NBA Finals 2017: 5 big questions for Warriors vs. Cavaliers matchup
By John Buhler
3. Who, if anybody, can get under LeBron James’ skin?
When James is in the zone, he is the best player in basketball. He’ll miss an occasional free throw, but when he is attacking the rim, getting good shot attempts up from distance and blazing past everybody in transition, it’s just not possible to stop James. The opposition can only hope to contain him.
One of the only ways to do that is to have a big guy being a total nuisance at the rim. Golden State doesn’t have the same level of rim protection it had last year with Bogut, but the Warriors do have the big bodies down low that can agitate James enough to rattle him mentally.
No, Pachulia, David West, and JaVale McGee aren’t going to break James, but they can at least join Green as reliable on-court instigators for the Warriors. Then again, none of those dudes can really rebound or block a shot. Look for Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson and Love to have a field day down low on the glass.
That being said, just having a big, lumbering body to take up space at the rim could relegate James into being Distributor LeBron. When that happens, Golden State will have their opportunity to win the 3>2 math equation. If James loses confidence in his shot, Love can’t find his and Irving has to carry the offensive burden for the Cavaliers, then Golden State can win this series in six, maybe even five games, if the Warriors are firing on all cylinders.
A plethora of big doofuses down low could do the trick. If that requires Golden State to trot out old Anderson Varejao, so be it. We’ve missed out favorite Brazilian Sideshow Bob in these playoffs.