The NBA Finals schedule has finally been set, with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors squaring off to decide who will be crowned the 2015 NBA champions. The series has featured many exhilarating moments, but Game 6 will be especially important in deciding the winner. This game will take place on June 16 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA, and be nationally televised on ABC at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
Two Teams, One Championship
This year’s NBA Finals schedule pits two historically successful teams against each other, with a lot on the line. The Golden State Warriors, who set an NBA record by becoming just the fifth team to win 50 games in a season, are looking to capture their third championship in four years. On the other side, The Boston Celtics are looking to bring home a title to one of basketball’s most historic franchises and cap off one of its best seasons in franchise history. To many experts and fans alike, neither team will have an easy time winning it all due to each squad’s ability to execute extremely well at both ends of the court. In fact, there are even odds that either of these teams could pull out a victory in game six (if necessary) or seven. For example, while they may not look as good as last year’s edition did during regular season play, Cleveland still has Lebron James—arguably one of if not THE greatest player ever—leading them into battle every night; meanwhile on the other side, many argue that Boston isn't as strong without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward leading them through play but even still boast arguably THE best defense we've seen since 2013 San Antonio Spurs led by Kawhi Leonard (not coincidentally an ex-teammate of current Celtic Marcus Smart). Regardless of how things shake out from here forward though... these NBA finals will definitely be worth watching!
Steve Kerr’s Return
The Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr announced Monday that he would return to coach game 5 of The 2016 NBA Finals after missing four games due to complications from back surgery. The Golden State coach underwent surgery earlier in May, with no official announcement from team doctors until just before game 4 of The 2016 NBA finals. The absence of head coach Steve Kerr was largely attributed to a lack of fluidity and energy in The defending champs' offense during their first three games at Oracle Arena. When asked about his level of confidence coming back so soon into his recovery period, Coach Kerr responded I’m good. My health’s good. My back feels great. It's been pretty much 100 percent for weeks now. As it stands now, if The Cleveland Cavaliers want to extend The series past six games they will have to win both remaining home games at Quicken Loans Arena by double digits; but it's still anybody's series as both teams look equally matched on paper. If The Warriors manage to clinch their second championship in franchise history they'll become only one of two franchises (the other being The San Antonio Spurs) who have won multiple championships since 2000. Title: How Important is Stephen Curry? Cavs Hope Their Defense Can Keep Him In Check For Game 3 If there's one thing that can be said about game 2 of The 2016 NBA Finals, it was an extremely competitive match-up between these two powerhouses which ended up going down to the wire despite all signs pointing towards a blowout victory for The Golden State Warriors over LeBron James and company. This led many fans and critics alike to wonder how much Stephen Curry has left in him physically considering how hard he worked offensively throughout all 48 minutes including late shot attempts even though his team had already secured victory.
Stephen Curry’s Foot
How will he recover in time to make it to game one of the 2016 NBA finals? So far, all signs point to yes. But as we saw last season when Kevin Durant suffered a knee injury on April 24th, an athlete can have six weeks of recovery time and still not be ready. It’s scary to think about, but whether Curry makes it or not won’t affect my fandom; I trust that if he doesn’t recover on time, other players like Klay Thompson will step up and make it a competitive series. As a fan, I hope Curry does play—but from a selfish perspective, watching him play doesn’t benefit me in any way. Still, no matter what happens with Curry’s foot, it seems almost certain that fans across America will tune into at least one game of the 2016 NBA finals. The only question is which network they’ll watch it on. My money is on ABC. They seem to cover basketball better than anyone else right now. They certainly do a better job than ESPN! In fact, you could argue that they were the best broadcast team during last year’s finals—at least among those who didn't work for ESPN... . After working through hundreds of hours of research and analysis (read: binge-watching every single championship game since 1982), I feel confident saying ABC was clearly superior last year (though TNT has been better lately). Hopefully, things don't change too much between now and next June... though I'm sure they will. There's always something new going on in sports broadcasting, so it's hard to predict exactly how things will shake out. All I know is that there are plenty of reasons to look forward to 2016 - both for diehard fans and casual viewers alike!
How Kevin Durant can win this series
To achieve all of his goals, beat back his demons, and come out on top, Durant needs to have a big game on Sunday. He knows it. His teammates know it. The Celtics know it. And by extension, he needs Stephen Curry to have an off night—which is only likely if Klay Thompson comes alive in a way we haven’t seen yet in these NBA finals and draws more attention from Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Gordon Hayward than he has in games 3 through 5. It sounds simple but Durant alone just isn’t going to win these next two games without something close to a superhuman effort — maybe not even then. That’s how good Kyrie Irving and Al Horford are playing right now. That’s how well Brad Stevens is coaching. But that doesn't mean Durant can't try to will Golden State to victory anyway, because that's what superstars do. They find ways to make things happen when they don't seem possible or probable. If anyone can pull it off, Kevin Durant can ... but it won't be easy. Not against Boston. Not with everything riding on him doing so.
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving Can Compete with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson
The Celtics duo of Irving and James are deadly scorers. They can put up points in a hurry but are no slouches on defense either. Despite playing on a bad foot, James has maintained his intensity and energy level. He just hasn’t been able to get it done consistently when it counts most. LeBron made 22-of-32 shots while also adding eight rebounds and nine assists in Game 5 — unfortunately, Kyrie Irving wasn’t too far behind with 24 points (12 of 17), seven boards, four assists, and two steals. If they want to get by Golden State, they need to continue playing like that every night – especially with Steph Curry likely making shots left and right at home. However, these two will have their hands full with Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant guarding them. Can these top dogs outscore one another? This could very well come down to which team makes more 3s than their opponent. The difference between success and failure for Boston might come down to how many corner 3s they hit versus how many Thompson makes from deep. Who wins? It’ll probably be close, but I think we see a repeat of last year’s series where both teams take turns winning games until someone finally pulls away late. But don't expect an easy win for either side. This series will go six games and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes seven!
Golden State vs. Cleveland Predictions
The NBA finals schedule is set, and these will be four of the most important games in NBA history. The Cleveland Cavaliers have not lost a single game yet in these playoffs and are riding a high wave of momentum after beating Toronto in five games. With an unprecedented 12–0 playoff run, it’s hard to know if LeBron James will be able to lead his team to its first-ever NBA championship. One thing that makes me confident about Golden State winning game six is that they haven’t won a road game in more than a month. But Cleveland has been amazing at home and hasn’t lost all season—this one could go either way. So what can we expect from game six? Let’s break down who will win!
The NBA finals schedule is set with just four more games remaining until there is a winner between Golden State and Cleveland. Although each matchup has ended up going three or four games so far, I feel like no matter what happens next there will always be controversial among fans. As exciting as the NBA playoffs have been so far, once we get to game seven it will become everything you could want out of sports entertainment. If you’re looking for your perfect sports betting opportunity (including live odds on popular gambling sites) then these next few weeks are going to deliver both insanely tough competition and great value on every match you wager on!
