Skip to main content

2015 NBA Finals (Game 6): Strength in Numbers


The exact words printed on the T-shirts of the Warriors’ players and fans sitting in Oracle Arena. Indeed, they had the strength in numbers. After a virtually perfect season for the Warriors, they finally nailed the NBA title after 40 years. A fantastic season that will be hard to emulate in the future. They finished off the regular season with a 67-15 record, their best record in franchise history.

They also had some luck on their side. The Warriors didn’t suffer any major injuries. The front office took a gamble by hiring a rookie coach. And also, playing with teams in the playoffs that are facing injuries issues. Although it shall be mentioned that, they earned that luck because of the strength of the bench they had. GM Bob Myers made significant additions to the bench before the start of the season, bringing in Shaun Livingston and Leonard Barbosa, both who made significant contributions during this playoffs run.

For basketball neutrals, perhaps everybody could have a different conversation if the Cavs have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in this finals. But nonetheless, everybody can unanimously agree that the best team since the first day of the regular season won the title.

Steve Kerr sticked with the same small ball lineup that won the last two games. Andre Iguodala was once again consistent in his performance, and again contributing on both ends of the floor. Andrew Bogut didn’t even have a single minute in this final game with the success the Warriors gained with this lineup. In this game, Festus Ezeli was huge coming of the bench and he showed his great physical ability to pounce on second chance opportunities to give this team the offensive push during transition. Throughout the entire series, the Warriors with a much deeper team are able to making changes to their roster to win games. Much credit have to be given to Kerr and his coaching team for able to realize the changes they need to make.

For the Cavs, David Blatt decides to give more playing time for Timothy Mozgov after reducing his minutes greatly in Game 5. He had 17 points in 33 minutes and that must make Blatt wondered, did he make a mistake not playing Mozgov more in the previous game. Despite not knowing for his defense, Mozgov was another player other than James who played a great series and is expected to stay with the Cavs after a successful season since being traded from Denver. JR Smith heroics late in the game must have Cavs wondered why didn’t he play like that in the earlier stretch of the game or the previous two losing games. LeBron James did put up a spectacular effort to save his team, but ultimately it was not enough to save the Cavs from losing.

This was the celebration that most of the Warriors fans have been waiting for a very long time. The success of this team all started from scratch. Four of the five players (Curry, Thomspon, Barnes, Green) who started for the Warriors are draft picks of the Warriors. Despite having a rookie coach, they got a guy who has the experience of winning an NBA title before. At the end of the day, the best team this season ultimately won the title, and fully deserved to be called champion.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

[Euro 16] Reflection: The 24-Team Format

It wasn’t a tournament that creates many excitement. A final result that nobody would have predicted - Portugal won. For a team that finished the tournament with three draws, third-placed in the group, and with a single win in 90 minutes but ended up lifting the trophy, this was ultimately the biggest embarrassment of the new 24-team format UEFA had introduced in this year’s tournament. Much like other sport organizations like FIFA and NFL, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the biggest reason for this 24-team format - Money. While sponsors and UEFA are happily collecting the massive revenues generated from this tournament, many must be wondering: Is this 24-team format a great thing for this championships? For start, this format creates more opportunities for 8 more teams to play in this tournament. Teams like Albania, Wales, and Northern Ireland are benefits of this new format. There are all making their debuts at this year’s tournament. But with more teams playing in Euro 1...
Post a Comment
Read more

Talent or Money?

*It has been a long time since I posted on this blog. Since this is my very first post of 2013, I wish everybody having a great year ahead in 2013! (By the way, screwed those Mayans who say that the world will end) The judging panel and host of the singing talent show The Voice (Top) and The X Factor(Below). (Top): Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Blake Sheldon and Carson Daly. (Below): L.A. Reid, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears and Simon Cowell.  Whether you are a fan of any talent show, here comes a big question for the producers. Are you guys really interested in searching a new talent or interested in making your pocket richer? On TV, I could say all of them will say the former one, but backstage I’m sure many will pick the later answer. Whether you are a fan of The Voice, American Idol, The X Factor, Got Talent or even Dancing with the Stars, there’s one fact you can't deny, that is the more frequent you turn on your TV to watch these shows, the more mon...
Post a Comment
Read more

Federer's Quest for Another Major

Roger Federer, arguably one of the best that has ever played the sport. But on Friday, Federer was shockingly knocked out by Andreas Seppi of Italy in the third round of the Australian Open. An opponent whom Federer has never lost in the previous 10 meetings. A player who has only manage to win only one single set out of the 10 matches they played together made this defeat even more miserable for Federer. Perhaps this defeat was even shocking the fact that he started off the year brightly by beating Milos Raonic, a top 10 ranked player in the world to win the Brisbane title. Despite not winning any majors in 2013, he ended the year with a great note by winning the Davis Cup, ATP titles wins in Basel and Shanghai and reaching the finals of the ATP Tour Finals. Everything seems to look great for Federer leading up to the Australian Open until the lost. The four majors are always the platform where top players bring their A game to the courts. But believe or not, losing in the...
Post a Comment
Read more