NBA: Cavs-Warriors Vol. 4 Preview

Point Guards: Coming into the fourth straight Warriors vs. Cavaliers NBA Finals, the Cavs are the biggest underdog in the Finals in 16 years. The guard matchup in this series is going to be a focal point for both teams. The matchup between George Hill and Stephen Curry will be a battle of two vastly different types of guards. Despite not having great offensive numbers, Hill brings great on-ball defense this season and throughout the playoffs. While Curry is not recognized as a top defensive player, he is actually second in the postseason in Player Defense, while Hill is 36th. With Curry averaging close to 25.0 points per game, he is also shooting efficient on 47.0 percent shooting and 39.0 percent from three. While Hill is coming close to scoring 10 points per game, he is shooting 49.0 percent from the field. The key to this matchup will be Hill’s defense against Curry’s offense, a matchup that will be critical to the outcome of this Finals. It's pretty clear that the Warriors and Curry have the advantage when it comes to the starting point guards. In previous years Curry had to deal with switching onto Kyrie Irving, but that's no longer the case in this matchup.

Shooting Guards: Objectively speaking, the matchup between Klay Thompson and J.R. Smith is mostly non-existent other than the fact that both players happen to play the same position. For much of the playoffs, Smith has been everywhere except for the basketball court while Thompson has been playing lock down defense and courageously carrying his team to the promised land when ever needed. For the series Thompson is averaging 17.2 points on 41.8 percent from the field while Smith is averaging 11.3 points on 41.7 percent. On the outside looking in they are nearly equals in terms of shooting percentage but if you break down the tape it's easy to see that Thompson is a much bigger defensive focus than his often shirtless counterpart. Smith takes and makes tough shots as well as anyone else in the league but that's something teams will deal with, Thompson on the other hand isn't someone teams can afford to get hot. Smith can be a good to great defender, when he is engaged, but for some reason Cleveland as a whole tends to get lost on defense more than they would like to admit but the tape doesn't lie. Golden State should win this matchups with relative ease.

Small Forwards: Let's start off with the easy stuff. Lebron James and Kevin Durant have faced off 30 times. 20 in the regular season and 10 in the NBA Finals. Lebron has the edge with 19 wins. But since KD joined the Golden State Warriors, he's gone 7-2 including last years “passing of the torch." Their numbers are strikingly similar. Both averaging about 29 points in the regular season and bumping it up to 31 points in the Finals. Lebron holds a significant edge in assists, while the rebounding numbers remain similar to the regular season. KD holds the edge in shooting splits with an absurd 55/43/89 in the Finals. They are both three level scorers, but one is better at creating and the other is better at finishing. They represent two divergent paths that get to the same zenith. Lebron is a basketball savant. He sees and reads things on the court before other guys have even thought about the correct play. KD is the greatest scorer in the history of basketball. He is seven-feet tall, silky jumper, dangerous handle, and a killer instinct. He can put the ball in the basket from anywhere and adapt to anything on offense. If nothing else about this series is eventful, this matchup surely will be.

Power Forwards: This matchup is going to be one of the major factors in determining just how much of a fight the Cleveland Cavaliers can put up. Everyone can agree that the Golden State Warriors are the better team, so the only way Cleveland pulls off the monumental upset is if the "other Cavaliers" (not Lebron James) can step up. The most likely candidate to do so is Kevin Love, five-time NBA All-Star, who is averaging 17.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. But he hasn't played since the first quarter of Game 6 against the Boston Celtics. He is doubtful for Game 1 and could be out even longer than that. He is currently in the concussion protocol, as he was earlier in the season. If the Cavs don't have Love, it's going to be up to Jeff Green. With all due respect to Green, who dropped an astronomically important 19 points in Game 7 against Boston, you can't count on him to deliver that same level of performance night in and night out. Draymond Green will likely be splitting time defending Green and James, while Durant checks the other. Green will have an advantage against Green as he puts up 11.0 points and 7.6 boards. If Love can play, maybe it'll be a different story.

Centers: With all of the star-studded matchups in this series, it's kind of an underwhelming center comparison, but they will still have an impact on which team is victorious. Within the last couple of years, the Golden State Warriors have gone from Andrew Bogut to Zaza Pachulia to Javale McGee to Kevon Looney. In reality, they all kind of do the same things. They set (illegal?) screens for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, dribble as little as humanly possible, and finish at the rim when all else fails. It's actually a significant role because Curry, Kevin Durant, and Thompson need consistent screeners to free up open space. Plus if a double team comes from the opposite side, there is usually an open lane to score from. Looney has done a good job of filling that role. The Cleveland Cavaliers depend on Tristan Thompson to do a little more. He has to be a major impact on defense or the Cavs become an embarrassingly poor defensive squad. Thompson also must take up space and be a threat to score in and around the paint or else the Warriors can throw another defender towards Lebron James. He is only averaging 5.8 points and 6.6 rebounds. Both numbers must increase in this series.

Bench & Coaches: The Golden State Warriors’ bench isn’t as potent as it was in previous years. They no longer have guys like Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Ian Clark, Festus Ezeli, or David Lee. While Andre Igoudala is a Sixth Man of the Year candidate every year, he’s injured, and missed the last the last four games of the Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets. The Warriors were 2-2 without him. The four bench players that logged minutes in Game 7 totaled just seven points and seven rebounds. There isn’t a lot of weaknesses on this Golden State team, but if there was some, one of them would be their lack of depth. The Cavaliers only played three reserves in Game 7 against the Boston Celtics, and they combined for a sad five points, three rebounds, and two assists. But Kyle Korver, who struggled that game, does have the potential to drop 20 points on any given night. Watch out for him to attempt a lot of outside shots. As for the coaches, it'll be Tyronn Lue against Steve Kerr for the third year in a row. Lue has a 10-1 series record in the playoffs, but is just 4-7 against Golden State. Meanwhile, Kerr has won 93.3 percent of his playoff series' since becoming head coach.

Finals Predictions:

Aduroja: Warriors (6)

Collins: Warriors (5)

Heningburg: Warriors (5)

O'Bannon: Warriors (6)

Paige: Warriors (5)

Post: Warriors (4)

Stoll: Warriors (7)

Taylor: Warriors (6)

C. Wejinya: Warriors (5)

K. Wejinya: Warriors (5)

READ: NBA Conference Finals Predictions.

Aduroja: 6-2.

Collins: 6-2.

Henderson: 7-1.

Heningburg: 9-5.

O'Bannon: 10-4.

Paige: 11-3.

Post: 11-3.

Taylor: 3-3.

Stoll: 9-3.

C. Wejinya: 10-4.

K. Wejinya: 4-2.

Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated.