Cleveland Shows the Value of the Paint--and the True MVP
The Cleveland Cavaliers lead the Golden State Warriors 2-1 in the 2015 NBA Finals but the score could easily be 3-0 either way. Cleveland may be halfway toward completing an improbable upset but Golden State may come back and cap off a 67 win season with a championship. Since the outcome is still in doubt, it would be premature to make definitive conclusions about what we have seen so far.
However, there are some trends that seem to be emerging, including the value of having an "inefficient" superstar who attracts a lot of defensive attention and the way that post play, team defense and rebounding can overcome analytics-driven small ball.
At
The Roar, I discuss some of the things we have learned from the first three games of the Finals:
Cleveland Shows the Value of the Paint--and the True MVPLabels: 2015 NBA Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, LeBron James, Matthew Dellavedova, Stephen Curry, Timofey Mozgov
posted by David Friedman @ 11:20 PM
LeBron James' Legacy Should not be Defined by the 2015 NBA Finals
There is a tendency now to want instant--but superficial--analysis leading to quick and supposedly definitive conclusions. Nuance, context and patience are foreign words. Many people are trying to build up the 2015 NBA Finals as some kind of definitive referendum on LeBron James' career, either suggesting that a Cleveland victory would be worth two titles on James' resume (according to one ESPN commentator) or suggesting that one missed shot at the end of regulation of game one proves that James is just not a winner (according to another ESPN commentator--and it is not a coincidence that ESPN is the source of a lot of superficial, if not superfluous, commentating).
The 2015 NBA Finals will be one part of LeBron James' legacy but it will not, in and of itself, define LeBron James' legacy. My newest article at
The Roar places LeBron James' legacy in historical context:
LeBron's Legacy Shouldn't be Defined by Another Playoff LossLabels: 2015 NBA Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James
posted by David Friedman @ 3:06 PM
