Cleveland Cavaliers: Five keys to winning the NBA Finals
For the second straight year, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are gearing up to take on the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. But these are far from the same two teams that met last season. Healthy and hungry, do the red-hot Cavs have what it takes to knock off back-to-back MVP Stephen Curry and the record-breaking, 73-win Warriors?
Cleveland will win if ...
1. They contain Stephen Curry
As much as every team not named the Warriors would like, there's no magic formula for shutting down the back-to-back MVP. As the old saying goes, they can only hope to contain him — a task much easier said than done, of course. While we're not saying Curry being locked in automatically gives the Warriors the championship, if he's given the space to play like the offensive anomaly that he is and if Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love don't properly play the pick and roll, an uphill climb awaits the Cavs.
2. Key players stay healthy
Injuries riddled this Cavs team last postseason. First was Love's dislocated shoulder in the first round that kept him out for the remainder of the playoffs. Then was Irving's knee injury in Game 1 of the Finals that sidelined him for the rest of the series. Now, the Cavs' second and third best players are back healthy, and that's exactly how they must stay on their journey through unfamiliar territory.
3. The supporting cast steps up
With a healthy Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love both playing at a high level, along with Channing Frye and J.R. Smith both shooting lights-out from the perimeter, will James be able to facilitate first and defer some of the scoring load to the supporting cast, a luxury that he didn't have in last year's Finals?
4. They stay versatile offensively
Cleveland shattered the three-point shooting record books in their second-round series with the Atlanta Hawks. The scary part about it? They're not a three-point shooting team, as was shown with their interior dominance in the Eastern Conference finals against the Toronto Raptors. If Cleveland can attack the basket and knock down shots on the perimeter, this series gets all the more interesting.
5. Kevin Love steps up
It's no coincidence that Cleveland's only two losses this postseason went hand-in-hand with Love's two-game drought where he averaged just 6.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and was a minus-5.0. In their 12 postseason wins, however, Love averaged 19.1 points, 10.3 rebounds and was a plus-13.3. When he's engaged offensively and active on the glass, the Cavs become a whole different ball club.
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