A journalism major at Ohio State University, Bryan is in his first season with Sports Grumblings, bringing his love of sports to SG's basketball, minor league baseball, and, once finals are out of the way, golf coverage. For those in the Ohio State area, Bryan can be heard regularly on OSU radios sport talk show, Bux on Bux.
Can the King carry the Cavs to a first or will Tim claim another crown?
When the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first-ever Eastern Conference title last Saturday night with a 98-82 win over the Detroit Pistons, the Cavs partied like rock stars. Bill Russell presented the Eastern Conference trophy, LeBron James was close to tears, and Quicken Loans Arena resembled the fabled Boston Garden. When the San Antonio Spurs won yet another Western Conference championship title earlier in the week, however, the mood was one of restrained jubilation, just another day at the office for the Spurs, another trophy to notch onto the old belt. San Antonio knows that dynasties aren't conference titles, and they'll have to go through a young, spunky Cavs teams trying to add their own niche in NBA history. Like LeBron today, Michael Jordan had to dethrone Detroit nearly 20 years earlier, in route to six NBA titles, and in the process staking his claim as the game's greatest player. Jordan won that first title in 1991 at the expense of the Los Angeles Lakers, thus ending their 12-year run of NBA dominance. LeBron and company will have to overcome such a great squad before they can claim the Larry O'Brien trophy.
The Cavs made it to the final round by winning 50 games in the regular season for the second consecutive year. They beat a depleted Washington Wizards (they did not have the services of all-star Gilbert Arenas due to injury) team in four games, knocked off the hot New Jersey Nets in six, and then had their best series in team history. Cleveland exercised the demons of 2006, when they overcame an 0-2 deficit by winning three straight against Detroit in the divisional round, only to fall at home in game six, then falling apart near the end of game seven in Motown. It appeared it would be the same story this year, as Detroit won the first two games 79-76, only to have the Cavs respond with a pair of wins on their own court. It was the fifth game of the series that turned this Cleveland team from a playoff pretender to a title contender. Throughout the game, Cleveland went blow-for-blow with the physical Pistons, and never let themselves get fazed by the buzzing Palace crowd. Down 91-89 in the waning seconds, LeBron didn't pass, but took it to the rack against four Pistons to take the game to overtime. LeBron and the Cavs did not back down in overtime, and finally pulled away to win an historic game in the second overtime. All told, James finished with 48 points, scoring 29 of the last 30 Cleveland points. Game Six was simply a coronation for the Cavs and their arrival as the new conference champ. LeBron was great again, but had an improved supporting cast to pull away from the fading Pistons. The most notable performance was by rookie guard Daniel Gibson. The first-year stud from Texas had a career-high 31 points, including going 5-for-5 from three-point land. His 15 fourth quarter points paced his team, and left Detroit and the Cleveland crowd breathless. For the first time in their 37-year history, the Cavs are heading to the finals.
For the fourth time in the last nine years, the Spurs won the west and will fight for a fourth NBA championship, the third of this decade. This title would match them with the Lakers for the most won this decade (LA won three straight from 2000-02). That one title in 1999, however, would give the Spurs the most championships since Jordan's Bulls disbanded after the 1998 season, making them the best team since that time. The Spurs made it this far after winning 58 regular season games, good for the second seed in the conference. San Antonio quickly disbanded the duo of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson's Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round. The second round pitted arguably the best two teams in the league in the Spurs and the Phoenix Suns. In one of the most brutal series to date, the Spurs outplayed the Suns from the defensive end, winning the last two games, denying Steve Nash and the Suns a chance at the finals yet again. Waiting in the wings in the championship round was the Utah Jazz, a young, up and coming team with stars like Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. The Spurs won another lopsided series in five games, and did so in businesslike fashion. San Antonio now looks to be crowned as the kings of this decade, but first have to defeat "King" James to do so.
Stopping Tony Parker is one of the keys to victory for the Cavs.
Keys for Cleveland: The big difference between this year’s Cavs and the '06 squad is that this year’s team had the confidence in themselves to win the east. It showed at pivotal moments in the Detroit series (especially in Game Five), as Cleveland came of age and played their best ball in the LeBron era. But, as LeBron acknowledged in his press conference following Game Six, Cleveland will need to elevate their game even higher to play with San Antonio. The can not afford to fall behind 0-2 in this series, or San Antonio will bury them in four or five games. The Cavs must find a way to stop Spurs guard Tony Parker, who is playing the best basketball of his young career. Damon Gibson and company will be called upon to mirror Parker's every move, and disallow him the chance to start fast breaks and transition points. The Cavs also must contain Tim Duncan, especially in the rebounding category. Duncan is the only significant rebounder on the team, and if the Cavs’ Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden can out-rebound Duncan, Cleveland will have a much better chance to win the series. Cleveland also must stop the bench of San Antonio, which may be the best in the league. Guard Manu Ginobili is in his prime, as his speed gives way to easy lay ups and many shots from the charity stripe. Add in veterans Michael Finley and shooting studs Brent Barry and "Big Shot Bob" Robert Horry, and San Antonio gives Cleveland an array of issues from off the bench. Cleveland should trade big scoring nights from Duncan in return for more attention on rebounding, Parker, Ginobili, and the lethal shooters from San Antonio's bench. On offense, the easy answer is LeBron. James is averaging over 27 points per game thus far this post season (Cleveland is 12-4 in the playoffs), the number being elevated by his monstrous game five against Detroit. Besides his scoring, James has been more important to his team with his tenacity and energetic play. While his scoring may not always be there (he shot only 3-for-11 Saturday night), James has improved on his passing, rebounding, and defense. His season-long mentoring of Gooden and Gibson has led to both players being ready for this series, and to take the scoring load off of James. Both need to be efficient, both on offense and defense, to win the series. Fellow guard Larry Hughes needs to make an impact on scoring, and can't let himself be a liability of defense. If he does either, the Spurs will make him pay. Reserve Donyell Marshall is the equivalent of the Spurs’ Horry, who needs to make momentum-changing threes to help Cleveland get through rough stretches and add on to big Cleveland runs. Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic are the "X" factors for the Cavs. These two are the scrappy, feisty players who are the underbelly of the team. Their tenacity will give them and edge in attitude and defensive presence, which could lead to an upset if these two play up to their ability. Overall, the offense comes back to James, and if he plays at the level in which he did in the last four games of the Pistons series, Cleveland can indeed bring home the cities first championship since 1964.
Key to San Antonio's victory - stopping this guy. Yeah, good luck with that.
Keys for San Antonio: Under coach Gregg Popovich, San Antonio has become the model franchise in the NBA, the poster boys for success. In their three previous finals, the Spurs beat three very different teams but always came out on top. In 1999, San Antonio beat the eighth seeded Cinderella New York Knicks in five defensive-oriented games, the last coming in New York, with Avery Johnson hitting the game-winning shot. In 2003, the Spurs slowed down and out-scored the fast-paced New Jersey Nets, containing point guard Jason Kidd and running mates Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin. In 2005, the Spurs were underdogs for the first time against the defending NBA champion Pistons. The Spurs downed Detroit in a classic seven game series, culminating with Duncan winning his third finals MVP award. This will be the first finals where the Spurs face a super star in James, who will try to follow 2003 draft classmate Dwayne Wade with an NBA title after Wade led the Heat to their first championship last season. To stop him, the Spurs will showcase their defensive ace Bruce Bowen. Despite being nearly 36 years old, Bowen still has the speed and skills to keep up with the NBA's premier players, and will have to be at his best to stop multi-faceted James. San Antonio knows, however, that they can't completely stop James, but can only hope to contain him but limiting his assists and rebounds. The Cavs role players play a huge role in this series. The Spurs also can't allow Gibson or Marshall to get hot from the outside, which would force Cleveland to look inside to "Z" and Gooden. Duncan will have to win the rebound battle, and will need help from Finely to create second-change opportunities. The key comes down the guard play of Parker and Ginobili. When these two are in sync, they are the best guard combo in the business. They are more consistent then the duo of Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton, and are better shooters. If they can successfully run their transition game early and often, they will have the inside balance of Duncan to seize their fourth NBA title. The other key factor is Horry. The man with six NBA titles always plays his best on the game's brightest stage, and will have one crazy game to carry San Antonio to a win.
The skinny: While he is still young, LeBron is already making it difficult to bet against, just like MJ a decade earlier. LeBron and his mates already have the confidence to win it, and have finally found another guard in Gibson to team up with James. Cleveland will need to play at its highest level for each game to compete with the most complete team in the game. They do this and even more, winning the series in a seven game classic that signals the end of the Spurs dynasty, and the start of LeBron's.
A journalism major at Ohio State University, Bryan is in his first season with Sports Grumblings, bringing his love of sports to SG's basketball, minor league baseball, and, once finals are out of the way, golf coverage. For those in the Ohio State area, Bryan can be heard regularly on OSU radios sport talk show, Bux on Bux. 
