthew Dellavedova) can get in their way at this point.
But what’s a God to a non-believer? LeBron is capable of damn-near anything, as many who witnessed Game 5 of the Cavs-Pistons series in 2007 will tell you.
Regardless of the James factor, the Warriors are short-priced at just $1.43 to take out the series, and are equally favoured for game one at home, paying $1.39.
Cavaliers Seize the Ring
Can the Cavs pull this off? 2016 will mark LeBron’s 6th consecutive, and 7th overall, trip to the NBA finals. While James is arguably the greatest player of his generation and obviously a lock for the Hall of Fame, his finals record of 2-4 isn’t spectacular.
You could put it down to GMs building inadequate teams around the superstar, or perhaps just the dominance of the western conference, but in the 2016 Cavaliers, LeBron has a strong supporting cast.
Kyrie can push the tempo and Kevin Love can spread the floor, but Tristan Thompson’s rebounding will be vital, and who knows what JR Swish is going to give us.
The Cavs are the underdogs at $2.80, but true believers will be drawing hope from the Western Conference Finals, where the Thunder outplayed the Warriors for three games but ultimately fell short. This could be the Cavaliers’ Predator moment. They saw the Warriors bleed, and LeBron could be ready to move in for the kill.
