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Stopping Steph  

As good as Stephen Curry has been during the regular season, he has cranked it up a notch in the postseason.

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Curry was on fire in the Western Conference Finals where he knocked down a record 27 three-point baskets in a five-game set.

David Blatt said this week that defending Curry will take a “team effort.”

Expect the Cavs to guard Curry by committee throughout the series. Iman Shumpert will most likely see the most minutes on the league MVP, but J.R. Smith, Mathew Dellavedova and LeBron James will all do their part to try and slow the point guard down.

King of the Court

An NBA general manager told me that there is only one player in this entire series that can go to the basket and score whenever they want.

That player is LeBron James and when you have that advantage on your team, you will always have a chance to win.

LeBron is coming off an Eastern Conference Finals where he averaged a near triple double: 30.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, 9.3 assists per game.

No other player in league history has averaged at least 30.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists in a playoff series.

In fact, LeBron is the first player in NBA history to enter the finals with a playoff average of at least 27 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

The only time LeBron faced the warriors this year back in February when he hit for a season-high 42 points.

Like Curry, the warriors will try to throw a number of different defenders at the king and hope to slow him down.

Harrison Barnes and Dreymon Green are most likely to see the most time on LeBron.

Road Warriors

If you want to win an NBA championship you ultimately have to win on the road.  The Cavaliers do not own the home court advantage in this series, but they have been very good on the road in the post-season.

The Cavaliers and Warriors have each dropped just one game at home in the post-season.

The wine and gold are 6-1 on the road, including a four-game winning streak.

The Cavs closed out two series on the road in Boston and Chicago. Cleveland also won 14 of their last 15 games against the Western Conference.

Stealing one of the first two games at crazy Oracle Arena would set the wine and gold on a winning path in this series.

Glass Work

The Cavaliers are a perfect 12-0 this post season when tying or out-rebounding their opponent. Cleveland is averaging a +6.6 edge on the glass, which is tops among all NBA postseason teams.

Tristan Thompson is a huge reason why.

In his first career post-season Thompson is averaging 9.9 rebounds and 9.4 points per game.

As a starter this postseason, Thompson has stacked up five double-doubles over his last nine games, averaging 11.0 points and 11.4 rebounds.

Kiss the Ring

The NBA finals stage is the brightest and biggest one that any NBA player will face. The Cavaliers have nine championship rings on their roster and that is experience that becomes invaluable when you are playing for a world championship.

The warriors are the first team in NBA history to reach the NBA Finals without a single player on its roster having finals experience.

The bright lights bring out the best players and LeBron is at his best on the big stage.

From: WEWS.com