NBA Finals 2016 - Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors

NBA Finals - Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors Rematch

It's Christmas in June for NBA fans around the world. Tonight kicks off the final playoff series of the NBA season and will end with the crowning of a champion. Review last year's prediction and results made this year's prediction seem clearer. Before I begin my breakdown, I want to comment on each team's path to the NBA Finals. 

Cleveland had a much shorter path, but they were still tested (See John Schuhmann tweet). From the outside, it does seem like the Cavs had a cakewalk to the Finals due to the Eastern Conference being perceived as weak, but I would beg to differ and say the East was much better than it was last year and the #8 seed was six games above .500 unlike the Western Conference, where the #8 seed was .500.

As for Golden State, earning the #1 seed by owning the best regular season record in NBA History is pretty cool to witness. To say the least, they had an amazing season, even though my Timberpups beat them in Golden State. *Proud T-Wolves fan* Besides those 9 losses, Steph Curry was even better than he was last year, which is pretty crazy to think about, considering he broke the 3 point record last year that was held by nobody else besides himself. So he broke his own record, last year to break his old record this year, not by a little, but by 116 more made 3's or 348 more points to his points scored. That's an extra 4.41 additional PPG by 3's. Get the picture. His unanimous MVP voting results really seems as obvious as the outcome. As for the playoffs, the Warriors have gone through a bit of adversity. Losing Steph for a few games in rounds 1 and 2, to being down 3-1 against an OKC team that just knocked off arguably the best Spurs team ever. Their run has been something special.

Now to my analysis of how the series will play out. The Cavs have played 14 games to the Warriors 17. Steph has been injured and missed some games, while the Cavs roster looks very healthy. Cleveland swept 2 series and got ample rest. Golden State just finished a brutal 7 game series. Just these few statements makes it clear that the Cavs are in good position to win the series. Here are my reasons to why the Cavs will be crowned champs.

1) Last year was like everyone on the team meeting each other for the first time. It takes time to gel and play at max potential. With one full year of playing together and most importantly every player healthy, the Cavs are in much better position to win than they were compared to last year's NBA Finals.

2) Statistically, the Cavs are #2 to the Golden State in PPG this Post-season, while they lead the post-season in point differential. They are #1 in 3PM while GS is #2. GS has a slight edge in rebounding and APG, but the Cavs are giving up 10 points less than the Warriors. Read this if you like in-depth stats NBA Finals Statistical Preview.

3) I talked about health and team chemistry in reason 1, but to add to that, I think Kyrie has taken a huge step in these playoffs. His offensive dominance has taken a load off a LeBron's shoulders and allowed their whole team to succeed. His NBA Finals debut got shut down early last time because of injury, so I expect him to have extra motivation and show he can stick with Curry.

4) LeBron James: do I need to say more? 6 straight finals. That's ridiculous and unprecedented besides the Boston Celtics. Here is a graphic of his performance last year, those are video game numbers. Though he won't have near those numbers, he will have teammates to help him.

Now, do I think Golden State can win? Of course. There are plenty of reasons to why they can, could, and should win, but I think the Cavs are ready for them.

Game by game prediction:

Game 1: Cleveland

Game 2: Golden State

Game 3: Cleveland

Game 4: Golden State

Game 5: Cleveland

Game 6: Cleveland

Cavs in 6. Lebron gets ring #3 and Finals MVP.

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