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5 People To Blame For Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2015 NBA Finals Defeat

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People To Blame For Cleveland Cavaliers' 2015 NBA Finals Defeat

LeBron James 2015 NBA Finals Cleveland Cavaliers
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LeBron James admitted recently that he was in a "funk" after losing in the NBA Finals for the fourth time out of six tries, and there were a lot of reasons his Cleveland Cavaliers fell short this year. They will get another shot next season barring immense improvement from the Chicago Bulls or Washington Wizards, but they still have many things to improve on in the 2015-16 campaign. Here are the men who stood in the Cavaliers' path.

5. David Blatt

David Blatt Cleveland Cavaliers
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5. David Blatt

David Blatt Cleveland Cavaliers
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Is it too early to start throwing heat at David Blatt? I don't think so. It is still a mystery to me that Timofey Mozgov only got nine minutes during Game 5 of the NBA Finals after dropping 28 points the game before. Even if Blatt was (stupidly) choosing to go small for most of the match, couldn't he get the big man some more minutes backing up Tristan Thompson just to see if Mozgov's game was there on offense again?

4. Klay Thompson

Golden State Warriors Klay Thompson Game 3 2015 NBA Finals
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

4. Klay Thompson

Golden State Warriors Klay Thompson Game 3 2015 NBA Finals
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Klay Thompson didn't have the statistical impact of Andre Iguodala or Stephen Curry, but unintentionally breaking Kyrie Irving's kneecap obviously had an effect on the NBA Finals. Losing Irving for the final five games of that series shifted the dynamic of how LeBron James and the Cavs had to attack. If LeBron had been able to rest a bit on the bench while Irving created his own offense for 10 minutes per game, it would've changed things.

3. J.R. Smith

J.R. Smith
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3. J.R. Smith

J.R. Smith
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J.R. Smith needed to be a reliable scoring threat for the Cavaliers to have a shot at winning, and he wasn't able to achieve that. It would've been good to see Smith arrive at games on something other than a hoverboard, but his lack of production on the court was more concerning and ultimately doomed the Cavs.

2. Andre Iguodala

2015 NBA Finals - Game Six
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2. Andre Iguodala

2015 NBA Finals - Game Six
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You knew the NBA Finals MVP had to make this list. The series went in the Warriors' favor once Steve Kerr listened to a 28-year-old and started Iggy over Andrew Bogut. Iguodala has long been underrated when it comes to casual NBA fans, but that finally changed this year after he helped slow down the league's best player en route to a championship.

1. Kelly Olynyk

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game Four
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1. Kelly Olynyk

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game Four
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I never blamed Kevin Love for being ticked at Kelly Olynyk after the separated shoulder incident that happened when the Cavs played in the first round against the Boston Celtics. Love deserved to be angry after being knocked out of his only postseason appearance, and the NBA Finals would've been far more competitive if LeBron had extra floor spacing and firepower to work with. Love will hopefully re-sign, and that might give us all a rematch.

Dave Daniels is a writer for RantSports.
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