Playoffs were rather stale in the early parts. Rounds 1 & 2 were pretty much predictable.
Clippers had injuries to thank for their early exit to the Blazers in the 2nd round (another year, another excuse). They lost Griffin (mostly to stupidity for the most part of the regular season, and then to injury in the playoffs), CP3 to a hand injury. They couldn’t recover.
Rockets, as disjointed as ever, made the playoffs, but you knew they weren’t getting far. Ultimately lost to a Curryless Warriors. But I’d give them credit for getting to the playoffs.
For the Mavs and Grizzles, well they met better oppositions.
The games of the playoffs had to be the Western Conference Semi’s & the Finals. The OKC Thunder beat the Spurs in the semi-finals of the Western Conference. A lot of peeps, including myself, felt like the Spurs had, maybe not the legs, but enough experience to win. But the Okc of the playoffs wasn’t the one we saw during the regular season. No longer erratic or hero balling but we’re something of a reformed team that could go all the way. Questionable calls ruined some games but OKC were always favourite after going 3-2 up with the final game at home. OKC had arrived, and every doubt or skepticism about the team seemed to have evaporated with the performance.
In the East, like earlier stated, the Cavs couldn’t find a competition. Playoffs were rather straight forward, and only had a little lapse in effort to deal with in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Raptors.
Pacers did their thing but lacked a bit of experience, surely that will come with Paul George back in the mix. As long as he stays healthy, with Monta Ellis in decent form, they can only get better.
Celtics had a number of injuries to contend with that ultimately cost them. Kind of disappointing to say the least, really wanted them to go far.
The game of the East had to be the semi’s between the Raptors and the Heat. Not because it was a spectacle, no… far from it.., but it just had the grit the conference lacked during the regular season. The series went 7 games, and truth be told, it was far more fun than the Eastern Finals. The Heat had Whiteside and Bosh out due to injury and blood clotting disorder respectively. Truth be told, the fact they made a ga e out of it was a little surprising, but we all knew D.Wade wasn’t going down without a fight. He had an awesome series along with the supporting cast, but it wasn’t enough. The Raptors had enough to handle business.
FINALS
Should be summarized in one word – COLLAPSE…. or choke whatever keeps you smiling.
The Thunder had a 3-1 lead against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, to everyones surprise. But it wasn’t the lead that got us all riled up, the Thunders were transformed. They played a brand of basketball the warriors couldn’t cope with – physically, defensively they were astute. Given that they lost all 4 games to the Warriors during the reg season, this at times was had to believe. Westbrook was bossing a less than 100% Curry and KD was letting it fly. But a huge credit had to go to the role players – Kanter & Adams, they were unbelievable. Ultimately, it ended badly. Warriors came out swinging and the Reg season OKC showed its ugly head again and that was it. Klay and Steph, but mostly Klay shot the lights out the Thunder gym and the MVP took care of the rest.
The Warriors were unto the Finals were an eager looking Cavs team awaiting after vanquishing a helpless Raptors in 5 games. Well rested and injury free this time around unlike the previous final a year earlier, the Cavs had something to prove. Well, that was in theory but in reality, the Warriors were more prepared at that point, owing to the fact that they’d gone through hell and back with the Thunder and at that point were more prepared.
First 2 games of the Finals, in all honesty, went the way everyone expected it. Then it was 2-1, then 3-1 and then came the collapse…. or choke.
Be it good play, bad calls, suspensions, injuries, Steph’s form, Kyrie’s game or Lebron’s dominance, the Warriors became a shadow of the team we’ve seen the during the year. It was an absolute horror show. In my opinion, it wasn’t about Lebron stepping up, it was the Warriors being lackadaisical. Maybe it was being overly confident or they just ran out of steam; this collapse was epic and for the romantics who wanted a happy ending to the warriors spectacular season up until that point, a frustrating thing to watch. A lot of credit has to go to the Cavs, for sticking with it. They couldn’t let themselves down for a second season in a row to the same team and in that manner. LBJ took up the mantle with Kyrie as his side kick and they went to work. An argument could be made that had the Warriors not lost Draymond to suspension, Iguadala and Bogut to injuries they could have closed up the series in 6 at most, but every Cavs fan could say the same thing about the Finals a year ago when they lost Kyrie and Love to injuries. That being said, a collapse it was , a collapse i’ll remember it by.
All in All, it was an amazing season. Full of upsets and surprises, and in the context of the finalists, a surprising winner. Ultimately, the Cavs were deserving champions and against all odds won the chip.
In my opinion, next season is gonna get better. A rivalry building between the Cavs and the Warriors makes for an interesting Playoffs to witness.
OVERSAABI 