NBA Finals Implications
I’ve watched an unhealthy amount of basketball in my short time on earth. High school ball, College, and most of all NBA. There have been brawls, offensive clinics, defensive showstoppers, thunderous dunks, wild shot-making, and game-winners. I can honestly say what is happening with the Warriors and Cavs in the NBA Finals is some of the most entertaining and fascinating basketball I’ve seen. Not because there is amazing basketball being played, because for stretches of time both teams have played like crap.
There haven’t been any game-winners, for the most part there hasn’t been an incredibly impressive offensive scheme from either side, and there have’t been any big fights. From a basketball perspective it has been a seemingly pretty familiar NBA Finals. Superstars have had a game here and there where they make up for their team’s lackluster offensive possessions and some incredible singular plays here and there. I haven’t seen an NBA Finals with this many odd variables in it before, some over-covered, and some weirdly under-discussed topics. Many of these have both short and long-term implications.
Harrison Barnes
For all the crap Kevin Love is getting, deservedly so, Harrison Barnes is a dude expecting a max contract this summer. He’s also a dude who is playing terrible basketball on the biggest stage. The thing about the Barnes NBA Finals performance isn’t that it’s in the NBA Finals. It’s that he is literally the 4th offensive option behind Steph, Klay, and Draymond; and yet he was still held scoreless in game 6.
Maybe that shouldn’t matter. But if you get significantly worse from the regular season to the playoffs, that should mean something.
Barnes’ Regular Season vs. Playoffs Scoring (2015–16) | PointAfter
You know what else should matter? If you are surrounded by one of the most talented teams ever and your PER is ranked 236th out of 350 qualified players, and one of the worst on your own team.
Golden State Warriors’ 2015–16 PER Rankings | PointAfter
Lets just say for a moment that we don’t care about those statistics and there are other ways to measure his performance besides those specific statistics. Have a look at his simplistic stats in the playoffs.
Still not great.
I get it though. Kevin Love is easier to trash because he’s part of the Cavs big three. Lets just not forget how wild it is that the salary cap is going to be going so insane this summer that a guy performing as bad on a big stage as Harrison Barnes is going to get a massive contract. More than that, he’ll likely go from being a team’s fourth option to being a team’s first or second option on offense. (I’m sorry Lakers fans.)
LeBron James
I’m not going to go on and on about LeBron. I get hate about my LeBron love, even from those closest to home somehow.
Part of me thought the LeBron train was coming to a stop. Year 13. Has almost 47,000 career minutes. Has been to 7 NBA Finals. Yes, I realize he has a losing record in NBA Finals series. Most of you just glossed over the fact he has been to 7 NBA finals. Look at his stats in his NBA Finals Series.
AVERAGE PER GAMEYEARGAMES PLAYEDPOINTSREBOUNDSASSISTSGAME SCORE2016630.211.38.528.22012528.610.27.425.92015635.813.38.825.62014528.27.84.025.32013725.310.97.024.42011617.87.26.815.62007422.07.06.812.4LeBron’s 2016 stats for games played in the NBA Finals are his best (Game Score has been adjusted to a pace of 100 possessions per game — SOURCE: BASKETBALL-REFERENCE.COM)
You could argue he outplayed both expectations and his team’s potential in 6 out of the 7 finals appearances. Fivethirtyeight made that argument last year, with the exception of 2011, LeBron has highly over-performed with what he has had, especially in the years that he lost.
Here is another great statistics comparison from fivethirtyeight:
All I’m saying is LeBron’s finals record isn’t great, duh, but that shouldn’t be the first thing we bring up when discussing how good James has been. We should talk about what the stats say, because stats aren’t bias; and according to the stats this year’s finals has only added to LeBron’s amazing legacy as one of the best players of all time.
All-Time Twitter Series
There are other important implications with players and their future’s relating to contracts and legacy. But there is something incredibly unimportant we have to talk about and that is how much fun Twitter was during game 6.
I think we reached the peak of the evening with Steph throwing his mouthpiece and accidentally, or was it, hitting a fan with hit after being called for his 6th foul.
It only got better after his wife implied that the NBA Finals were rigged, and then deleted the tweet later on.
There were other fantastic moments, including LeBron’s block of Curry:
And then some surely colorful trash talk that I have yet to figure out what he says despite watching this on a loop for 7 hours.
The NBA Finals have provided some truly amazing discussions. LeBron and Steph’s legacy, Harrison Barnes and his future, Kevin Love trade rumors, the immature and foolish discussion that the NBA IS RIGGED, Klay’s greatness, and so much more. It really has been fun, and we can only hope for future NBA Finals to provide the same level of interest and fascination.
