2015 NBA Finals Preview: Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

     The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are the last two teams standing in the NBA playoffs after dominating their respective conferences. The Warriors only lost three games during the first three rounds of the NBA playoffs and the Cavaliers only lost twice. The combined playoff record of these two teams (24-5) is the best of any two teams meeting in the NBA Finals since 1991.
   
     But while both teams have been really dominant up to this point, the Warriors are still heavily favored by many to win the title due to the competition they faced in the Western Conference, their depth, and the fact that they have Stephen Curry, the NBA's MVP. The Warriors' 67-15 regular season record alone is impressive, but when you consider that they finished with that record against a really competitive Western Conference, it seems insane and almost unbelievable.

     The Warriors have achieved this level of success due to more than just hitting three-point shots. They've defended well all season and gotten good production from their role players as well as their starters. Beating the Warriors isn't as simple as preventing Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson from going off, which in and of itself is no easy task. Beating the Warriors involves scoring the basketball to prevent them from getting out in transition, playing good defense on the perimeter, and withstanding inevitable runs that the Warriors are sure to go on.

     The Warriors have it all. They have great perimeter shooting courtesy of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson; they have great defense on the perimeter courtesy of Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green; they have great post defense and rebounding courtesy of Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli; and they move the ball really well. There is nothing that they can't do and what's scary is that they are really confident and fearless.

     As for the Cavaliers, they have achieved their success due to having LeBron James, who is the best basketball player in the world. With the body frame of Karl Malone and the skills of John Stockton, LeBron James is the ultimate basketball player. All the things the Warriors do as a team can be done by LeBron James. He can score the ball from anywhere on the floor, pass the ball, rebound the ball, and defend both in the post and on the perimeter. He is so versatile that he can play all five positions on the floors with ease. It's simply amazing to witness.

     In addition to having King James, the Cavaliers also have Kyrie Irving, who is one the league's best point guards. Irving has been dealing with some knee tendinitis and a foot problem that is expected to require surgery at the end of the season. He isn't too healthy at the moment, but thankfully for the Cavaliers, he has gotten more than a week off to rest up. Assuming he is able to be decently productive, he'll be a key weapon to help LeBron James win Cleveland its first NBA championship.

     In addition to Kyrie Irving, LeBron James has some great role players around him in J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, Timofey Mozgov, and Tristan Thompson. Smith and Dellavedova are both fantastic perimeter shooters and Shumpert is a fantastic perimeter defender. As for Mozgov and Thompson, both of those guys can really do damage in the paint, especially Thompson, who routinely grabs more than 10 rebounds in a game to go along with a block or two. Thompson is a player who can control the paint and prevent teams from having an easy time scoring inside.

     With the strengths of these two teams outlined, here are some of their weaknesses. The biggest weakness for the Warriors is probably the fact that the game comes too easy for them and they sometimes get careless with the basketball. Getting careless with the basketball includes taking bad shots as well as making errant passes. The Warriors sometimes just give away possessions because they are accustomed to having all their shots go in and having everything go their way.

     In addition, the Warriors still live by the three and die by the three. I don't care how many times people tell you that the Warriors are a defensive team; they are a team that relies on making three-point shots. They averaged 27.0 three-point shot attempts per game in the regular season, which was fourth among all teams in the NBA and in the playoffs, they averaged 30.3 three-point shot attempts per game, more than any other playoff team. So yeah, when somebody tries to sound more smart and intelligent than you by saying that the Warriors aren't a three-point shooting team, run these numbers by them and see what they say.

     If the Warriors are making threes, there isn't much anybody can do. But if they aren't, they suddenly become very vulnerable. The Warriors in truth are a three-point shooting team that plays really good defense and gets out in transition. But when they are forced to play a half court set, they have a much harder time making perimeter shots and that is when they can go cold.

     If there is anything the Cavaliers should try to focus on, it's forcing the Warriors to play in the half court a lot. If the Cavaliers can make shots and thus prevent the Warriors from getting out in transition, they should like their chances of winning because they have some great perimeter defenders in LeBron James and Iman Shumpert.

     As for the Cavaliers, their biggest weakness is that they rely heavily on LeBron James. While it is true that Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and others have been very good for them, those players all feed off of LeBron James in ways that other Warriors players don't necessarily feed off of Stephen Curry. Don't get me wrong, the Warriors' offense totally runs through Stephen Curry and he is crucial to getting others on his team going. But thankfully for Curry, he has better players around him who aren't as reliant on him creating for them.

     As for LeBron James, whether or not the players around him play well largely depends on how he plays and how he leads. The reason why J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert have had a renaissance in Cleveland is because they have a new sense of confidence playing alongside LeBron James. When LeBron James is building you up, you have to feel confident that you can do anything on a basketball court that is asked of you.

     While it is a strength of LeBron James that he is able to build up his teammates like this, it is a weakness in the team that they are so reliant on one player to run the show. In addition, the Cavaliers have had some injuries. I mentioned Kyrie Irving, but Kevin Love is also out for the series as is Anderson Varejao, two guys who the Cavaliers would love to have playing in the paint. The Cavaliers aren't as healthy as the Warriors are at the moment which is definitely a weakness that they also need to overcome.

     When it comes to picking a winner, I am picking the Cavaliers to win the NBA Finals in six games even though I come from the Bay Area and have grown up watching the Warriors. My job as an NBA blogger and analyst isn't to make predictions based on any sort of hometown bias. It is to make predictions based on what I have observed and what I think the data presented before me indicates.

     When I look at both of these teams and consider how things have transpired in the NBA playoffs up until this point, I have to pick the Cavaliers. The reason I'm picking the Cavaliers has a lot to do with the fact that I believe LeBron James has what it takes to take-over this series and dominate in ways that Stephen Curry cannot. As I stated earlier, LeBron James can do it all and I expect him to do it all when his team needs him to in this series.

      In addition, I also think LeBron's supporting cast is underrated. He has great three point shooters around him, guys who can defend on the perimeter, and guys in the post who can control the paint. Lastly, I think the Warriors are a lot more vulnerable than people realize. They were given a good scare by the Memphis Grizzlies and didn't exactly blow the Rockets off the floor despite winning the series in five games. The Grizzlies outlined the blueprint to beat the Warriors and I think the Cavaliers have what it takes to carry out that blueprint in the way that the Grizzlies intended to.

      If you want to beat the Warriors, you need to do three things: Make shots to stop them from getting in transition, control the paint, and play sound defense on the perimeter. I'm confident that the Cavaliers will do all three of those things well enough to win the series and it largely will be because of LeBron James, the best basketball player in the world.

(Note: The NBA Finals starts Thursday at 9:00 PM ET on ABC)

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord and like my NBA Facebook page NBA Lord Nation