LeBron says has beaten stacked teams like Warriors before

Using his regular season percentages and taking into account the openness of his shots in the Finals, we would have expected Barnes to make 40.2 percent of his 3-pointers.

On Bay Area Sports Insiders, Courtney Cronin, Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson discussed Durant’s greatest attributions this season, how the Warriors will look to him to replicate the Game 3 performances he had versus Utah and San Antonio and which Golden State player could be responsible for swinging a game in the Finals.

If it were a best-of-three, a best-of-five, or a best-of-seven, all the marbles now are up for grabs in their much-anticipated rematch. Because both teams have been so dominant, we tend to over-analyze those games in which Cleveland could’ve lost or actually did. “We knew they’d be right there”.

The Warriors are using Durant the way he envisioned, but Lue has noticed changes in the All-Star. This is like Ali-Frazier III – two champions slugging it out with no tricks left in the bag. In fact, one of the oddsmakers has the Warriors listed as 7-to-1 favorites to sweep the entire series. The Warriors then stunned the league in the offseason by adding 2014 MVP Kevin Durant. “When you’re doing that, things you go over every day, end-of-game plays and things like that, either they work or they don’t”.

There’s a four-headed, shot-making, scoreboard-breaking monster out West awaiting LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

There is some truth to both arguments, but the fact of the matter is these teams aren’t nearly as bad as they’re perceived to be after LeBron gets through with them and he deserves credit for such consistent and interminable dominance that doesn’t appear to be reaching its climax anytime soon.

This list examines eight factors which will decide the series. Will it help us forget the snorefest we have endured in the last couple of months?

The pressure is going to be on Kevin Durant all series long. James and Curry both lead their teams, as seen throughout this season and past seasons as well.

Here are the eight biggest keys to the NBA Finals.

The games in Golden State should be fascinating in this regard. He allows the Warriors to play small as Green can even guard centers despite being listed at just 6-foot-7, 230 pounds.

James referred to the Warriors as only “that juggernaut” and “a beast” following Thursday’s Game 5 in at Boston, a night in which he passed Michael Jordan as the career post-season scoring leader.

Curry is the lone weak link for the Warriors on defense – at least on their crunch-time lineup, affectionately dubbed the “Hamptons 5” by the Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami. Those guys are going to challenge me, they’re going to challenge our ballclub …[Durant’s] one of the most risky guys we have in the world already. Wearing Curry down defensively – and with physicality on offense – also badly diminishes what he can do when the Warriors have the ball. Green (+750) is the Finals MVP. He’ll have the Cavs ready, and they can also count on him to keep them relaxed. The Lakers and Celtics seemed to always meet in the Finals but never three years in a row. Boston is still a few steps away from challenging Cleveland, let alone the Warriors in the Finals, and patience will be key.Draymond Green just doesn’t see the logic: How could three straight NBA Finals between Golden State and Cleveland possibly be boring?