THE INVESTMENT GUIDE TO THE 2017 NBA FINALS

THE MISSING SPLASH BRO

 

By Muntradamus

BEAST DOME NATION.

Before I get into this Investment Guide, I want to say this will be the BEST NBA FINALS of All-Time. Both of these teams can be #1 and #2 on the All-Time Greatest teams. Sure Jordan had Pippen and Dennis Rodman, I guess. You can argue that both Durant and Lebron are in the same conversation as Jordan. Durant if we are talking offense only. Then you have Steph Curry/Kyrie Irving who knock Scottie Pippen out of the water. If we are still talking about Rodman and considering him to be in this discussion. If Kevin Love and Draymond were in any sort of shooting contest against Rodman. I would throw the house on either Kevin Love or Draymond, though Draymond and his shot is nothing to be excited about.

Regardless here we are. The NBA Finals we could have predicted last July when Kevin Durant signed with the Warriors. Will the Warriors win? Will the Cavs win? Who is the better team? Let us dissect this matchup.

HOW THE CAVS WILL WIN

LeBron James is angry. Someone vandalized his home in LA writing the *N* word all over the place among other things. Let us start the conspiracy theories but this could have easily been an inside job from the Cleveland organization. If any true Warriors fan was doing this to Lebron with the intentions of anything negative towards LeBron, they have sadly mistaken themselves.

LeBron is going to go off to a different level this NBA Finals. Kevin Durant will not be able to guard him. Andre Iguodala will not be able to guard him. No matter who the Warriors throw on Lebron, they will not be able to guard him. He is going to be playing angry and he is going to be playing like he should have been MVP.

If the Warriors do not double team LeBron, 30+ Points a game in this series is automatic.

So let us say the Warriors decide to double LeBron James and force him to pass the ball. Because if the Warriors let LeBron control each game scoring at will, the Cavs will win the NBA Finals.

The double team will leave Kyrie Irving 1 on 1 with Klay Thompson or Steph Curry, most likely Klay will guard him. If the Warriors decide to be BOLD and guard Kyrie with Steph, there is nothing Steph can do in this matchup. While Steph is a great player, his defense is still nothing to be proud of. Kyrie can break his ankles.

When the Cavs have both Kyrie and Lebron doing their thing. That is when the Cavs are nearly unbeatable.

Kevin Love will have his moments, but his role is just to knock down open 3’s and not let Draymond be an impact player. He can do both of those things. Love is more of a role player for these NBA Finals, not a Superstar.

J.R. Smith needs to lock down Steph on Defense. He may guard Klay, but he will likely guard Steph.

Tristan Thompson needs to dominate the boards, and his hustle and relentlessness is a lot for the Warriors Front court to handle.

The True Advantage the Cavs have over the Warriors is their bench

Deron Williams. Iman Shumpert. Kyle Korver. Richard Jefferson. Channing Frye

That 5 can definitely beat the Lakers starting 5 and they have a huge advantage over the Warriors Bench which depends too much on young players who are doing well when the game is already in blowout mode.

Deron Williams can be an impact player scoring 10+ off the bench any game.

Iman Shumpert will play key defense on Klay and Steph throughout the series, maybe guard Durant here and there.

Kyle Korver can change the momentum of the game with his 3 Point Shooting. Same can be said about Channing Frye.

Richard Jefferson can knock down the 3 and he can somewhat guard Durant here and there. Maybe he will guard Draymond Green a little bit.

If things are not working for the Cavs, do not be surprised to see ex-Lottery Pick Derrick Williams be an X-Factor in guarding Kevin Durant.

HOW THE WARRIORS WILL WIN

This is why Kevin Durant joined the Warriors. This moment right here. Kevin Durant needs to be the leader and score his vintage 30+ Points like it is nothing. Lebron James cannot guard Kevin Durant. While Durant going off is crucial that is not all the Warriors need to win.

Steph Curry needs to be his former 2x MVP self. Steph probably took the biggest stock drop as a player next to Blake Griffin this season. His matchup will likely be a trio of J.R. Smith/Kyrie Irving/Iman Shumpert throughout the series. I would be surprised to see Deron Williams on him. Regardless of who is guarding Steph, he can knock down any shot at any moment and be the 40+ Point MVP we remember. The ball is in his court.

While both Durant and Steph should do their things, that is still not enough to guarantee a Warriors win.

Draymond Green needs to be a playmaker and control the pace of the game by setting up his teammates and hitting his open 3s. Regardless, just like Kevin Love, Draymond Green is a role player in this series. He is not a Star. If the Warriors need to depend on Draymond to lead the team in scoring, which will never happen, the Warriors would not even be in this position.

The deciding factor of this series is no other than the Splash Bro we forgot all about.

Mr. Klay Thompson

The Cavs if they are smart, are going to match J.R. Smith/Iman Shumpert or whatever guard is on the court that is not Kyrie Irving, with Steph Curry. If Steph Curry has Kyrie Irving on him, Steph could drop 40.

So with Klay getting the likely matchup of Kyrie Irving. Klay Thompson has the matchup advantage he needs to be the series MVP. Klay Thompson should get open 3 Point Shot looks all game, and if whoever guarding him comes too close, Klay can show off his dribble/drive skills.

If Klay has his ridiculous three point shooting type of games, like scoring 37 Points in one quarter like he did last season. The Warriors will win. The momentum Klay generates from making his 3 Point Shoots back-2-back put so much pressure on the other team to score, they do not even play their type of Basketball.

The Warriors were very smart to sign Klay to an Extension before the NBA Finals got here. With the type of NBA Finals Klay can have, his payday would be out of this world.

WHAT THE WARRIORS COULD DO TO BE A SUPER TEAM

Play Javale McGee 30+ Minutes. His presence protecting the Paint is worth everything by itself. If the Cavs turn into a jump shooting team, the Warriors would win easily. For some reason the coaching staff has been so to the book with Javale and his rotation spot all season long, even though he is an immediate impact player. He opens up the paint for the Warriors on offense by not allowing any double teams.

The second his man leaves him, the Alley-Oop Jam is there everytime.

However the Warriros coaching Staff has made mistakes like these the past 2 seasons with this team. Not playing Shaun Livingston enough minutes last year during the Finals to slow down Kyrie was big. This year we will see McGee be a big Impact player. For a small Impact of time.

WHO IS GOING TO WIN?

This is going to be a great NBA Finals. To predict the winner of any game is just leaving it up to chance. There are too many superstars on the court at all times.

If anyone tells you to put money on one team over the other. They are not being honest with themselves about how great both teams are.

What we do know. The NBA wants to make a lot of money on this Series. This is a potential 7 Game Super Bowl Series and it is wise to play it like one.

 

NBA FINALS INVESTMENT GUIDE

LOW RISK.MEDIUM RETURN

*$500 BUDGET*

SERIES RESULT

CAVS/WARRIORS 6 Games +200. $100
CAVS/WARRIORS 7 Games. +200. $100

PLAYER TO SCORE MOST POINTS IN SERIES

Klay Thompson +2000. $35
KYRIE IRVING +750. $35
LEBRON JAMES -140. $100
Steph Curry +450. $40
Kevin Durant +320. $40

PLAYER PROP

Game 1. Game 2. Game 3. Game 4.

Keep hitting the Prop until Klay is over/under 22 Points

Klay Thompson over 18 Points. $50