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2017 NBA Finals Preview

5/31/2017

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by Will Yang

    The rubber match. The epic trilogy. The greatest team ever in the Golden State Warriors versus the greatest player on the planet in LeBron James. This year’s NBA finals will conclude a very dull playoffs. These finals will be a defining moment in LeBron James’s career. Everyone and their mother has been comparing LeBron to Michael Jordan. But these two players really can’t be compared. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. MJ is the best scorer the game has seen, a killer on the court. LeBron is different. He does everything at a high level. He can score, pass, dribble, defend, and he is an absolute physical specimen. LeBron will never be able to score like MJ, but he is also light-years more versatile than MJ was.

    LeBron also makes an impact off the court that is unprecedented by any player, as his team’s ‘GM’. Most teams try to build through the draft and this is rarely successful. Even if it does work, it takes a long time to build good teams this way. Ask the 76ers, Timberwolves, or Lakers how their rebuilding are going. The Warriors were built this way too (Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green were all draft picks), but even this process took a while. LeBron circumvented this entire process by acting as the GM and bringing in players he wanted in order to win now (joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, then  Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in Cleveland). Why wait 10 years building for what might become a good team, when you can bring in the pieces you want immediately? LeBron’s strategy worked: 7 straight finals with these teams.

    There has never been a player as amazingly versatile as LeBron. He’s basically a better Draymond Green. We can spend our time trying to compare LeBron to MJ and criticize his Finals record, or we can just appreciate his unique greatness regardless of the outcome of this series.

    Vegas gives the Warriors a 90% chance to win, while I think it’s a toss up. 50-50, the series could go either way and here’s why. I think the, “Warriors are just more stacked with more talent” argument is a load of crap. While this may be true, we have to look at how the teams match up.  First of all, LeBron has been completely dominant this post-season (minus game 3 against Boston). Nobody on this Warriors team can guard him 1-on-1. Everyone is either too small or too slow. This creates problems for the Warriors when LeBron is surrounded with shooters, some of which he acquired mid-season with his GM skills (Kyle Korver and Deron Williams). The Warriors have to choose whether to trap LeBron or give up a three to a capable 3-point shooter (basically anyone except Iman Shumpert), which is a lose-lose. Irving and Love have been playing well this post-season. Irving went full Kobe mode in game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals after tweaking his ankle and carried the Cavs to victory. Love has been shooting the 3-ball at a very high level and has been continuing to rebound well consistently. If these two can continue to play like this, LeBron can rest more in what will likely be a long series, making him all the more lethal when he does play. The Cavs have a more experienced bench than the Warriors. Williams and Korver are two players that have played in numerous playoff series, while Ian Clark, Pat McCaw, and JaVale McGee have very limited experience in big games and are subject to melting under pressure.

    The Cavs are much bigger and more physical than the finesse Warriors, which presents a myriad of problems for Golden State. For starters, Curry is too small to guard anyone on this Cavs team. Last year they hid him on Shumpert which was fine. But now JR Smith starts over him, and Shumpert sees a much more limited role this season. The Warrior’s great team defense doesn’t really matter when LeBron is just crushing whoever they throw at him 1-on-1. The Cavs will kill the Warriors on the boards. Tristan Thompson is one of the best rebounders in the game, and he will eat both McGee and Zaza Pachulia alive on the boards. The only player on the Warriors that can contend with him on the boards is Draymond, but he will likely be occupied defending Love when both Love and Thompson are in. If the Cavs start out shooting cold, this rebounding will give them more chances to catch fire, and takes away chances from the Warriors to find their rhythm. In crunch time, a brute-force approach is more reliable than relying on ball-movement to get a three. When the game was on the line in game 7 of last year’s finals, the Warriors ball movement went down the drain, and their offense was just Curry chucking up isolation 3’s that didn’t go in. LeBron backing down his defender is more reliable than a jumper by any Warriors player.

    The Warriors are a team that can go on a 20-0 run in the blink of an eye, and it will be up to the Cavs to call smart time-outs to prevent such an avalanche. The Warriors will need all hands on deck to beat the Cavs; this means Klay Thompson, who has been quiet all post-season, needs to show up. The Cavs need to keep the tempo slow and methodical and grind out the Warriors because if they can’t, things will get ugly real fast for them. It really will be a toss up. If the Cavs can weather the Warrior’s runs and punish them with their physicality they will win: Cavs in 7.  

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Isaiah Thomas is Incredible

5/3/2017

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Trying to compartmentalize one of the most inspiring nights provided by a NBA player
​
By: Bogart Lipe

​It was magic. The aftermath of Game 2 between the Celtics and Wizards in terms of statistics, although gaudy, didn’t do Isaiah Thomas’ eruption justice. The vastly undersized point guard doubled as a human-sized ball of inferno, emblazoning the TD Garden crowd with each of his baskets, culminating in a stirring 53 point performance. His 86 total points through the first two games of a playoff series is the most in Celtics playoff history. In the 4th quarter and OT, he scored 29 points, one fewer than the entire Wizards team combined. His 53 is the second most points in Celtics playoff history. His 53 are the most points scored in the playoffs since 2003, when Allen Iverson had 55. However, this is not A.I. Isaiah’s stature is much smaller, more closely resembling Muggsy Bogues than Iverson. Besides the physical aspect, there are unimaginable emotional circumstances Isaiah is facing as he rips apart box scores.
 
As many know by now, Isaiah tragically lost his younger sister in a car accident only a couple of weeks ago, just before the first round. If Thomas chose to sit out the playoffs and go home to Washington state, not a single person would fret. Instead, he continued on, showing resilience and strength we rarely see. He flew cross country and back a number of times, and admitted on a few occasions that he was not fully mentally engaged. The Celtics rallied around their leader, and after losing the first two games, won four straight to advance to the second round. Isaiah continued to grieve off the court in the public eye, which must be increasingly difficult for Thomas. He’s dealing with utter heartbreak all day and night, but many people only see him at 8 pm EST for a few hours at a time. It cannot be overstated what internal power these past weeks have taken to deal with. He attended and spoke at his sister’s funeral between games, and continued on. He had his tooth knocked out in Game 1, and continued on. He received 11 hours of oral surgery to repair the tooth over two days leading up to Game 2, and continued on. Game 2 fell on his sister’s birthday, and he continued on. He played for her, and my word, did he ever represent her perfectly.
 
Isaiah kept going. He kept scoring. He never let up. He found energy when everyone else seemed to fatigue. Washington’s players were visibly tired, and their two stars John Wall and Bradley Beal came up short a number of times late in the game. He outdueled Wall and his 40 points specifically, the two combining for the first time in NBA playoff history that a player scored 50 points as an opponent scored 40. You could sense something special was happening late in the 4th, as the Celtics came back to tie the game. Washington had two great looks to win, first with Wall missing a 16 footer short and then Beal air balling a fade away from the foul line. Overtime was only a continuation of what seemed like destiny. One play in particular will be the shining moment of Isaiah’s Night. Up 3, with just over a minute left, Isaiah drove to the lane and went up to shoot a jumper. Markieff Morris slapped his wrist as he ascended, and dislodged the ball. Somehow, Isaiah not only regained possession after a few bobbles midair, but also hit the ensuing shot. Watching live, the ball had no business going in. Isaiah chucked it straight at the rim as he fell backwards, and it still fell. It was spectacular, stupendous, and plainly, special. This was the cherry on the top of Isaiah’s Night, the completed and-1 proving to ice the game. The game, shot, and player combined to be a spectacle impossible to ignore. Isaiah has quickly become the most captivating player to watch in the playoffs, and the easiest to root for.
 
Isaiah is a superstar. There were doubts and criticisms as he elevated into MVP discussion, pointing to his flawed defense and miniature size. Few believed he could succeed in the nasty, physical play in the playoffs, and he has proven all of them wrong thus far. He’s used to proving others wrong, though. During his career he’s been selected with the last pick of the draft, undervalued, and traded. The past 6 games, during which the Celtics are 6-0, have provided a simple argument for Thomas. He has been the single most valuable and heroic player in the playoffs. As such, he must be considered as part of the elite in the NBA, especially if his Celtics advance further into the postseason. To watch Isaiah lately has become progressively awe inspiring and emotional, as he carries not only his team, but also personal tragedy. He has been impeccable, and as he continues to play for his sister, it’s impossible to hope for anything but his excellence to continue. Isaiah Thomas is a fighter. But let us realize he is not simply a basketball player employed for our entertainment, he is human. It’s frankly impossible to represent what he has gone and continues to go through on a day-by-day basis, but we do know one thing.
 
Isaiah Thomas is incredible.
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