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Top storylines for 2018 NBA Finals

LeBron James and Kevin Durant after Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals

After all that drama, including two Game 7’s, we’re right back where most figured we’d be. The Golden State Warriors will meet up with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals for a fourth consecutive year. This has never happened before. Not even the Celtics-Lakers rivalries of the 1960s and 1980s brought fourth this type of anomaly.

LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the two best players in the world, going up against one another in the Finals for a third time. LeBron playing the best basketball of his career. Meanwhile, Durant struggled a tad in the conference finals only to see the Splash Brothers pick him up. Does Cleveland has any type of answer to the Big 3 without much of a supporting cast?

As James makes his eighth consecutive Finals appearance, the Warriors themselves are looking to cement their status as the latest NBA dynasty. These are among the top storylines for the 2018 NBA Finals between two of the greatest collections of talent the NBA has ever seen.

Andre Iguodala injury

Having missed the final four games of the Western Conference Finals with a left leg contusion, it’s not yet known whether the 2015 NBA Finals MVP will be able to go Game 1 Thursday evening in Oakland. Golden State may have rallied to close out Houston in seven after Iggy’s injury, but that doesn’t mean the team would be in a good place sans Iguodala against LeBron James.

That’s the biggest key here. Sure James will get his stats against Golden State. After all, he did average 33.7 points, 12.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists in the Finals last June. With that said, Iggy makes James work hard to get his points. Hence, the former All-Star winning the Finals MVP against the game’s best four seasons back.

Which J.R. Smith will show up?

Smith averaged 11.8 points and shot 58 percent from distance against the Warriors in last year’s Finals. Cleveland is going to need similar production from him this year if the Cavaliers are going to have any chance of upsetting Golden State. The issue here is that Smith has been inconsistent thus far in the playoffs.

He’s coming off a 12-point performance in Game 7 against Boston. Prior to that, Smith averaged 5.8 points in his previous eight games. That includes two games in which Smith didn’t score a single point. He can’t have performances like that in the Finals.

LeBron vs Kevin Durant

A three-time NBA Finals MVP going up against a former league MVP that outplayed LeBron in last year’s Finals en route to earning his first ever title. Much like last June, it’s pretty much the top storyline this year. Can Durant make James exhaust too much energy on the defensive end of the court?

It’s something LeBron didn’t really have to do a whole lot during the Eastern Conference Playoffs. It also played a huge role in last year’s Finals. Remember, Durant averaged 35.2 points while shooting 47 percent from distance against LeBron last year. That’s going to be the biggest key here. We all know James will get his points. But if Durant cancels that out, this will be a short series.

The coaching

Jokes have been made about Tyronn Lue not actually being the Cavaliers’ coach. That’s funny. It makes for a good story. But in no way is this true. Lue did some of his best coaching in the Eastern Conference Finals. His willingness to have LeBron run point was huge. It enabled better than expected performances from Cleveland’s supporting cast by having them play more off-ball. Even then, Cleveland averaged just north of 17 assists per game. That won’t cut it against Golden State.

On the other side, Steve Kerr was exposed a tad against Houston. Without Iguodala for the final four games, Mike D’Antoni and Co. went iso against the likes of Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell. Golden State didn’t adjust. And not until Houston went cold from distance in Game 7 did it seem that the Warriors had a response. The Warriors will have to change this up big time against a iso-heavy Cavs squad.

Golden State’s backcourt advantage

The Splash Brothers were mitigated a tad over the past two Finals matchups against Cleveland due to the presence of Kyrie Irving (more on that later). But it’s now about as clear of an advantage as we’ve ever seen in the championship round. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined to average 44.4 points and hit on 54-of-130 three-point attempts in the conference finals. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s starting backcourt of George Hill and J.R. Smith combined to average 15.7 points on 15-of-57 from distance.

We’re not expecting Cleveland’s starting backcourt (whatever it might look like) to compete with the Splash Brothers. Instead, it just cannot let both Curry and Thompson go off like we saw in the second half of each of the final two Western Conference Finals games.

LeBron’s eighth consecutive Finals

Despite boasting half the amount of titles, James has now surpassed Michael Jordan as the most clutch player in modern NBA history. Eight consecutive NBA Finals appearance is something that brings this to light in a big way. This year, LeBron did it with arguably the worst supporting cast for a conference champion in Association history.

It’s now at the point where we have to start comparing James to the great Bill Russell in terms of team-wide accomplishments. Russell earned 10 consecutive Finals appearances during a dominant run with the Boston Celtics from 1959-1969. He also won eight consecutive titles. While James will never match that latter accomplishment, he’s right up there with Russell in terms of conference domination. It’s truly stunning.

Can Kevin Love improve against Draymond Green?

Quite simply, Love does not match up well against Green. As we saw last year, Golden State will likely force Tristan Thompson into being a non-factor in the Finals. If so, Love will have to play center against Green in a small-ball death match (whenever he’s cleared to play following his concussion). That’s proven to be a downright failure in the past.

Love averaged just 16.0 points on 39 percent shooting in last year’s Finals. For comparison’s sake, Green averaged 11.0 points as the Warriors’ No. 4 scoring option. It can’t be anywhere near this close in the 2018 NBA Finals if the Cavaliers want to hang tough with a heavily-favored Warriors squad.

Cavaliers without Kyrie

The Warriors will have no problem letting James go off for 40 points per game in the Finals. It’s all about how the Cavaliers’ supporting cast performs in their first Finals without Kyrie Irving since the 2014-15 campaign. If J.R. Smith struggles and Kevin Love can’t break from Draymond Green’s stingy defense, the Cavaliers are going to be in a world of hurt here.

In Round 1, Cleveland faced an Indiana Pacers squad that had one go-to scorer in Victor Oladipo. In the conference semifinals, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry struggled big time. Then, in the conference finals, Cleveland went up against a Celtics squad without Gordon Hayward and the above-mentioned Irving. Golden State has three go-to-scorers. Cleveland has one. That’s the harsh reality of the situation.

A rivalry for the ages

Golden State and Cleveland are already the first teams to match up in three consecutive Finals. They’ll now become the first teams to do so four consecutive years. It’s truly astonishing considering the Celtics-Lakers rivalries of the 1960s and 1980s.

Some might be a bit tired of this specific Finals matchup. That’s understandable. But this doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate the domination we’ve seen from Golden State and Cleveland en route to the Finals in each of the past four years. The Warriors boast a 48-13 record in the Western Conference Playoffs during this span. For their part, the Cavaliers are 48-11 back east. These are two historically good teams. It will make for another epic Finals. And a rivalry will continue.

A dynasty in the making?

When MLB’s San Francisco Giants won three World Series in a five-year span, a pretty huge debate raged around the sports world. Can you be a true dynasty without having won back-to-back championships? This same question will be raised regarding a Warriors squad that has won two of the past three titles with a choke job against Cleveland back in 2016 mixed in.

On the surface, it seems a bit ridiculous. Golden State has posted a combined 275-63 record over the past four seasons. It won an NBA record 73 games during the 2015-16 campaign. It has two of the best shooters ever and the second-best player in the NBA on its roster. It’s already a dynasty, right? Well, a win in the 2018 NBA Finals would put to rest any real question about this.

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