Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook (Photo : Ezra Shaw | Getty Images Sport)
The final game of the Western Conference Finals is upon us. Waiting in the wings are the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This has been predicted before the season because of the relative lack of opposition in the Eastern Conference. Whereas the West has been a practical battle royale between the Golden State Warriors and OKC Thunder (who beat a 67-win San Antonio Spurs), the Cavs went to the Finals with just two losses, none of which happened in the United States.
The question will always be asked and the answer won't be a surprise. Who does the Cleveland Cavaliers prefer as their finals opponent? Cavs coach Tyronn Lue told Cleveland.com a not-so-original take.
"We just want the winner," Lue said. "Just whoever wins. We're preparing for both and after tonight we will get a chance to see who we finally play."
"They're two tough teams," he acknowledges. "It does play a part, but it's really more so about us. If we're on the right page and doing things the right way we're going to be fine."
At ESPN Insider, the experts gave their two cents on a prediction and also, who would LeBron James and his crew would fear to face in the Finals (the King would say neither, of course).
Kevin Pelton picked the Warriors, as home-court advantage in Game 7 matters (each team has lost once at home in this series). The road team would not have an advantage in Game 7 unless there are major injuries-which there aren't.
Kevin Arnovitz cited the past record-no.1 seeds are 28-3 at home in Game 7 history. Jeremias Engelamann cited momentum and that the Thunder "blew their chance."
All five experts picked the Warriors, even though most pundits predicted the Thunder to wrap up last Saturday night.
For the money question-who would the Cavs fear?
Engelmann chose the Warriors because they have two elite defenders to throw at LeBron-Draymond Green and Igoudala.
Amin Elhassan picks the Warriors as well because of recent records-James has matched up well against Durant recently but struggled against the Warriors this season.
Arnovitz wavered because the Cavs seemed to have fashioned themselves as a "pace and space" team with the three point shooting to boot-obviously designed to challenge the Warriors. The Thunder could pose the same problems to them that brought Golden State on the ropes. But in the end, Arnovitz still picked the Warriors citing the regular season beatdown on the Cavs.
Tom Haberstroh also picked the Warriors (everyone did) citing the match-ups at the frontline. The Cavs' Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson would just struggle against the Warriors' bigs.
Who will the Cavs face-and will they be happy with the result?
