Final Exams
After three rounds of playoff action, pro hockey and pro basketball have finished the preliminary stuff and they both have their final match ups set. Each sport has eliminated the pretenders and have had their two most deserving teams emerge. Deserving because ANYBODY that survives three rounds of any playoffs in any sport thus becomes the teams that deserve to play for the championship.
In hockey, it’s the expected Chicago Blackhawks against the not necessarily expected Tampa Bay Lightning playing for the Stanley Cup.
In basketball, it’s the two teams that were supposed to be there, the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers playing for the NBA championship.
Hockey
Both teams in hockey had to survive difficult seven game series. Both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning had to win Game Seven’s on the road, and both beat strong (Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers) teams on foreign ice. In each Game Seven, the visiting teams completely throttled the home teams on their home ice.
All season, the Anaheim Ducks and the New York Rangers battled the rest of the NHL to see who would have the best record in all of hockey. At the end, the Ducks won out over the Rangers and won the “President’s Trophy,” that which is awarded to the team with the best record during the regular season. And once again, the team with the best record during the regular season did NOT win the Stanley Cup, did not even make it to the finals.
It is one of the most peculiar things in all of sports. A sport like hockey has the most intense fans in sports. The home ice advantage should mean a Game Seven match up, between two teams that are supposed to be as closely matched as two teams in the Conference finals could be, would have a decided advantage to the home team. And in both conference finals, as loud as the crowds could be, the biggest game of two teams’ year turned out to be miserable losses.
So, it’s on to the finals for the Blackhawks, who are the favorites to win the Cup at the beginning of almost every year (and they certainly were again this year), and the Lightning, who may not have been amongst the TOP favorites to make the finals, but they were definitely considered a solid team that was playoff caliber.
The Blackhawks will be favored. They’ve got the speed, the skills people, the ruggedness, the experience with winning championships (Cup champions of 2010 and 2013 with many of the same core players). They SHOULD win. But, there has to be something about any team that can survive three rounds of playoff series and to be able to win the seventh game of a series on the road. They’ve got a chance.
Basketball
In basketball, both teams that were expected to be in the finals easily ended up being there.
The Golden State Warriors had the best record in all of basketball. They were the best team in the tough Western Conference all season. They stormed through their Western Conference playoffs with very little opposition. There was never even a nervous moment for the Warriors in their three series. The same Houston Rockets that knocked off the Mavericks and the Clippers were no match for Golden State.
In the off season, the Cleveland Cavaliers got LeBron James. The only other time the Cavs had made it to the finals, they were led by a younger, LeBron James. A team led by LeBron is always in the finals. The Cleveland Cavs of this year, with an older, more experienced LeBron, made it to the finals this season. This makes the fifth straight year that a team with LeBron is representing the Eastern Conference in the finals. Having LeBron James on your team equals winning the East and being in the finals. Cleveland got LeBron, they are here. LeBron’s legacy? “Nuff said.
The Eastern Conference was extraordinarily weak this season. Cleveland had lost one of their big three players Kevin Love earlier in the playoffs and no one in the East even had enough game to make them sweat. The Atlanta Hawks had the best record in the East and they would have been lucky to even win a series in the West. and they made the Eastern finals (only to be swept by Cleveland).
This is a series that honestly can go both ways. It’s possible that LeBron can dominate the Warriors, make all of his teammates better, and the Cavs can overpower the Warriors and win the championship. They really are a team that will go just as far as their star will take them.
But, the Warriors know that fact. They know THAT they have to stop James. Will they be able to stop, or contain, the best player in basketball? The Warriors statistically had the best defensive team in basketball. They will try to do whatever it takes on defense to stop him. Will they? Can they?
Usually, the TEAM that plays best as a team is able to defeat teams that are one star and a bunch of sidekicks. The cohesive TEAM has that ability to double team the star of the other team and take a lot of the greatness of his play out of action and force someone ELSE to beat them is often able to win a series such as this one.
And the Warriors also have that capability of shooting the lights out of the arena from the outside. One of the better outside shooting teams I have seen in years. Can Cleveland, a really good defense also, stop the fast moving, excellent shooting Warrior offense?
Like most series, it’s not what the analysts say that matters, it’s what they do on the court. It has been a test for both teams so far to advance to this point. Now, the two best teams will play each other. One of the two teams will play better than the other, “pass their final exam,” and win the series. And they will deserve to be champions.
Let the finals begin.
