The NBA Finals — Cavaliers-Warriors Part IV — tip off Thursday. But in the opinion of Jeff Van Gundy, who will broadcast the series for ABC, it’s going to be as lopsided a Finals beating as he ever has seen, and he thinks Cleveland will be lucky to avoid a sweep.
“We’re all going to try to paint a picture of there’s a chance that Cleveland could win. And when you get to the Finals, that’s really, really hard to picture in your own mind how a team could win. It’s a letdown to me,” Van Gundy said. “Houston wasn’t just one half away from advancing to the Finals: They were one half away from winning a championship.
“So it will be interesting to see how competitive LeBron James can make this Finals. But any game [the Cavaliers] get in this Finals would be a huge upset, to me.”
Van Gundy will join Mark Jackson, Mike Breen and Doris Burke in broadcasting the Finals, which could well be the toughest test James ever has faced.
“I’m not going to say zero percent chance,” Jackson said on a conference call. “They have the best player in the world.”
So, maybe not zero chance. But damn small.
Even with King James’ brilliance, Las Vegas has Cleveland’s odds at 11-2,
. It’s hard to make a convincing case for Cleveland, and both analysts said the Cavs would need to be nearly perfect to win even one game.
Slower players will get victimized by Stephen Curry if they switch on pick-and-rolls, as the Rockets’ Ryan Anderson was while finishing minus-12 in just eight minutes Monday during Golden State’s win in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.
Any lack of lateral quickness will get punished on rotations.
The Cavaliers will have to get red-hot while shooting from behind the 3-point arc.
And that all assumes James continues his Superman act.
Then do that four times. That’s the task at hand against a star-studded Warriors lineup that has gone over the top since adding Kevin Durant last season.
Jeff Van GundyGetty Images“I always laughed at the strength-in-numbers [mantra]. I always said ‘strength in stars,’” Van Gundy said. “You know, their star quality has always been terrific, and when they added Durant, it came off the chart.
“Obviously James is going to have to be great. And … they’re going to have to be lights-out from the 3-point line to have a chance to win a game. … This is the biggest difference that I remember between two teams heading into the Finals in my time in the NBA. I can’t think of a bigger gap.”
With nearly three decades in the league, Van Gundy even weighed in on the GOAT debate of James versus Michael Jordan, with the former Knicks coach casting his vote for a third name.
“To me, there’s two different questions within that: Who would you take to win one game, quote, the best player that you’ve ever seen? And who has carved out the best career?” Van Gundy said. “As far as LeBron James, to me, he’s on his way to carving out the very best career that’s ever happened in the NBA. Right now I think the very best career that’s ever happened in the NBA is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“I think everybody would agree Kareem was impossible to defend. And then Jordan. … I know people talk numbers, but if you actually saw him and the rules were so much better for the defense back then, how much contact, how much lesser shooting was on the floor so there wasn’t as much space. I have no doubts he was the best individual offensive player from the perimeter position that I’ve ever seen and I think ever will see.”
