Finals Prediction Pole
- Thread starter Gladstone
- Start date
Cleveland ain't winning in Oak Town. Not this series.
They'll win Game 4 in Cleveland to avoid a sweep. Barely.
I know they blasted them the first 2 games last year too, but this feels different.
Healthy Steph, KD, chip on shoulder
I question the fire Cleveland has to repeat. What he did last year was incredible, but it was the whole win one for "The Land" Rinaldi narrative that pushed the moment.
I can honestly see them get steamrolled this series.
Healthy Steph, KD, chip on shoulder
I question the fire Cleveland has to repeat. What he did last year was incredible, but it was the whole win one for "The Land" Rinaldi narrative that pushed the moment.
I can honestly see them get steamrolled this series.
The season was over before it began. When has a LeBron team been swept though?
It was more of a bold prediction than anything, but they seem tired, slow, content.
It's ok to lose these finals. He won one for his hometown and cemented himself as number 2.
The Jordan debate is all there is left to play for. He knows he's going to lose, the fire seems to have gone out of them.
TierbsHsotBoobs
New Fish
House Money POTD
dnc
New Fish
The 2007 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2006–07 season, and was the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs and the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers. This was Cleveland's first trip to the NBA Finals in their franchise history and San Antonio's fourth. The Spurs swept the Cavaliers 4 games to 0. Tony Parker was named the series' MVP. The series was televised on ABC under the ESPN on ABC branding, and produced low television ratings.
As of 2016, this is the most recent Finals to end in a sweep.
Contents
1 Format
2 Series summary
3 Background
3.1 2007 NBA Playoffs
3.2 Regular season series
3.3 San Antonio Spurs
3.4 Cleveland Cavaliers
4 Starting lineups
5 Rosters
5.1 San Antonio Spurs
5.2 Cleveland Cavaliers
6 Player statistics
7 Game summaries
7.1 Game 1
7.2 Game 2
7.3 Game 3
7.4 Game 4
8 Broadcasting
8.1 Ratings
9 Aftermath
10 References
11 External links
Format
The Finals were played using the 2-3-2 format, where the first two and last two games are held at the team with home court advantage. The NBA, after experimenting in the early years, restored this original format for the Finals in 1985. The other playoff series were played in the 2-2-1-1-1 format.
The best-of-seven series began on June 7, 2007, with the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs playing the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Because the San Antonio Spurs had a better regular season win-loss record, they had home court advantage.
Series summary
Game Date Home Team Result Road Team
Game 1 Thursday, June 7 San Antonio Spurs 85–76 (1–0) Cleveland Cavaliers
Game 2 Sunday, June 10 San Antonio Spurs 103–92 (2–0) Cleveland Cavaliers
Game 3 Tuesday, June 12 Cleveland Cavaliers 72–75 (0–3) San Antonio Spurs
Game 4 Thursday, June 14 Cleveland Cavaliers 82–83 (0–4) San Antonio Spurs
Background
2007 NBA Playoffs
Main article: 2007 NBA Playoffs
San Antonio Spurs (Western Conference Champion) Cleveland Cavaliers (Eastern Conference Champion)
# Western Conference
v t e
Team W L PCT GB
1 z-Dallas Mavericks 67 15 .817 -
2 y-Phoenix Suns 61 21 .744 6
3 x-San Antonio Spurs 58 24 .707 9
4 y-Utah Jazz 51 31 .622 16
5 x-Houston Rockets 52 30 .634 15
6 x-Denver Nuggets 45 37 .549 22
7 x-Los Angeles Lakers 42 40 .512 25
8 x-Golden State Warriors 42 40 .512 25
9 Los Angeles Clippers 40 42 .488 27
10 New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets 39 43 .476 28
11 Sacramento Kings 33 49 .402 34
12 Portland Trail Blazers 32 50 .390 35
13 Minnesota Timberwolves 32 50 .390 35
14 Seattle SuperSonics 31 51 .378 36
15 Memphis Grizzlies 22 60 .268 45
3rd seed in the West, 3rd best league record
Regular season
# Eastern Conference
v t e
Team W L PCT GB
1 c-Detroit Pistons 53 29 .646 –
2 x-Cleveland Cavaliers 50 32 .610 3
3 y-Toronto Raptors 47 35 .573 6
4 y-Miami Heat 44 38 .537 9
5 x-Chicago Bulls 49 33 .598 4
6 x-New Jersey Nets 41 41 .500 12
7 x-Washington Wizards 41 41 .500 12
8 x-Orlando Magic 40 42 .488 13
9 Philadelphia 76ers 35 47 .427 18
10 Indiana Pacers 35 47 .427 18
11 New York Knicks 33 49 .402 20
12 Charlotte Bobcats 33 49 .402 20
13 Atlanta Hawks 30 52 .366 23
14 Milwaukee Bucks 28 54 .341 25
15 Boston Celtics 24 58 .293 29
2nd seed in the East, 7th best league record
Defeated the (6) Denver Nuggets, 4–1 First Round Defeated the (7) Washington Wizards, 4–0
Defeated the (2) Phoenix Suns, 4–2 Conference Semifinals Defeated the (6) New Jersey Nets, 4–2
Defeated the (4) Utah Jazz, 4–1 Conference Finals Defeated the (1) Detroit Pistons, 4–2
Regular season series
The Cleveland Cavaliers won both games in the regular season series:
ESPN
November 3
Cleveland Cavaliers 88, San Antonio Spurs 81
AT&T Center, San Antonio
NBA TV
January 2
San Antonio Spurs 78, Cleveland Cavaliers 92
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland
San Antonio Spurs
The previous season saw the San Antonio Spurs drop a heartbreaking seventh game at home to the rival Dallas Mavericks in the second round. As the new season began, the Spurs saw the Mavericks rolling through their regular season, on their way to a franchise best 67 win campaign. Meanwhile, the Spurs struggled through their season through January. With the main focus lying on Dallas, and the Phoenix Suns, the Spurs found themselves flying under the radar. However, the Spurs used a late season surge en route to a 58-24 regular season record, good enough for third seed in the Western Conference.
In the playoffs, the Spurs met the Denver Nuggets and their duo of Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. Although the Nuggets took game 1, the Spurs rallied off 4 straight wins to take the series in five games. As San Antonio prepared to face off against the second seed Phoenix Suns, the top ranked Dallas Mavericks suffered a stunning first round exit at the hand of the Golden State Warriors. With the Mavericks gone, the stakes of the Suns-Spurs series shot up dramatically, and the result was a closely competitive and controversial series.
The Suns, due to their better season record, had homecourt advantage, but that would not last past game 1. In a hotly contested battle of Western Conference heavyweights, each team tried to deliver a knockout blow to the other. The Spurs finally landed it, but by accident. With the game in the balance Tony Parker and Steve Nash collided head-to-head. A large gash opened along Nash's nose and though the medical staff tried admirably, they could not stop the bleeding and he was forced to sit the final 45 seconds and watch as the Spurs won game 1, 111-106. Game 2 saw the Suns rebound and blow out the Spurs to a 101-81 beating. After this game, Suns center Amar'e Stoudemire labeled the Spurs a dirty team. Game 3 switched back to San Antonio and saw a return of the physical play, resulting in Manu Ginóbili receiving a bruised and bloodied eye and Nash being kneed in the groin by Bruce Bowen. However, Tim Duncan led the Spurs to a 108-101 victory.
Games 4 and 5 were the most controversial of the series. The Spurs, after being comfortably in control of game 4, saw their 11-point fourth quarter lead dwindle away, to a 2-point Suns lead. With 18 seconds left, Robert Horry bodychecked Steve Nash in which he threw his arms in the air, into the scorers table. Nash's teammates jumped to his defense; during the ensuing altercation, Stoudemire and Boris Diaw left the bench heading toward the altercation. Their action violated NBA rules, resulting in the decision by league commissioner David Stern to suspend both players for game 5 (Horry was also suspended two games for his flagrant foul against Nash). In game 5, played in Phoenix, the short-handed Suns jumped out early and enjoyed a 16-point lead on the Spurs, but in a reversal of game 4, this time the Spurs came back in the final seconds and won the game 88-85, giving San Antonio a 3-2 series lead.
The Spurs won game 6 of the series 114-106 in San Antonio, sending them to their fifth Western Conference finals since 1999.
San Antonio went on to beat the Utah Jazz in five games to advance to the franchise's fourth NBA Finals.
Cleveland Cavaliers
What if I told you the 2017 Finals weren't about LBJ stepping up as GOAT but about Durant beginning a run of four straight titles and staking the claim?
Game 1 disagrees.
There was only one soft cunt on the floor and he wore #23.
allpurpleallgold
New Fish
Agreed. Draymond.
Draymond +12 in 36 minutes.
LBJ - 22 in 40.
dnc
New Fish
People said the same things about LeBron at one point.
I think KDs absolute ceiling is number 3 all time. Most likely he settles into the 7-12 range. But there's a chance he stays outside the top 25 if he never wins a ring besides this year.
If he wins at least three (especially if he can a couple finals MVPs) the super teams asterisk will fade hard.
But yeah I don't ever see him in the GOAT convo.
allpurpleallgold
New Fish
Kobe won 3 with Shaq and had to win again to shake the can't win without Shaq tag. The asterisk will fade when he wins without a super team and that's not happening because he's a front running loser. Durant's career will always be defined by game 6 and 7 last year vs the Warriors. He wasn't good enough to be the man so he ran to ride someone else's coat tails.
You went full Tequilla to an obviously sarcastic joke.
dnc
New Fish
I don't think it's the same - Shaq was clearly the best player on at least two of those 3 titles with Kobe and probably all three though IIRC Kobe had one better finals. If the Warriors rip off the next three I think history remembers KD as the best player on the teams (depending perhaps on how KD and Steph do in the Finals). But if he goes down as the best player on three title teams, his legacy will be fine.
If he's Steph's number two then I agree but I think that's unlikely.
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I think it was year 2 of the Shaq/Kobe 3 peat where Kobe dominated. So did Shaq. They only lost one game the entire playoffs.
Fair or not, Durant and Steph need to win a few titles in a row (it seems very possible) to really have an elite legacy. I think Durant joining GS hurts Steph's more than it hurts his own.
Steph might have been able to win 3+ without KD.