Anything but free

There is nothing free for the teams or for that matter the fans with the free agency period kicking off as we speak in the NBA. This is a much anticipated anticipated off-season due to a variety of reasons. NBA fans have been waiting for this summer since the new TV deal was announced almost 2 years ago. It will finally kick in now and push the salary cap past 94 million from the current 70 million. Thats a good 35% jump and it's expected to jump even more next year. So it's going to be a wild ride and it's literally going to rain millions on these ballers. The other reason this is big is because of Kevin Durant. He is a free agent and is talking to teams. Enough said! Last but not the least, the NBA is coming off an awesome playoffs where the individual games may not have been interesting, but the larger story-lines were gripping to say the least. This was followed by a fascinating draft with some intrigue and trades. So the interest in the association is currently high and the NBA fans are jonesing for any and all NBA news at this point.

Durant is the catch this year, though LeBron is also a free agent. I guess the King's camp has not planted any stories or sent feelers to any team. So it's assumed he stays in Cleveland and all eyes are on Durant instead. Warriors are among 6 teams including the Thunder that are legitimately chasing him. The Bay Area is still recovering from the finals. Fans can't wait for the start of the next season because they are so confident they are the best team and they will win it all again and avenge this season's defeat. I am not sure about all that, but I do agree with them in that they were at least the better team against the Cavs and lost mostly because the MVP didn't show up for the last 3 games and Klay didn't either in game 7. Now the Bay is buzzing with Durant talk. But the latest reports suggest that he might stay back in OKC. That warms my small-market liking, underdog supporting, home-grown talent craving cockles.

It's indeed a tantalizing prospect for all parties involved (except OKC of course) to imagine Durant with the Splash brothers, Iggy, and Draymond. The Warrior fans might want this not so much for what Durant can do for them, but more so for depleting the Thunder who finished the season looking every bit as good as the dubs, if not better. OKC has since traded Ibaka for Oladipo - a trade most people score for the Thunder, though I am still skeptical. Now there are rumors of them chasing Al Horford. Add another year of maturity to Steven Adams and another year under Billy Donovan, the Thunder may very well enter next season as the sexy pick more so than the Warriors. Of course it all starts with Durant and he should sign with them soon unless one of these other teams totally wows him during his meetings in Hampton. It should be an interesting weekend in the NBA.

While Durant is the headline, the real shocker is going to be the money that will be thrown across the league with every team having cap room to go with a desire to improve. DeMar DeRozan and Bradley Beal are both already signed with max contracts pushing 130 mill over 5 years! Kent Bazemore is supposedly worth 18 million a year and thats all you need to know to feel the craziness of this off season. Just to give you a perspective on the sky rocketing salaries, the aforementioned numbers dwarf the league MVP Curry's contract. Granted, Curry is in a unique, team friendly contract situation due to his injuries at the time of his signing and even Klay and Draymond are making upwards of 50% more money than Curry per year. But now we are going to see glorified role players like Bazemore make 65% more per year than Curry. And mediocre all-stars like DeRozan and Beal are going to make 130% more than Curry! The MVP can't wait for next year when he will be a free agent.

Speaking of Bazemore, supposedly Suns are interested in him as well. Suns are coming off a good draft where they drafted Dragan Bender at 4 and traded up to get Marquese Chriss at 8. Both are big guys with a lot of promise, though their games and bodies are very different. I was tempted by Kris Dunn at 4 since that guy is an awesome 2-way guard, but the Suns decided to draft for position rather than get another PG. I don't have major issues with it, but I do have to say that Dunn will probably be better than Bledsoe and Knight longer term. Now the Suns are trying to trade and sign some talent in free agency. It's a competitive market and I don't expect them to sign big names, but hope they get some good players and more importantly, don't overpay for bad players. Gone are the days when mediocre teams can sign stars if they had the money. Now, you have to either build your own stars via draft (think Warriors today or the TWolves tomorrow) or have enough money to lure 2 or 3 stars to join you to form a super team. Stars want a readymade situation that will put them in contention right away. Of course, you need some talent in-house to even lure those multiple stars to join and it's easier said than done to have all of this align perfectly.

Suns are clearly not there as far as a free agent destination this year and they are in the build through draft mode. Of course with Devin Booker, Bender, and to a lesser extent Alex Len and Chriss, they have a decent starting point. It would be nice to dump a couple of salaries at redundant positions like Brandon Knight and Tyson Chandler. But honestly, by this time next year, those large salaries will look like a steal in the new cap regime. It may not be a bad idea for the Suns to just keep them. Either way, lets enjoy the league-wide craziness this July. NBA off-seasons lately have been more interesting and intriguing that the regular season. But this year, NBA has delivered on all fronts throughout the year and lets' hope the momentum carries in to the summer and the next season. And lets hope we don't have an ugly drama like the DeAndre Jordan nightmare that Mark Cuban is still living through from last year's free agency. Keep it clean ballers!

King James shocks the world.

Game 7s of the NBA finals or the World Series are indeed special. We don't get many of those and it's the closest thing to a Super Bowl in those leagues. The stakes are of course sky-high and it's for all the marbles. The entire season, which is ridiculously long, is going to be decided by one game with no tomorrow. The game 7 yesterday decided the champion of a NBA season that featured more than 1300 total games, not to mention 2 long months of playoff basketball. The winner is the champion and the loser goes home with all kinds of regrets. While all of that is true for any game 7, yesterday's version involved even more story-lines and higher stakes. There were 4 reasons for that aside from the championship that was on the line.

These finals and game 7 pitted the top 2 talents in the league, LeBron and Curry, against each other. This regular season seemed to have displaced LeBron from the top and established Curry at the very apex of the league. It was widely accepted that Curry was a more potent NBA weapon than LeBron at this point. Of course, LeBron probably hated it and silently wanted his throne back. The 2 superstars had to duke it out in a game 7 to win it all and re-frame the NBA pecking order. LeBron won this round hands-down with a series of jaw dropping performances and grabbed the top spot from Curry, who was off most of the series. It's not that often the top 2 talents meet in the finals. Christmas night match-ups are cute and all, but Kobe and LeBron never met in the finals. LeBron and Durant have met just once so far despite their powerful teams. LeBron did meet Duncan thrice, but LeBron was too young the first time and Duncan was too old the last 2. So this LeBron-Curry matchup with both of them in their prime and facing off in a game 7 was indeed unique.

Also, this was not just 2 teams and cities competing for a championship, it was Cleveland. This city is supposed to be cursed and has been starving for a championship for 52 long years. LeBron bravely and may be even stupidly signed up to carry the weight of the city and that entire region on his shoulders when he came back last year. This also made this game 7 special, at least for Cleveland. Plus, the Warriors' record breaking season was hanging in a balance. Not everyday do we get a 73-win team fighting for it's legacy in a winner take all game. Last but not the least, the Warriors were ahead 3-1 in this series and no team has ever won a NBA finals after being down 1-3. Cleveland was going for a record-setting upset and the dubs were trying to avoid a historic choke job.

All of this culminated in a great game 7. It was nip and tuck all the way and the game was tied in the last 2 minutes. LeBron controlled the game on both ends of the floor and would not let the game get away from the Cavs. The splash brothers were off and couldn't pull away all night though Draymond gave all he had and willed the dubs into a first half lead. LeBron didn't shoot well, but he is a complete player who can do much more than just score. The most amazing stat of these finals might be that he was the first guy ever to lead both teams in a finals in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals. Thats just ridiculous! At the end of the night, there were 4 key plays in the last few minutes that stood out for me that decided the game. Curry's behind the back pass and turnover, Festus Ezeli fouling LeBron on a 3-pointer, LeBron's incredible block on Iguodala, and of course Kyrie's clutch, go-ahead 3. As impressive as Kyrie's shot was, that LeBron block will be in the NBA highlight reel for decades to come.

LeBron promised a championship for Cleveland and delivered it in style after being down 1-3 in this series. He is now 3-4 in finals all-time and thats way better than 2-5, though losing this finals would not have dented his reputation that much given how great he was individually in games 5 through 7. Last year, he was impressive, but was not efficient since he had to shoot a lot. He had Kyrie by his side this year and finished the Warriors off. Not only did LeBron outplay Curry, Kyrie did too. Kyrie was unbelievable in that game 5 along with LeBron and he looked more like Curry with his outside shot than Curry ever did in this series. He averaged an impressive 27 points this series, not to mention the game winner in game 7.  If not for LeBron's brilliance, Kyrie would have been a legitimate finals MVP candidate. LeBron won his 3rd Finals MVP and this ring cements his legacy and puts him in a very special place. He won it for Cleveland and is his 3rd ring spread across 2 cities with completely different supporting casts. To me, this puts him above Kobe though Kobe has 5 rings. LeBron is a better player on the court than Kobe, and is now catching up to him on rings.

I wanted the Warriors to win this series just to legitimize their impressive 73 win season. It's no joke to win 73 games in a a season and they made it a fun season to follow. They were truly must-see TV ever since they started the season 24-0. I also like the personalities with the Warriors like coach Kerr, Curry, and Klay. They all seem genuinely humble and nice unlike LeBron's fake humility and contrived respect for his teammates. With all that said, I don't mind the championship for Cleveland at all. I was upset when LeBron left town and happy the day he returned. Granted, his megalomaniac acts since his return like the firing of the coach, playing GM, Tristan Thompson contract etc. pissed me off a little bit, but I still wanted him to win one for the land. Too bad, he is going to have even more control now that he is a champion and the unanimous finals MVP. But kudos to him for promising a championship to a down-trodden franchise and actually delivering it in 2 years.

What does all this mean for the historic Warriors? They are now in the conversation with the 2001 Seattle Mariners and the 2007 New England Patriots - teams that set the record for the best regular season in their respective sports, but failed to win the championship. Therein lies the problem. We remember those teams for all the wrong reasons and we will never forget these Warriors either. The lack of a championship diminishes the regular season record for sure. In some people's eyes, it might also put an asterisk on their championship last year since LeBron has now beaten them with his supporting cast that was injured last year during the finals. I am not into asterisks and frankly, we could slap a few on the Cavs win this year too. Draymond's suspension in game 5 was a huge momentum shifter. Then Bogut got hurt and Iguodala had a bad back that troubled him in game 6 and I don't think he was back to normal in game 7 either.

So the dubs seemed to have choked away a 3-1 lead by losing 3 straight games including 2 at their famed home. At least the thunder lost 2 out of the last 3 on the road when they lost to the dubs after being up 3-1. With that said, if you dig a little deeper, I think we can all agree that the circumstances conspired against the dubs. Thats not even taking any suspected Curry injury into account. They were still in it till the last minute of game 7 and I am not sure how much of a failure that is. Being a young team, they can win a ring again and it will be interesting to see how we look at this season if they win next year for instance like the Spurs who came back and won in 2014. Also, I am curious to see what the narrative will be in a couple of months with respect to Draymond's suspension and how that affected this series. There will be no sympathies for the Warriors of course, especially after the Joe Lacob article earlier this season where he claimed the Warriors were light years ahead of the rest of league (bad karma??). They sure can't shake away this unexpected, shocking, and monumental collapse. The first 3-game losing streak under coach Kerr came at the worst possible time. This will stick with the franchise forever.

But the Warriors still have a lot to look forward to and Vegas has already installed them as the favorite for next year. Curry hopefully improves his ball handling this off-season and cuts down on his crazy turnovers which could be a big blessing in disguise. Dub-nation is understandably disappointed, but this was a magical season and their team was in it till the last minute of the last possible day of the NBA playoffs. The players will have a challenging summer and have to come back poised and stronger. The reality is, though they were the reigning champs, they are not very experienced. They jumped literally overnight from being the 6th seed in 2014 to winning the ring in 2015. During the previous round, there was talk about how Durant and Westbrook had so many more playoff rounds under their belt than these Warriors. The Splash brothers are still young and were over-confident and confused at some points in these finals. They can grow from this and come back stronger. I know it's hard to keep going back to the finals, especially in the wild West, but I want a round 3 next year between these 2 heavyweights. The Cavs were hurt last year and the Dubs dealt with suspension and injuries this year. Lets get a totally healthy, suspension-free rubber match next year.

Did the "evil" NBA mess this up?

The Los Angeles Lakers won the 2002 NBA championship. But they were not the best team that year. That was the Sacramento Kings. The Western conference finals that season was between the Lakers and the Kings and that was the de-facto finals. A statement that seem to ring true for the Western conference finals about 9 out of 10 seasons. The East was represented by Jason Kidd's NJ Nets who were eventually swept by the Lakers in the finals and would probably have been swept by the Kings too if they had made it. The Kings had home court against the Lakers and they actually lost game 1. It was one of the rare occasions where a team, the Kings, seemed to be headed towards a so-called gentleman's sweep in 5 games despite losing game 1 at home. They won game 2 at home and game 3 at Staples. They were really the better team in game 4 and it took a couple of offensive rebounds and a buzzer-beating 3 by Robert Horry in Lakers' final possession for them to win and tie the series at 2. Kings were still fine since they had 2 of the 3 remaining games at home and were really playing well. They won game 5 easily at home and then there was the fateful game 6 at Staples.

That game 6 in the 2002 WCF was one of the worst officiated game in the history of the league - a league that is constantly under scrutiny for bad officiating. It was so bad that former presidential candidate and consumer advocate Ralph Nader called for a formal investigation. This game later came to be known as one of the Tim Donaghy games as the disgraced and corrupt referee made some accusations about how the league wanted to give that game to the Lakers and extend the series. That news came out years later. But even as I was watching the game live, I could tell something was really messed up. Back in the day, the Lakers-Kings was THE rivalry. It had Shaq, Kobe, and Phil Jackson on one side and Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, and beautiful basketball on the other. That Kings team was almost as much fun as the 7-seconds or less Suns teams and the current Warriors squad. Everybody knew the TV ratings for the finals against the Nets would come nowhere near the ratings for this series. And a game 7 would be just what the doctor ordered for the NBA and the TV networks. 

So it was petty obvious to me watching that game 6 that the NBA was engineering a game 7 by favoring the Lakers and punishing the Kings. Kings fans would tell you that the NBA also wanted the bigger market Lakers in the finals and I don't blame them. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to people and I always assumed the NBA just wanted a game 7. They didn't care who won game 7, though they obviously didn't mind the Lakers winning. I thought the league's evil thinking was that the Kings deserved to win, and since they have a game 7 at home, let's give game 6 to the Lakers and call a fair game 7, which the Kings should win anyways. They did call a fair game 7, but the Kings just could not handle the pressure of a game 7 and lost in OT. They couldn't hit free throws and barely shot 50% from the charity stripe and were much worse than even Shaq, a notorious free throw shooter. It was a shame as the NBA got it's game 7, but the Kings were innocent bystanders who paid dearly. That Kings team never sniffed the championship thanks to that game 6. 

Fast forward to this year's finals and you can see where I am going with this story. The NBA reviewed the LeBron-Draymond incident from game 4 and assessed a flagrant 1 to Draymond knowing fully well that Draymond will be suspended for game 5 because of that. While Draymond does seem to unfailingly connect with opponents genitals with his flailing arms and legs, his reaction when LeBron stepped over him was not that egregious. The NBA could have easily let it slide. I do understand that Draymond's history does matter, but thats the only thing that seemed to have mattered in this case as what he did was  definitely not a flagrant foul if viewed in a vacuum. This is what happened in my opinion. NBA basically looked at the 3-1 series score and decided to look principled and strict. They figured Warriors should win this series anyways and didn't mind if the series got extended a bit. So they decided to punish Draymond and teach him not to flail all the time and make sure he kept his hands and legs tight. This is all good theoretically, but just as in 2002, man proposes and God disposes. You can't play God and neither can the NBA. 

NBA's actions resulted in the dubs losing game 5 at home. Now the dubs still have 2 more shots, but only one of it is at home. Also, Bogut got hurt in game 5 and is now out for the series. So the NBA basically made this series a lot harder for the dubs. Cavs have a good shot at winning game 6 tomorrow at home and then we are down to a 1 game series where anything can happen. What if Kyrie or LeBron goes crazy like they did in game 5? What if the Warriors are hit with more injuries? Even if the NBA thinks they are not be altering the course of the series or history with such actions, they could be doing exactly that. They can't assume anything. They have to work with a clear conscience and act pure. Sneaking in an extra game here or there for TV money and hoping the series plays out the same way is too dangerous and 2002 showed us that. If the dubs lose this series, the NBA also loses a good story around this 73 win dubs season as their season will be unfulfilled. But I guess it all pales in front of the almighty dollars. I am not saying Draymond is an angel and his repeated genital connections must be ignored, but NBA could have assessed him a technical instead and taken him closer to a suspension given the circumstances. Instead, the league suspended him, scored some extra games, and now runs the risk of messing with history. 

I do hope for the sake of the 73-win dubs team and their fans that 2002 doesn't repeat itself. The dubs better wrap it up tomorrow on the road much like they did last year. They can and I sure hope they do to avoid what could become a major self-inflicted controversy for the NBA. The dubs are the better team, but the team that plays better wins the game. Those are 2 slightly different things though the better team has the higher probability of playing better every game. But better teams can play bad and inferior teams can play great. Thats exactly what that happened on both sides in game 5. Kyrie played way above his norm and even LeBron, who is great almost always, shot way better from range than he has done all year long. Dubs on the other hand had a sub-par outing, especially Stephen Curry. Sometimes experts and players just say "shots didn't go in" or "shots went in." It sounds too simplistic and even cynical, but thats just another way of saying you are playing better than your norm or worse. When you play better, that means you are making shots, grabbing rebounds etc. When you are playing worse than your talent and skill level, shots you usually make aren't going in. Thats the situation Curry is in right now. In a seven game series, the better team typically wins because the better team is more likely to have more better games than the inferior team. If you believe in regression towards the mean, dubs should win this series because they are the better team. But Curry has to hit his mean streak soon for that to happen.

One more to go!

There will probably be just one more game this NBA season. Of course, Warrior fans are not complaining. They finally get an opportunity to win and celebrate at home. Despite the innumerable number of teams and championships in the Bay Area, the last team to clinch a championship at home was the A's in 1974. The A's did win one World Series against the SF Giants in 1989 who are also from the area, but the clinching game was technically on the road at the Stick in San Francisco. Super Bowls are always at neutral venues though the Niners won one in 1985 at Stanford Stadium, which is just a short drive from the Stick. Aside from those, the Giants and the Warriors have never clinched at home. The dubs should get it done Monday night, with or without Draymond, to wrap up this record-breaking season. It has been a magical season for the dubs fans and when a record-breaking season like this rolls around, the entire NBA fan base has something to follow and cheer for or against every day. It's been a fun season that way and we will all miss it starting Tuesday.

The Cavs are not really in the same league as the Warriors. Game 3 was an aberration as this Warriors team does have a tendency to not show up sometimes. And of course they lost by 30 as the Cavs came with a do or die mentality. The dubs looked more like themselves in game 4 at both ends of the floor and the result was predictably a win. Every time they lose, coach Kerr always blames it on the lack of ball movement and all the dubs players regurgitate the same theory in front of the media. Some talking heads have made fun of that theory by pointing out that a whole number of the dubs' successful possessions and game winners involve Curry dribbling and shooting - Curry's own version of hero ball.  But then a stretch like the 4th quarter in game 4 shows you how much the dubs move the ball and how fluid the offense is in contrast to the "stand around and watch Kyrie and LeBron  dribble" offense that the Cavs ran. The same was true with the Thunder in game 6 and 7 as their superstars resorted to hero ball when push came to shove.

Sure, Curry and even Klay have a green light to dribble and shoot anytime, but they do also generate a lot of those shots via ball and people movement. Kerr also makes this point that all that activity puts the team in the right rhythm even if it ends with Curry jacking up a 30-footer. Some people seem to miss that point. The dubs offense is more that just Curry dribbling and shooting and it's most evident when the bench is playing and scoring with relative ease. Kerr and staff deserve a lot of credit for implementing a system that showcases the splash brothers, but also works well for the others. Speaking of the Splash brothers, they actually were pretty mediocre in the finals until game 4 and the dubs still won the two home games thanks to their bench. They finally showed up in game 4. Curry seemed to me like he was still only at 85 to 90 % of his usual dominant self, but that was good enough to drop 38 points on the Cavs and impress. The game was close, but the dubs took control like they usually do in the second half and strangled the Cavs offense into submission. At least it was not a blowout like the previous 3 games in the series.

Blowouts have been one of the recurring themes of these playoffs since there have been too many of them. Teams routinely win by 30 at home and lose the next game on the road by 30 for a 60 point swing in 3 days! The only thing funnier than that is how the entire national media and so-called experts have been swinging back and forth wildly in their assessment of the series and teams with each of these games. Even the Warriors were looked at as being slightly suspect after game 3 despite them having proved them all wrong by coming back from 1-3 deficit against the Thunder. That series, which captured our collective imagination, was full of drama and twists and turns, but was also devoid of close games. There have been 10 games decided by 30 or more this playoffs equaling the total number from the last 3 seasons combined. My theory is, these blowouts are partly random happenstance and partly because of how today's game is played. Offenses are pretty explosive these days and powered by solid 3-point shooting. So if they get on a roll at home and the visiting team falls asleep for a bit, the game gets out of hand quick. A 15 point lead today is probably nothing more than a 7 point lead back in the 90's.

Speaking of the 90's, I was watching the 30-for-30 feature on Reggie Miller's heroics against the Knicks and I couldn't help but notice that almost every single game was decided by 2 or 3 points and every game seemed to be decided in the last minute. This years' playoffs show us that the game has indeed changed since then.

RIP, the GOAT

Muhammad Ali's death yesterday shook the sports world. He is widely considered the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) and his impact goes way beyond the boxing ring. He had a very interesting and impactful life and is highly respected in the black community. Men of a certain age of all races revere him, but black men who had the opportunity to grow up in that era especially appreciate a lot of his activist struggles and what it meant to their lives as well as the society at large. When Sports Illustrated ranked the best athletes of the 20th century, Ali was 3rd behind MJ and Babe Ruth. It's amazing MJ was higher than even Ali, but you can't go wrong with anybody in that top 3. I am usually not the one who wishes I had lived in certain eras to have experienced certain things. I have seen MJ play, but I am perfectly happy learning about Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, or Wilt Chamberlain from books or movies or journalists who have seen them play. But I do wish I lived through the Mohammad Ali era for all the political and social impact he created, though I don't even watch boxing. As a sports fan, I feel like I would have followed him closely and learned a lot about myself as well as the social construct and cultural context of that time. Ali's refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam war resulted in him losing the right to box in any state for over three years. Jeremy Schaap made an interesting point on ESPN. Losing 3 years of your prime in your mid 20s is a really high cost to pay and while that makes Ali's stand a very principled and courageous one, he deserves even more credit in reality because he didn't know the punishment going in and it could have been much worse than those 3 years. Ali was a unique athletic and social phenomenon and he will be sorely missed. RIP!

On the court, the Warriors seem to be cruising to their second championship. Game 1 did not go well for the Cavs as Curry and Klay stunk up the joint, but the dubs still won the game convincingly behind Shaun Livingston and his bench brothers. The media at large is saying that dubs should win the series now and game 1 was probably the best opportunity for the Cavs to have stolen one on the road given the splash brothers were MIA. But I had the same opinion even before game 1. Warriors are a way better team than the Cavs and I thought if they came into game 1 lackadaisical, the Cavs can upset them. Now that game 1 is done, game 2 is probably the best shot for the Cavs to win a road game rest of the way. They will come in with a lot of energy anyways and it's possible the dubs get bored or careless for a stretch or two. It's inconceivable that I am even saying this about the NBA finals, but the dubs are that good and I can see them losing a game or two just because they don't show up with all seriousness and get distracted. There may be a few more "break the clip board" moments for coach Kerr, but they will figure it out and wrap this series up in 5 or 6. The Thunder series was the real test for the dubs and it should be smooth sailing rest of the way. The only intrigue might be the finals MVP award and the media is already beating up on Curry for not winning the finals MVP last year. This Curry hating is getting ridiculous and he might go chasing the MVP just because he could. Even in game 1, he forced a couple of bricks when LeBron was switched on him. You could tell that matchup meant something to him and his ego. Lets see if he goes full-on "hero ball" to win the MVP. The bottom-line is , the Cavs don't defend well and thats their problem in this series. They are good offensively, but anything Cavs can do on offense the dubs can do better. Except LeBron. He is the only thing in the Cavs that worry the dubs and he might have to go 2015 finals mode to salvage this series. He started game 1 on fire, but he has to try and stay on fire through the rest of this series, especially on the road. That may be the Cavs only hope.

Not 1, not 2, not 3 ….

If you can't win game 6 at home after leading by 13 at one point, how are you going to win game 7 on the road? So the Thunder were not going to win game 7 at roaracle, but they do deserve a lot of credit for showing up and making it another fantastic game! Granted, game 6 will be remembered as the game that legitimized the "Klay gonna Klay" phrase. We are used to "Steph gonna Steph," but Klay deserves his own catch phrase and glad the entire NBA world saw how good a player he is after that game 6 explosion. But still, the Thunder did collapse at their offensive end in that game against some stout D and game 7 at Oakland was not going to be easy, with or without Klay going Klay. According to Michael Wilbon, Spurs guard Tony Parker apparently believes the Warriors get an extra lift from the Oracle crowd, more than the home court edge teams enjoy at other loud home gyms across the league.

With all that said, we knew Durant and Westbrook would bring it to game 7 and so would the tough kiwi Adams, but the entire team brought it as well until the late third quarter. Westbrook's shooting was off as always, but he was also relentless as always. This was a team that legitimately looked better than the 73-win Warriors team for large stretches of the series and that continued through the first half of game 7. They deserve a lot of credit for that. Not to digress, but thats one of the reasons I think Durant stays in OKC. He has a good team in his hands. But the dubs have something the Thunder, and quite frankly ever other team in the history of the league, do not have. That is, they don't have the best and the second best shooter in the history of the league - not right now, not in this era, but in the history of the game. Klay and Curry won this series and Curry's performance in game 7 was spectacularly MVP-like. Thunder couldn't handle these guys and no shame in that - most teams have tried and failed all season long.

Now we have the finals we all wanted. It's funny that after all this drama and a gazillion regular season and bazillion playoff games, we get the finals we all predicted last fall! This is one of the reasons some fans think NBA is boring and predictable, an opinion I violently disagree with. But the 7-game series does mostly push through the better team and that's only fair after a 6-month long regular season. Sure, it does make it a little more predictable, but it's better and more interesting in the long run. We get the Cavs and the dubs in the finals again and this should be a dandy given that both teams are better now than last year. We have a healthy big-3 on the Cavs, but unfortunately for them, the dubs are improved too and let me kill all the suspense right now. The dubs will win this one in 5 or 6 games tops. They will have an easier time against the Cavs than they did against the Thunder. Cavs are a better shooting team than the Thunder, but they don't have the length and defensive chops to disrupt the dubs. 

I do want to give props to LeBron James though. He is going to his sixth straight finals with 2 different teams and thats just insane! When LeBron "took his talents to South Beach," they threw an welcome party where LeBron was talking about multiple championships. He said "not 1, not 2, not 3.." and just kept on going. It became a butt of many jokes as he lost his first finals with the Miami Heat. He doesn't have six or seven championships and is probably not getting one this year either, but making it to 6 straight finals is pretty darn impressive! Reminds me of the Bills going to 4 straight Super Bowls and losing all of them. It's hard to make it to 4 straight SBs and there is no loser gene in that. Same here with LeBron. It's a tribute to his greatness, that he has consistently taken his teams to the NBA finals, albeit in a slightly inferior LEastern conference.  We all know the LeBron story. He was enemy number 1 when he bolted Cleveland to Miami. He won a lot of respect back when he won the two championships in Miami, but he was still not well-liked. 

LeBron didn't do anything wrong when he chose where he wanted to play in a free market, but like I have said many time before, neither did the fans. They have every right to like him in Cleveland and hate him in Miami. Fans are the paying customer and they reserve the right to root for or hate any player, jersey, team, story, and narrative of their choice. LeBron messed with the fan's preferred narrative when he announced his "decision" to move to "South Beach," but he won a significant number of fans back including yours truly when he came back to Cleveland last year with a carefully orchestrated "I am coming home" letter. Now, he is ironically becoming almost a sympathetic figure as he is staring at a 5th finals loss against only 2 rings. Even some talking heads are openly rooting for him and of course his advancing age and Cleveland's checkered sporting history littered with many heart-breaks adds to that sympathy. But sympathy does not make a champion. LeBron has to bring the best version of his basketball self to this finals if he wants to close the deal. Whether he wins this time around or not, he deserves mad props for making it to his 6th straight finals. He is an unique player and lets enjoy his talents while we still have him in the league.