Three straight, going on four
As the Warriors-Cleveland Finals became official Thursday night, with Boston Celtics players trudging into the locker room wondering how they could have played three home games in the Eastern Conference finals without ever having a lead, it was a scene that characterized an entire league.
How is anyone in the East going to catch up with LeBron James and the Cavaliers? Who’s going to make that kind of headway against the Warriors in the West?
San Antonio has heard of Chris Paul’s interest, as a free agent, but it would require a major roster transition to make it fit under the salary structure. Houston needs something, although it’s difficult to pinpoint. Oklahoma City seems light years away, to use one of Joe Lacob’s favorite phrases. The Clippers will undergo a major rebuild if Paul and/or Blake Griffin departs this summer, and they’re barely a threat as it is. The Celtics need to figure out whether they should keep their No. 1 pick in the draft and/or trade Isaiah Thomas for immediate help. And so it goes, right through every potential contender.
And here’s the frightening part (although we love it around here): What’s to stop a fourth straight Finals between the Warriors and Cavaliers?
The Warriors will have their superstar core intact next season, with plans to fit Andre Iguodala into the picture. Cleveland’s top seven players — James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Channing Frye — are all signed for 2017-18.
If you find such inevitability troublesome, remember that NBA popularity was built on such matters: Knowing that Bill Russell’s Celtics would go up against the Lakers of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor; Russell against Wilt Chamberlain , on many fronts; Magic Johnson’s Lakers against Larry Bird’s Celtics. Forget parity; it never existed in the NBA, and probably never will. It’s a long wait until the Finals, but usually worthwhile. And now we have a rivalry that ranks with the very best.
Rumblings of change
If the Clippers are going to disintegrate, it begins with Marreese Speights’ decision to opt out of his deal, surely bound for a new team as an unrestricted free agent. JJ Redick’s free-agent departure seems a foregone conclusion. If Paul wants to leave $60 million on the table for the sake of winning, San Antonio looks awfully tempting. But in clearing cap space, the Spurs have to see whether Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili intend to play another season, whether it’s time to trade LaMarcus Aldridge, and whether it’s worth dispatching the likes of Pau Gasol, Patty Mills, Jonathon Simmons and/or Dewayne Dedmon to create room for Paul. Not an easy call for an aging point guard who might dominate the ball a bit more than Kawhi Leonard would prefer. Freeagent point guards Kyle Lowry and George Hill will also be worth considering ... Footnote as the Spurs and their fans honor Ginobili’s great career: The Spurs made him the 57th pick in the 1999 draft. One slot ahead of that, the Warriors drafted Tim Young, Stanford’s 7-foot center who played just one season, averaging 5.5 minutes in 25 games ... The 12-0 Warriors, if they win the championship, will own the NBA’s best postseason since the first round went to best-of-seven: San Antonio went 16-4 in 2007 ... Charles Barkley’s pick: “Cleveland. LeBron and Kyrie are gonna be even better, because they’ll be playing faster,” Barkley said Thursday night on TNT. “LeBron and Kevin Durant will cancel each other out. Same with Steph (Curry) and Kyrie. It’s gonna come down to the other guys, and you have to wonder about Klay Thompson. He’s the best two-guard in the NBA, but he’s not shooting well — because he never gets the ball. He can’t get into a good rhythm because of those other guys. LeBron’s on a mission. Cavs in six.”
People continue to grumble about ex-Giant Adam Duvall, traded to Cincinnati for pitcher Mike Leake, emerging as a topflight power hitter. The Giants just happened to catch Leake in a down year. Now with St. Louis, where he signed a five-year deal, Leake leads the National League with a 1.91 ERA, thanks in part to a new pitch (cut fastball) and a revitalized slider ... It was impossible to replace Vin Scully in the Dodgers’ broadcast booth, but they made an admirable choice in Joe Davis, who does his homework, understands the timing of storytelling and takes a solid, no-frills approach, quietly confident in his own ability. And he’s only 29 ... Bothered by pace-of-play issues in baseball? The decision-makers certainly aren’t. For all the talk about quicker pitch deliveries and keeping batters in the box — things specifically outlined in the rule book, with time limits — pitchers still take forever to unload. Hitters routinely step out. The pace has actually slowed, slightly, from last season. Do the fans really mind? It might come down to this: For television viewers at home, things can get exasperating. If you’re actually at the game, how often do you hear anyone complain about the pace?