Tequilla
Active poster
1) Nobody on the Warriors has Finals experience that I'm aware of ... but as was said last night, they didn't really have West Finals experience either. By the 2nd quarter of Game 1, it won't matter much. The Warriors don't have many guys that I see shying away from shots.
2) The fact that the Warriors are a jumpshooting team is comical to me. First, they won 67 games during the regular season. That tells me that regardless of what they did, they not only did it at a high level (and as I illustrated earlier, they did it at a level that few teams have EVER done it regardless of styles), but they were consistent in how they did it. Second, the reason that they don't slump is a combination of the fact that they move the ball at an insane level, that ball movement creates a lot of clean looks for their jumpshooters instead of contested looks, and that the ball movement combined with the threat of the jumper results in a lot of penetration, layups, and little flip shots that are insanely high percentage shots. Their efficiency is off the charts.
3) The Warriors were +20 last night in rebounding in a close out game against one of the better bigs in the league in Dwight Howard. I don't think most people realize how good Bogut is. Festus Ezili is good enough to start for at least half of the teams in the league. Green plays with a massive chip on his shoulder and is a high end rebounder. Add in a number of mid-sized wing players that allows them to rebound at a fairly high level. Thompson is good for sure and will be interesting to watch in this series. But outside of Thompson, LBJ, and Mozgov, there aren't a lot of guys on Cleveland that I look at as strong rebounders. If the Bulls weren't in such turmoil on the inside and with injuries, they probably beat Cleveland.
4) The thing with the Warriors that nobody talks about is how strong they are defensively. Their ability to minimize the impact of everybody outside of LBJ should be a key to the series.
5) The biggest threat to the Warriors long-term is an ownership group being overtly budget minded (i.e. not paying Green in free agency) and injuries. This is a team that clearly looks like they like playing with one another and with the success they've had this year, they should have no problem getting a strong line of role players to play for them as the years continue. LBJ may be able to get to the Finals a few times in the next few years, but this is a Warriors team that could have a really strong 5+ year run in them. And if you add to that that any team that beats them in the West has to be damn good, you're probably looking at that team being a favorite over LBJ's Cavs going forward.
2) The fact that the Warriors are a jumpshooting team is comical to me. First, they won 67 games during the regular season. That tells me that regardless of what they did, they not only did it at a high level (and as I illustrated earlier, they did it at a level that few teams have EVER done it regardless of styles), but they were consistent in how they did it. Second, the reason that they don't slump is a combination of the fact that they move the ball at an insane level, that ball movement creates a lot of clean looks for their jumpshooters instead of contested looks, and that the ball movement combined with the threat of the jumper results in a lot of penetration, layups, and little flip shots that are insanely high percentage shots. Their efficiency is off the charts.
3) The Warriors were +20 last night in rebounding in a close out game against one of the better bigs in the league in Dwight Howard. I don't think most people realize how good Bogut is. Festus Ezili is good enough to start for at least half of the teams in the league. Green plays with a massive chip on his shoulder and is a high end rebounder. Add in a number of mid-sized wing players that allows them to rebound at a fairly high level. Thompson is good for sure and will be interesting to watch in this series. But outside of Thompson, LBJ, and Mozgov, there aren't a lot of guys on Cleveland that I look at as strong rebounders. If the Bulls weren't in such turmoil on the inside and with injuries, they probably beat Cleveland.
4) The thing with the Warriors that nobody talks about is how strong they are defensively. Their ability to minimize the impact of everybody outside of LBJ should be a key to the series.
5) The biggest threat to the Warriors long-term is an ownership group being overtly budget minded (i.e. not paying Green in free agency) and injuries. This is a team that clearly looks like they like playing with one another and with the success they've had this year, they should have no problem getting a strong line of role players to play for them as the years continue. LBJ may be able to get to the Finals a few times in the next few years, but this is a Warriors team that could have a really strong 5+ year run in them. And if you add to that that any team that beats them in the West has to be damn good, you're probably looking at that team being a favorite over LBJ's Cavs going forward.
