10. Rooting for an NBA Finals rematch
Despite all the stuff that has happened thus far this season, it’s readily apparent that the NBA is looking at a third consecutive NBA Finals matchup between Golden State and Cleveland. It might seem like a broken record. And in reality, it might also make for a lack of drama down the stretch. But why shouldn’t we be rooting for this to happen?
Cleveland and Golden State are 1-1 in the Finals over the past two seasons. A third consecutive matchup could decide the best team in today’s NBA once and for all. More than that, the backstories here are absolutely insane to think about.
LeBron James absolutely dominated the Warriors en route to earning the NBA Finals MVP last June. It was one of the best performances we have ever seen around the Association. It also helped Cleveland pull off a historical comeback after falling down 3-1 in the series.
This came after Golden State put up a record 73 regular season wins and saw Stephen Curry earn his second consecutive MVP award. It also forced the Warriors to shake up the foundation of the NBA by adding Kevin Durant to the mix. That right there is what makes a potential NBA Finals rematch so interesting. An argument could be made that James and Durant are the two-best players of the modern era. They play the same position. They would be matched up against one another, making for one of the best one-on-one duels in NBA Finals history.
Then, we have the entire Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry dynamic to look at. Irving dominated his All-Star counterpart in the Finals last June. We can bet Curry wants a nice tonic of revenge here. None of this even takes into account a building rivalry between Draymond Green and the aforementioned King James.
The other interesting point to look at here is just how drama-free other NBA Finals matchups would be. Does anyone really think Boston, Toronto or Washington stands a chance against Golden State in the Finals? The same argument could be made if Cleveland were to go up against San Antonio or Houston. So while the path to this particular championship re-run might be ho-hum, the matchup itself would be absolutely tremendous.