As we count down to the start of NBA Finals, there are plenty of things to focus on: LeBron James building his legacy (he is no Jerry West), the battle of rookie head coaches Steve Kerr and David Blatt, the experience issue when it comes to having played in monster games before, be they NBA playoff games or FIBA tournaments (don’t forget that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were members of Team USA last summer).
But remember something that coaches always preach: Defense wins championships.
And the team that defends the other team’s alpha dog the best is going to be the team that emerges with the title.
If you are the Cleveland Cavaliers and you are looking o slow down Steph Curry, your options are limited. You can go with Kyrie Irving, but he has two bad wheels and could get beat off the dribble fairly easily if he is not operating at 100 percent.
You could dust off Shawn Marion, but that ship — the one where Marion guards four positions — has already sailed. You can try Iman Shumpert, as I’m sure Blatt will do. Or you could attack him with a pesky insect, which is where Matthew Dellavedova comes into the picture.
Delly might not stop Curry, but based upon recent events, we can expect him to get under the reigning MVPs skin. So watch for that.
On the other end, what are the Warriors going to do about stopping LeBron James. The easy answer is to say they’ll use Draymond Green, who has defended The King with some success in the past. But if Steve Kerr goes that route, who is going to defend Tristan Thompson, who averaged 11.8 points and 11.0 rebounds in the second-round sweep of the Atlanta Hawks. Thompson can eat up Harrison Barnes and/or David Lee, so there is a price to be paid for moving Green off the 4 position on the defensive end.
So my two key secondary players in the finals are Iguodala and Dellavedova, both of whom will be on the bench when Game 1 tips off Thursday night.
A few other thoughts on the finals, including the question of LeBron’s legacy, along with my series prediction in this interview with CineSport’s Noah Coslov.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.