NBA FINALS, CAPITALIZEDEDEDEDED

On today’s Basketball Jones podcast, Skeets and Tas have just about every big sports blogger call in and make their prediction about the NBA Finals. They all predict the Spurs and I’m in the same boat. No matter how good Le-Bro is, his supporting cast just isn’t good enough to help him overcome San Antonio.

Dan Shanoff off-handedly mentions that this Cavaliers team is similar to Allen Iverson’s 76ers squad that stole a game from the Lakers back in 2001, and I had been thinking the same thing all morning. Here areach team's rotation (only players who play significant minutes):

2001 Philadephia 76ers
Allen Iverson
Aaron McKie
Dikembe Mutumbo
Eric Snow
Tyrone Hill
Jumaine Jones
George Lynch

2007 Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James
Larry Hughes
Zydrunas Ilguaskas
Sasha Pavlovic
Drew Gooden
Donyell Marshall
Anderson Varejao
Daniel Gibson
Eric Snow


As you can see, these two teams are eerily similar (Eric Snow is still terrible). Both teams are designed around the concept that their defense will be good enough that their star can win the game. Both teams are full of staunch defenders who rely heavily on the play-making ability of Iverson or James. Both teams have a coach with the last name Brown.

Looking back, it’s surprising how bad that 76ers team really was. Seriously, they don’t have a single jump-shooter in the bunch. Mutumbo was only elbows and an indecipherable accent at that point, and Tyrone Hill, Jumaine Jones, and George Lynch all sound like randomly generated names from NBA Live. At least Larry Brown had the good sense to keep Todd MacCullough, Kevin Ollie, and pre-skills Raja Bell on the bench for the majority of the series. It’s really shows how amazing and competitive Allen Iverson was that he could steal a game (on the road!) against Shaq and Kobe. However, I’m still not convinced that LeBron James is as intense as Allen Iverson; and for Cleveland to have any chance this series he needs to play like he did to close out Game 5.

At best, I can see Cleveland winning games 3 and 4 at home. Sure, Le-Bro could go completely bonky and destroy everything in his path and the Cavs could pull off an enormous upset, but I can’t imagine San Antonio letting that happen. LeBron’s midrange game is still suspect and that’s how to beat the Spurs. I’m taking the Spurs in 5 with Cleveland winning game 3.