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Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – NBA Finals Game 4 (Cavaliers lead series 2-1)
Game Time, TV: Thursday, June 11th – 9:00 PM ET on ABC
Projected Starting Lineups:
Golden State Warriors: PG: Stephen Curry, SG: Klay Thompson, SF: Harrison Barnes, PF: Draymond Green, C: Andrew Bogut
Cleveland Cavaliers: PG: Matthew Dellavedova, SG: Iman Shumpert, SF: LeBron James, PF: Tristan Thompson, C: Timofey Mozgov
The Cleveland Cavaliers will look to place a stranglehold on their first NBA Finals in eight years when they play host again to the suddenly struggling Golden State Warriors on Thursday night.
The Cavaliers, minus both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, have shocked the world so far by taking a 2-1 edge in the NBA Finals against a Warriors team that has 67 wins during the regular season. The Cavaliers have excelled at slowing the tempo of the game down to their liking, limiting the Warriors’ transition baskets and forcing them to try to execute in a half-court offense. LeBron James has been outstanding all-around, and is single-handedly attempting to carry this beat-up, largely no-name team to their first title in team history.
However, the Warriors are not done by a long shot. Reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry has struggled mightily during the last two games before finally finding his shot near the end of Game 3. A lot of credit has to go to the Cavaliers’ Matthew Dellavedova for playing outstanding defense on Curry and not allowing him to get off anything thing easily. The Warriors are still running fantastic plays and moving the ball pretty well, but they simply are not hitting down shots they hit during the regular season.
The key matchup for this game will be Tristan Thompson vs. Draymond Green. Thompson has just abused Green on both the offensive and defensive glass, while on the other side of the floor Green has failed to really get the defense to honor his outside shot because he can’t hit anything right now. If the Warriors want to win tomorrow’s game, Green will have to knock down his outside looks and force Thompson away from the basket where he gets plenty of second-chance opportunities for his team.
Ultimately, I got the Warriors in this one. I just can’t see them dropping three straight games in a row given the season they have had. I think that their shots will finally begin falling, and that their swagger and collective confidence will skyrocket as a result. This has been an epic series so far, so what’s wrong with it going back to the Bay Area all knotted up at two games apiece?
Prediction: Warriors 107, Cavaliers 101
Dan Schultz is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.
