Top 8 storylines for the 2016 NBA Finals

The Golden State Warriors epic comeback from down three games to one in the Western Conference Finals has set the stage for a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals.

As the Warriors look to continue their march towards history, a healthy Cleveland Cavaliers team stands in their way.

There are so many backstories to what promises to be an epic series between these two squads.

Can Golden State make history while creating a dynasty by the bay? Will LeBron James finally bring that long-awaited championship back to Cleveland?

These are the stories that will define this series. These are the stories that will define this era of NBA basketball as we know it.

On the court, the matchups are real and intriguing. Will Kevin Love overcome his struggles against Draymond Green? Is Stephen Curry about to etch his name in the history books as one of the most legendary players ever?

The excitement is real as we trek on to Thursday’s Game 1 outing in Oakland between these two sudden basketball rivals.

In this, here are the top-eight storylines for the 2016 NBA Finals between the defending champion Warriors and the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers.

1. Making history, creating a dynasty

It took the Warriors to become just the 10th team in NBA history to come from a 3-1 deficit to win a series. But here this team is with an opportunity to close out what many will consider the greatest season in the history of the Association.

A total of 73 regular season wins. The most road wins in NBA history. The most three-pointers made by a team in league history. The most three pointers made by an individual player in a single season. The list goes on and on.

Though, none of this will amount to a hill of beans if Golden State falls to LeBron James and Cleveland in the Finals. Instead, the narrative will be that the Warriors lucked out by taking on the Cavaliers without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving a season ago.

It’s already a tired narrative that will grow significant teeth should Cleveland come out on top here.

On the other hand, a Warriors win in the Finals would set into motion a modern dynasty around the NBA. It would represent two consecutive championships in what many would consider dominating fashion.

Remember, Golden State finished last season with a 67-15 record. Including the playoffs both seasons, the Warriors boast an absurd 168-34 record (.832 winning percentage) under Steve Kerr. The Michael Jordan era Chicago Bulls are the only team to come close to that mark.

It doesn’t matter if the Warriors sweep through the Finals or win it in seven games, a victory here would create that modern dynasty.

What’s even more amazing is that this is a young team with a young core to continue to build around moving forward. Of the team’s three All-Stars, two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry is the oldest at just 28 years old. Both Draymond Green and Klay Thompson are just 26.

With what will be an ability to add even more to this core during the summer, there’s no reason to believe the Warriors will fall from the mountaintop any time soon.

A win here could be the continuation of what might end up being one of the greatest dynasties of the modern era.

2. Exacting revenge, creating a legacy

Before we even get into the whole LeBron James has struggled in the Finals narrative, let’s appreciate what he’s doing right now.

The two-time NBA champion will be playing in his sixth consecutive Finals series when Cleveland takes on Golden State in Game 1 in Oakland on Thursday.

The utter ridiculousness of this cannot be overstated. He joins multiple members of the Bill Russell Boston Celtics (and James Jones) to accomplish this feat.

With the hopes of ending the 52-year drought of championship sports in Cleveland squarely on his shoulders, James is in the midst of a defining moment of his career.

Can he lead this team to a series win over another squad that’s considered by some the greatest of all-time? Can he do so knowing full well that last year’s failure in the Finals will be bandied about a ton in the lead up to this series?

Fair or not, James’ legacy is riding on this series. It’s a legacy that will either be defined by putting up a championship performance in a championship series or falling flat with all the cards on the table.

This might seem a bit absurd considering James’ performance in the Finals last season without both Love and Irving was legendary. After all, he took the Warriors to six games while averaging 34.2 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game.

Unfortunately for James, criticism comes with the territory. He’s now 2-4 in his six Finals appearances with three different groups of supporting casts.

If he’s unable to get over the top here, there will be those skeptics ready to throw out everything he’s accomplished in one of the greatest careers we’ve see in the history of the NBA.

3. Andre Iguodala vs LeBron James

We pointed out James’ absurd numbers in the Finals last season. And while they were great, it’s important to note that the guy guarding him actually won the MVP of the series.

Without anything in terms of a supporting cast, James hoisted up an average of 32.7 shots per game. He shot just 40 percent from the field and averaged just over one point per shot.

James won’t have to go hero ball here with both Love and Irving healthy. Instead, he can let it all come within the flow of the game. That could make all the difference in the world.

But let’s not treat Iggy’s defense in the Finals last June as an outlier. He’s among the best on-ball perimeter defenders the game has seen in some time.

This was evidenced with his performance against Kevin Durant in the Western Conference Finals.

Durant shot just 42 percent from the field, including a ridiculously low 34 percent with Iggy on him in the series.

The most interesting thing to see here is just how Steve Kerr is going to utilize Iguodala. The forward started for the first time all year in the Finals last June, leading Golden State to wins in all three starts. That very same span saw James shoot just 37 percent from the field.

Interestingly, Iguodala was tasked with starting for Harrison Barnes in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. He responded by holding Durant to just 27 points.

We already know James is going to get his fill. That’s what makes him among the best in the history of the game. But making him work for it and forcing him to become a volume shooter will be key for the Warriors in the series.

4. The rematch 

We covered this to an extent earlier. James going up against the team that defeated him in the Finals last June. Doing so with a full supporting cast at his disposal.

This will be just the seventh time since 1970 that the same two teams have met in the Finals in consecutive seasons.

The last time this happened was when the James-led Miami Heat split in two consecutive seasons against the San Antonio Spurs earlier this decade.

History tells us that Cleveland will be able to best the Warriors here. But history isn’t necessarily a significant indicator considering what the Warriors are doing right now has never been done before.

More than anything, the top story coming from this rematch will be just who has the most ridiculous narrative thrown their way.

Should Cleveland fall to the Warriors, it will be all about James failing to do what he promised he’d do when he returned to Ohio after earning four straight Finals appearances in South Beach.

Should the Warriors fall to Cleveland, it will be all about how last year was a fluke and how lucky the defending champs were to face multiple injury-plagued teams on their road to the Larry O’Brien trophy.

None of this is fair. Golden State may need a series win to etch its name in the history books as a true dynasty. On the other hand, James’ sole purpose in returning to Cleveland was to win a title.

That’s all fine and dandy. We still need to look at this for what it is.

James is carrying the hopes of a city on his shoulders against an all-time great team. Very few people, even the best we’ve seen take to the hardwood, are built for this. He could average 40 points, and it wouldn’t matter if the Cavaliers fail to get over that proverbial hump.

On the other hand, Golden State is coming off a history-making regular season and equally astonishing series comeback against Oklahoma City. None of this can be taken from the Warriors, no matter the outcome of the series.

5. Stephen Curry’s place on the list of all-time greats

Coming of a history-making regular season that culminated in him winning his second consecutive MVP award — the first player to win said award unanimously — Curry is the talk of the sports world.

What we are seeing from Curry has never been done in the history of the NBA. The shots he takes (and makes) are so astonishing that video games don’t even have an answer for them.

Look at it this way. Curry averaged over 30 points with 6.7 assists and a league-leading 2.1 steals during the regular season. He added absolutely ridiculous shooting numbers along the way, including 50 percent from the field and 45 percent from three-point range.

That 50 percent mark is what this one scribe finds most ridiculous. A total of 55 percent of Curry’s attempts during the regular season came from beyond the arc, and he still hit on half his shots.

After a somewhat slow start to the conference finals, and coming at a time when some were awkwardly concluding that Russell Westbrook was the better player, Curry absolutely dominated that one-on-one matchup.

In the final three games of the series (all wins), Curry averaged 32.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 2.3 steals while shooting 47 percent from three-point range. This came with his team facing a 3-1 series deficit, needing its MVP to perform at a high level. Like the greats before him, Curry did just that.

If Curry can not only help the Warriors to their second consecutive title but be the primary reason they win, it will catapult him to legendary status. That much cannot be denied.

6. The role players

Stars receive a majority of the praise when they win. And as we saw with Kevin Durant, most of the blame when they lose. But it’s the role players that can change the entire dynamic of the series. In this, those second-tier options on both Cleveland and Golden State will have to come up big.

Being relied on as Cleveland’s second option behind James last June, J.R. Smith shot just 37 percent from the field in the Finals.

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With Irving and Love in the mix during this year’s playoffs, Smith is shooting 46 percent from both the field and three-point range.

That’s going to be a huge key here. Can Smith put up a high percentage from the field in the Finals this year?

With Klay Thompson potentially drawing the assignment of guarding Irving, it means that Smith might find himself matched up against Stephen Curry at times. If so, he has the obvious height advantage to shoot over the reigning MVP.

Speaking of reigning MVP’s, we covered Andre Iguodala’s defense to an extent above, but he earned the top award in the Finals in small part to what he provided on offense.

He averaged 16.3 points 5.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 52 percent from the field. More telling than even those numbers, Iggy shot 40 percent from distance in the series.

If the Warriors can get him to shoot at such a high clip on the perimeter, it’s going to be hard for Cleveland to focus solely on Thompson and Curry.

Another role player to keep an eye on here is Channing Frye. When he comes in the game as Cleveland’s big, that will help the Eastern Conference champs match Golden State’s small-ball lineup. A perimeter-oriented player, Frye can match wits with Draymond Green outside.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Warriors will find themselves with the obvious advantage when it comes to pounding inside in this scenario. This brings us to our next point.

7. Kevin Love vs Draymond Green

This simply isn’t a good matchup for Love, who has struggled throughout most of his career against Green. In two regular season games going up against the enigmatic Warriors big man, Love averaged 6.5 points while shooting 29 percent from the field.

Overall, he’s shooting 41 percent and averaging 11.5 points in four games against the Warriors as a member of the Cavaliers.

On the other hand, Green has been downright dominant on both ends of the court against Love in these past four outings. He’s averaging 16.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists during that span.

Needless to say, Cleveland is going to need Love to perform at a higher clip offensively if its going to knock off the defending champs.

The good news here is that he’s averaging 17.3 points while shooting 45 percent from three-point range in the playoffs. The bad news? He hasn’t gone up against a defender of Green’s ilk yet.

Adding to the intrigue here, Love is a liability on the defensive end of the court. If Green can somehow get his offensive game on track, it will only act as a boon for the Warriors moving forward.

8. The rested vs the battle tested

This could go one of two ways. First off, Cleveland’s ability to rest throughout the playoffs means that the team will be fresh come Thursday night.

For the Warriors, they are coming off a hard-fought seven-game series and pretty much left everything on the court in Oakland on Monday night.

This would definitely seem to favor Cleveland.

Though, there’s another thought process to this. Cleveland didn’t face anyone of Oklahoma City’s ilk in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. In fact, an argument could be made that the Thunder are a more-talented team than both the Cavaliers and Warriors. We will leave that debate for another time.

Less divisive is the obvious fact that the Toronto Raptors are nowhere near the level team as the Thunder. That’s hard to argue against.

Golden State took the Thunder’s best shot, and after falling down 3-1 in the series, mounted an improbable comeback. There’s something to be said about being battle tested. There’s also something to be said about momentum.

It’s also important to note that Curry himself likely isn’t going to be too fatigued in the series. After all, he played a total of 39 minutes in the first three weeks of the playoffs, missing six full games due to multiple injuries during that span.

While Curry himself might be rested, Splash Brother in crime Klay Thompson might be a bit winded here.

Not only has he had to pick up the slack with Curry out throughout the playoffs, he’s been guarding the other team’s top player all playoffs long.

That amounts to extended minutes against the likes of James Harden, Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook on defense. Heck, I am tired just writing that sentence.

We will have an understanding early in the series which direction this aspect of the Finals might go. Will a rested Cavaliers team steal one of the first two games in Oakland?

If not, will the defending champs take a commanding 2-0 series lead heading to Cleveland for Game 3?