3. The benches
James was 100 percent correct when he indicated the Cavaliers needed a backup point guard prior to the midway point of the regular season. Some saw it as a knock to the rest of Cleveland’s bench, but the King knew exactly what he was talking about. That help ended up coming in the form of five-time All-Star Deron Williams after he was bought out by Dallas.
Williams is nowhere near the player that was dominating in Utah, but he’s added a whole heck of a lot to Cleveland’s bench. The 12-year veteran averaged 7.5 points while shooting 42 percent from three during the regular year. He’s been a major help to a second unit that was already improved by the trade for Kyle Korver earlier in the year.
With that said, Cleveland’s bench is nowhere near as talented as what the Warriors bring to the table. That’s interesting considering many assumed Golden State’s bench was marginalized after the team let Leandro Barbosa, Marreese Speights, Brandon Rush and Festus Ezeli depart in free agency in order to acquire Durant.
For Steve Kerr’s squad, the likes of Javale McGee, Patrick McCaw, Shaun Livingston and Ian Clark have stepped up big time. The team also added David West and Matt Barnes to the mix. It’s now one of the top benches in the entire Association.
Both the Cavaliers and Warriors do a tremendous job mixing it up with their benches and starting units. For Golden State, the goal has always been to keep at least one of its four All-Stars on the court at one time. It’s led to Stephen Curry getting his rest to start the second and fourth quarters. Even then, both Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant remain on the court.
Cleveland runs the same theory. The addition of Williams enables Tyronn Lue to still have a master offensive mind on the court. And when Tristan Thompson goes to the bench, Kevin Love moves to the five with LeBron James playing the four. Adding Kyle Korver makes that unit even more dangerous, even when Kyrie is out of the game for the veteran Williams.
How the second units play in the Finals will have a huge role in the outcome of the series. Cleveland will push LeBron to the max in a close seven-game set. The same can be said for Durant and the Warriors. But both Irving and Curry will get their normal rests. This is what makes the play of the benches that much more important.\