For the third consecutive year, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will meet in the NBA Finals. It’s something we have seen coming for a while now. At the very least, since Kawhi Leonard went down to injury for the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
There’s a whole heck of a lot more at stake here than simply hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy. There’s also a whole host of storylines we must pay attention to when the series itself starts on Thursday.
From fans everywhere relying on these two teams to save them from a truly horrible postseason to the Warriors laying claim as potentially the greatest team of all-time, here are the top 10 storylines for what promises to be a tremendous 2017 NBA Finals.
1. Save us from an awful postseason
Kevin Durant might have an opinion on it. And like pretty much everything else in life, Draymond Green sure has an opinion on it. Some might say that fans who have complained about the lack of drama in the playoffs should just tune it out. Watch something else. There’s a lot of entertainment options out there.
That sounds like a tremendous plan in a vacuum. But we love the NBA. It’s grown in popularity during this era of super teams and super stars. Simply telling someone to stop paying attention makes very little sense. Maybe provide the consumer a more drama-filled product?
The only saving grace we have here is that this specific NBA Finals matchup could be one for the ages. It’s the first time in Association history that two teams have played one another in the Finals in three consecutive seasons. It pits two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry against the best basketball player in the planet.
It does so with Kevin Durant having taken over for LeBron James as public enemy No. 1 for those who are against the idea of super teams.
Golden State heads into the Finals with an NBA record 12-0 mark in the playoffs. The two-time defending Western Conference champs have won 27 of their past 28 games. In fact, the Warriors have lost just one game since March 11th. On the other hand, Cleveland ran through the Eastern Conference to the tune of an 11-1 mark and has won 14 of its past 15 playoff games.
We need a seven-game Finals series. We need drama to unfold on the court in both Oakland and Cleveland over the next couple weeks. The NBA needs it. The fans need it. And now, it’s up to these two potentially all-time great teams (more on that later) to provide it.