A Final Review

By on June 19, 2015

 

(USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada)

(USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada)

After playing over 100 games and almost 5,000 minutes the NBA finals have come to an end.  The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in 6 games and won their first NBA title in 40 years.  The NBA got the matchup it wanted and the matchup that NBA fans had been clamoring for.  It was billed as the future of the NBA (Stephen Curry) vs the current face of the NBA (LeBron James), but it was a former starter who came up big and ultimately helped bring the Larry O’Brien trophy back to Oakland.

LeBron James was absolutely phenomenal during the NBA Finals.  He averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists per game while playing 45.8 minutes per game and contributing to 64% of the Cavaliers offense.  He put the Cavaliers on his shoulders and almost single-handedly brought a championship to Cleveland for the first time in its NBA existence.  But as the saying goes, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades and while James almost was good, his good was not enough to defeat the Warriors and their bench depth.

With both Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry struggling the first three games the Warriors bench stepped up and stepped up big.  No one on the Warriors had more of an impact than Andre Iguodala.  A one time starter who was relegated to coming off the bench when Steve Kerr took over as head coach, Iguodala averaged 16.3 points and 4 assists per game, scoring 22 and 25 points in games 4 and 6.  He even shot 40% from beyond the arc while the rest of the Warriors shot 36% from beyond the arc.

On his way to winning the MVP award, Iguodala played a little defense as well, holding LeBron James to just 38% shooting when he covered him.

Iguodala’s impact was not only felt on the court but off the court as well.  When playing, the Warriors and Iguodala outsored the Cavaliers by 62 points.  When not playing, the Cavaliers outscored the Warriors by 19 points.

It can be debated if Iguodala was worthy of the MVP over James, but what can’t be debated is that we watched the two best teams with two of the best players in the NBA in one of the most exciting NBA finals in a long time.  Let’s hope that the 2016 NBA finals are exciting as the 2015 NBA Finals.

Categories: Basketball, Featured, Sports
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