Defending Cavalier LeBron James in the Finals? With the NBA Finals coming our way starting Thursday the 4th of June 2015 with the No. 2 seed Cavaliers of Cleveland playing the favorite No. 1 seed Warriors of Golden State with the 1st Game of the 7 Game Series tips-off at 9:05 PM ET with this 1st Game played at the Oracle Arena in Oakland , California and seen on ABC TV.Defending Cavalier LeBron James in the Finals?
If you Bet on NBA at an Offshore sportsbook, the opening odds have Golden State on top at -6 with the total on the game at 202 ½ -110 and -250 on the ML, while Cleveland is +6 on the point spread and + 210 on the ML.
The question fans are asking how the Warriors defend against LeBron of the Cavaliers. First, think about the Principals which are; A. Make him a jump shooter the less of his 2 evils, as in the playoffs he is only averaging 29% on jumpers. B. Attack him physically on hid handle even though he’s 6’8”. C. Change the team looks, given him something new in the defensive scheme, and throw the works at him. D. Attack him with help on his drives, post-ups and from his sides. E. If you are going to foul to stop him then make sure it counts.
Then here are some 5 ways to defend against LeBron;
1st is the Straight up which may be the Warriors scheme for Game 1 by defending him with D. Green from the start, and lock arms and build a wall, or whatever is necessary to stop King James. However, Coach Kerr has a philosophy that is to stay with the plan, and if that fails make the necessary changes, if it’s not too late. Thus, Kerr may start the game with small forward vs. small forward and Barnes defending LeBron. But the way in past games, LeBron has played, will present problems for Barnes on the defense if James continues his playing pattern, thus D. Green may see time defending against LeBron. 2nd is to give the D. Green ripple a try, since he was this seasons runner-up for defensive player of 2014-15. He has deceptive speed, he’s strong, smart a just a real pain to whoever he defends against. On top of that he normally can defend in and situation that he confronts. Maybe the Warriors best move is to go with a dual center scheme at limited times with F. Ezeli and A. Bogut who both have responded well in these playoffs, and thus green move to small forward to defend LeBron. The problem that can result from that scheme is that it limits space on offense and slows the game, and the Warriors don’t need that. Then they may go with D. Lee and forward which allows Green to play small forward in defending James. With that they lose some speed but offensively it improves their passing and scoring on the court.
The 3rd possibility is to defend LeBron with A. Iguodala who defended against James for the most of the 1 game they played in the regular season. If that doesn’t work make a change. However, Iguodala has experience defending James for over 10 years. He surely knows how to defend against him, and realizes there will be games when regardless of the defense LeBron will score. Yes Iguodala maybe the best at defending James, but there is a cost to that, as Iguodala in this playoff has struggled with his outside shots, making just 31% and that could reduce the Warriors scoring when he’s defending. But he certainly will see plenty of game time in this Series.
4th if the Warriors are to be successful they need a improved game from A. Bogut as he can fix the mistakes his teammate defenders commit by stopping LeBron in the pick and roll situation, and here is where Bogut and other team mates must be effective.
Finally, the 5th is the extra pass, with which the Warriors must contend with, because LeBron with his court awareness and intelligence can get the extra pass and score on the opponent very quickly. This is where the Hawks and the Bulls both failed to do and lost their series against the Cavaliers.
If Golden State can keep an effective defensive scheme against the Cavaliers and LeBron it will turn out to be a very interesting game and that may be where we start hearing some other games like J. Curry or K. Thompson the famous “Flash Brothers.”