10 Fast Facts About the NBA Finals
On Thursday night, the NBA Finals will tip off. While the name might be a first (going the NASCAR way, the NBA has rebranded the Finals as “The Finals 2018 presented by YouTube TV”), the matchup is probably going to be familiar to you — at least as far as the teams are concerned.
Let’s take a look at 10 fast facts you need to know about the 2018 NBA Finals.
1) Yep, it’s Cavs vs. Warriors again.
For the fourth straight year, the same teams will be in the NBA Finals: LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors. In spite of the fact that, before 2015, the Warriors hadn’t appeared in the Finals since 1975 and the Cavaliers had just made a single appearance in 2007 during James’ first stint with the team (getting swept 4-0 by the San Antonio Spurs), since 2015 no other team has managed to grace the championship series with their presence.
That could change sometime in the near future; both the Cavs and the Warriors were pressed to seven games in their conference finals series by the Boston Celtics and the Houston Rockets, respectively. For this year, however, it’s going to be the Cavaliers and Warriors again.
This sets the record for the number of times two teams have faced each other consecutively in the NBA Finals. For individual Finals’ appearances, both teams have a long, long way to go to match the 1957-1969 Boston Celtics. (And they say the East is weak these days.)
2) The Warriors are favored. Big.
If you’re an NBA fan, you probably didn’t need me to tell you that the Warriors were going to be the favorite over the Cavaliers — they’ve been favored in all four series — but this year the odds of them winning are massive.
Vegas odds had the Warriors as -1000 favorites. For those of you who don’t know gambling (and I’m sure that’s all of you), that means you have to bet $1,000 on them to win in order to make a profit of $100.
Surprisingly, these aren’t actually the biggest odds the Warriors have gotten in any of the four series the two teams have played. Last year, they were favored by the astounding margin of +2000. (They ended up winning 4-1.)
3) In spite of this, LeBron and the Cavaliers can tie up this historical feud with a win.
This is a Cavs team that’s just two years removed from pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NBA history when they dethroned the Warriors in seven games. If they can pull off another Joe Namath in Super Bowl III or UMBC over Virginia in this year’s NCAA tournament, they would tie the Warriors 2-2 in Finals appearances.
In this case, a tie would be as good as a win. The Warriors are considered a team whose application for dynasty status is going to be approved by the admissions board without any qualms. Not only are they stacked with future Hall of Famers — the aforementioned Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green — but they’ve changed the way the game has been played at every level. Literally. They’re the reason why you can go into any high school gym in this country and see 16-year-olds practicing threes instead of trying to dunk like they would have 10 years ago.
James, for all of his personal accolades, stands accused of not getting it done in the Finals, despite making eight straight appearances. However, consider the cast around him — and the fact that he’s been the underdog in seven of the nine series that he’s played, including two of the three series he played with the Miami Heat superteam. (Ironically, it was the one series they were favored in — against the Dallas Mavericks — that he lost with Miami.) A tied record against the Warriors may not be Jordan’s six-for-six, but it’d certainly shut the detractors up.
4) For better or worse, this is a way different Cavaliers team than started the season.
There were enough changes for most franchises this year in Cleveland when Kyrie Irving was traded to Boston for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Žižić and a first-round draft pick Boston had gotten from the Nets (who are fond of giving those away). They’d also added Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose, except both of those players had aged well beyond superstar status.
Then, at the trade deadline on Feb. 8, things got a lot more weird.
Thomas and Crowder were traded away, as were Channing Frye, Wade, Rose and Iman Shumpert. In return, they got Jordan Clarkson, George Hill, Rodney Hood and Larry Nance Jr. Cleveland got a lot younger, if a lot less experienced in the deal. They also took on a lot more salary — $15.5 million next season and $6.6 million in 2019-20. They’ve gone 19-10 since making the deals, as opposed to 31-22 before it.
5) These aren’t the same dominating Cavs of yesteryear.
Part of the reason behind the dramatic moves made at the trade deadline was that the Cavaliers simply weren’t the dominating force that they were in seasons past. James’ Cavs finished fourth in the Eastern Conference, behind Toronto, Boston and Philadelphia, respectively. They beat the former two teams on the way to the Finals, with at least Boston giving them a real scare.
The drama llama was also in full-time residence at Quicken Loans Arena. There was Irving’s exit before the season, which was what the kids like to call acrimonious, plus the trade deadline hullabaloo, plus head coach Tyronn Lue’s decision to take a leave of absence over health issues in March. (He would return in April.)
Add in a front-office spat at the beginning of the year, the constant pressure on James to win another Finals and a whole host of other problems and you’re looking at a team that isn’t exactly living its best life now, as Joel Osteen might say. Nevertheless, they’re in the Finals, and stranger things have happened. (Remember, if you’d told anyone five years ago that the Cavaliers and Warriors would both appear in the Finals for four straight years, you’d likely have been placed on a psychiatric hold.)
6) These are still the same dominating Warriors of yesteryear.
Don’t let the second-place finish in the Western Conference or the seven-game series against the Rockets fool you. That had more to do with the ascendency of the Rockets than with the Warriors getting worse. The 2017-18 Warriors had four players (Curry, Green, Durant and Klay Thompson) in the All-Star Game, the first time that any team has had four all-stars in four consecutive years and only the ninth time it’s happened, period.
Yes, it’s the first time they haven’t made 60 wins under Steve Kerr. They still won their first two series easily and when the Rockets pushed them to seven games, Durant and Curry outscored the entire Rockets team 40-32 in the second half and the Warriors won 101-92.
7) Even though the odds are long, the viewership will likely be high.
Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals in Oakland between the Warriors and Rockets was the most watched NBA game this season with 15 million viewers, while Cavs-Celtics was ESPN’s second-highest rated NBA game ever. Also, in spite of the fact that the Warriors were even bigger favorites last year, the series still managed to pull the highest Finals ratings since 1998. (That was Michael Jordan’s last NBA Finals, in case you weren’t keeping track.)
In other words, the NBA is definitely on a ratings upswing, and if this year’s edition is more competitive than the oddsmakers may think, you could see a ratings bonanza.
8) If you’re looking for Steph Curry to shoot nothing but threes in the Finals, you may be disappointed.
Yes, we know that Steph Curry is known to go downtown more often than an Uber driver. This all being said, his percentage of shots taken from three-point range actually dropped in the 2018 playoffs.
Steph took 48 percent of his shots from beyond the arc during the playoffs — which isn’t an insignificant number, but it was down from 58 percent during the season.
So, when the Finals start on Thursday night, don’t be surprised if you see fewer threes from Steph Curry. Of course, it may not matter either way — the Warriors have been the number one team in defense during the playoffs. They’ve only allowed 99.7 points per 100 possessions, well under their regular-season number of 104.2. We’ll guessing he’ll still be taking some threes, though, considering that he’s made a three-pointer in 86 consecutive playoff games. (Total number of playoff games Steph Curry has played: also 86.)
9) The Warriors are 14-1 in playoff openers under Steve Kerr.
If the Cavaliers are hoping to get out to a quick start at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday, they had better prepared. Like, really well prepared.
Under Kerr, the Warriors have won 14 out of 15 of their playoff openers. Their only loss was to the Oklahoma City Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. (They would win that series 4-3, but lose to the Cavaliers in dramatic fashion in the NBA Finals.)
Considering the perceived difference in talent between the two teams, however, a win in Oracle might be a must for Cavs if they’re to prove this won’t just be the coronation the media (and the bettors) seem to think it will be.
10) There could be a lot of record-setting during this year’s Finals.
Curry’s 356 career playoff three-pointers is third on the list of most threes during the postseason, behind Ray Allen’s 385 and James’ 364. Meanwhile, Durant’s 28.79 points per game during the playoffs is fifth on the all-time list. Directly ahead of him? Also James, with 28.83. Jerry West (29.13) and Allen Iverson (29.73) could perhaps be in reach with a killer Finals for either. Michael Jordan, whose average is over 33 points per game, definitely isn’t.
As for James, he’s also chasing the most playoff games of all time. He’s currently fifth with 235. He’ll almost certainly pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has 237. That’s as high as he’ll go this year, however, as the next highest name on the list — Robert Horry — has played 244 playoff games. (Derek Fisher, who played during the Lakers’ dynasty in the 1990s and 2000s, holds the record with 259 playoffs games played.)
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