Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) dribbles the basketball against Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) during the third quarter at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Cavaliers 126-91.
Finally, the NBA Finals are just a day away. We had to slog our way through the playoffs to get what we all knew was inevitable back in October—a third straight matchup between King James' Cavaliers and Chef Curry's Warriors.
We're familiar with all the players, but what about all the subplots. Do the Warriors have any chance of stopping the immovable object that is LeBron James? Will we see a truly elite Steph Curry for an entire Finals for the first time in three tries? And whose legacy is truly at stake this time around?
We explore those storylines and more, looking to provide the answers to the most pressing questions leading up to the most anticipated NBA Finals in recent memory.
Can Steph Curry Have an Elite NBA Finals?
You might remember that Steph Curry had two memorable regular seasons that earned him back-to-back MVP awards. You might also remember that he had two relatively forgettable NBA Finals, since Andre Iguodala was the 2015 Finals MVP and, well, LeBron and Kyrie happened last year. It’s not that Curry performed particularly poorly in both if you look at the cumulative numbers. But optics are optics, and the best player in the league during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 season didn’t put up the scintillating performance we expected on the game’s biggest stage. Yes, Curry was hurt last season and Kevin Love locking him down on the perimeter in the final minute of Game 7 was a bad look. Two Finals ago, he averaged 26 PPG, leading the team in scoring, and 6.3 APG while shooting 38.5% from three. Last year, he averaged 22.6, again leading the team in scoring, on 40% shooting from beyond the arc.
So if you're looking at the numbers, it's not like Curry really has anything to prove during the NBA Finals. He went off for 38 in Game 4 last year and 25, 6 and 8 in the Game 6 clincher in 2015. But if we're being truthful, he kind of does. Superstars are expected to perform like superstars, and his supreme talent hasn’t consistently showed up in the Finals (like his 17-point, 4-turnovers performance in Game 7 of last year). Can we get five, six, or seven Steph-like games out of Curry for a change? If we get another bunch of relative clunkers from him, then his NBA Finals rep is going to take another hit. —A.C.
Has Anyone Seen Klay Thompson?
How good are the Warriors? Good enough that they’re undefeated in the playoffs without Klay Thompson even showing up. Thompson is averaging just 14.4 PPG on 38% shooting in the postseason, after averaging 24.3 PPG last year and 22.3 during the regular season. He’s had just two 20-plus point performances in the postseason so far, 24 against the Blazers in Game 3 of the first round, and 21 against the Jazz in a series-concluding blowout. The guy who once scored 37 points in a quarter scored just 44 points in the Western Conference Finals, including an anemic 6 in Game 1. The thing about the Warriors is this: They can win it all without Thompson finding his All-Star form. Adding Kevin Durant can do that for a team. But if the Warriors want to go through the playoffs undefeated—and you can bet they do—they’re going to need Thompson to play more like he did during last year's playoffs, when he posted 13 games of 25-plus points. It’s far too late for him to match that number this year. But it would be nice if he at least showed up. —R.B.
Will the Kardashian Curse Rear Its Head?
Khloé’s record with NBA stars isn’t sterling. We all know about the sad tale of Lamar Odom, and Sports Illustrated did a great job documenting how James Harden’s head was in the wrong place while he briefly dated the reality star last season. Tristan Thompson, meanwhile, has been with Khloé for awhile now, and he’s due some major props for avoiding any Kardashian curse while balling out for the Cavs. The elite role player is playing some of the best ball of his life, helping lead the Cavs to a third straight NBA Finals appearance, averaging 9.2 PPG and 9.3 RPG. But the Kardashians, as you might be familiar, work in mysterious ways. Will some unexpected scandal pop up in the middle of the series, sullying Thompson’s rep with his teammates and derailing the Cavs' drive for a second straight title? The smart money says no. Things seem to be going swimmingly between the lovebirds, but never say never when it comes to America’s first family of reality TV because some extra drama on a big stage like the NBA Finals would surely be a ratings boost. —A.C.
Can Anyone Stop Playoff LeBron?
There are two answers to this, neither of them particularly satisfactory. The first is “yes, but”—of course someone can stop him, but only someone like Brock Lesnar or the Secret Service or Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. The other answer is more accurate and shorter: No. Like Dan Patrick used to say, you cannot stop Playoff LeBron, you can only hope to contain him. Statistically speaking, these Cavaliers weren’t even supposed to make the NBA Finals this year, yet here they are, four wins away from a repeat and led by the leading playoff scorer of all time. LeBron has turned in two consecutive Finals performances for the ages, and the Warriors do not appear to have anyone on the roster who can stop him from having a third. That is, unless they added Lesnar to the playoff roster without anyone noticing. —R.B.
Please Let This Be the Last Cavs-Warriors Finals
I’m looking forward to another epic battle between the NBA’s two best teams like just about every basketball fan out there. But I’m going on the record as saying I want to see at least one different squad in the Finals next season because I like a little variety with my championships. Yeah, Kevin Durant adds a wrinkle to the Finals that was missing the past few years. Yes, the Cavs' historic comeback and the Warriors' run at redemption is a cool subplot. But I seriously doubt I’m the only one who wouldn’t mind seeing a few different superstars this time next year. If you're not a Cavs or Warriors fan, do you really want to sign up for a fourth straight Cavs-Warriors Finals right now? You wouldn’t want to see a revamped Spurs squad back there? Or a James Harden-led Rockets team bombing threes with no abandon? I hope somebody—anybody—in the East can somehow find a way to keep Dwyane Wade and/or Carmelo Anthony from joining the Cavs this off-season and possibly dethrone Cleveland. The third installment of Cavs-Warriors is shaping up to be one to remember, for sure. But can we please get some new blood at the top next June? Everyone enjoys watching the best teams play each other. But a little parity ain't bad, right Dria? —A.C.
Right, Adam! Gotdamnit, there are 28 other teams in the National Basketball Association. Given the way the playoffs shaped up, the sweetest justice would have been a showdown between the Celtics and the Spurs. Even the Warriors and the Wizards could have been juicy. A good upset trumps a stale dynasty any day. But you know why that couldn’t happen? Ratings, people, that’s why! A third matchup between the Cavs and Warriors lends a little credence to Ayesha Curry’s claim thatthe NBA is rigged. Why watch 82 games of basketball if it’s all gonna unfold the same way in the end? How in the heck do you have two contenders and 28 underdogs? A fourth year of this would get boring real quick, commissioner Adam Silver. —D.R.
Whose Legacy is Really At Stake Here?
Ever since LeBron James passed Michael Jordan as the all-time leading scorer in NBA playoff history there has been a lot of talk of legacies and such, who the greatest of all time really is, and whether a Finals victory over these Warriors would give James a legitimate claim to the best-ever crown. For some, nothing will ever be enough. The second James made it to the Finals once and lost, it was over. Jordan was perfect in the Finals, and James wasn’t. End of discussion. And even if the Cavs do lose, it’s hard to imagine them doing so in a way that reflects poorly on James, who could have easily been named Finals MVP in 2015 as well as 2016. So who has the most to win, or the most to lose? Steph Curry, for one. A huge Finals would make up for sub-par (at least by two-time MVP standards) performances the past two years and cement him in the upper echelon. Kevin Durant could silence the haters. And on the Cleveland side, superlative performances from Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson could make the former a legend and the latter a household name. James? He’s got nothing left to prove. Other guys do. —R.B.
Will Anyone Be Happy for Kevin Durant If He Wins?
You can be loyal and remain a loser, or you can be a traitor and get the trophy. Kevin Durant stared at those two choices, and made the one he recently described as “100% correct.” Ten years is a long time to toil in vain. An eight-time All-Star, the 2014 MVP and former Rookie of the Year—who’s led the league in scoring four times—deserves to be in serious contention for a title, right?
Nah. He left the team that made him the second overall pick in the draft a decade prior, and joined forces with Golden State just two months after they eliminated him from the Finals. Where they do that at? To most of us, KD winning a ring this year would be the ultimate slap in the face to Russell Westbrook, to Oklahoma City, to the very concept of loyalty.
The argument has been made that both the Cavs and Warriors are super-teams. Cleveland has a hard-earned chemistry; the Warriors’ scoring nucleus consists of the Splash Bros. plus a leech. We know Wanda Durant, aka The Real MVP, would be happy for her son...not sure who else is in the fan club. —D.R.
