ABC analysts give the Cavaliers little chance
If you’re planning on enjoying the NBA Finals, don’t blink.
That’s the advice of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, who will serve as the ESPN analysts for the deja vu all over again series between the Warriors and Cavaliers.
Van Gundy, pride of Alhambra High-Martinez, and Jackson, who preceded Steve Kerr as coach of the Warriors, are leaning toward a Warriors victory in four games — only because three games is mathematically impossible.
Oddsmakers are in agreement, and have made the Cavaliers a 12-point underdog for Game 1 on Thursday night — the largest point spread for a Finals opening game since peach baskets.
Said Van Gundy, who coached 12 seasons in the NBA and will be calling his 12th NBA Finals as an analyst: “This is the biggest difference that I remember between two teams heading into the Finals in my time in the NBA. I can’t think of a bigger gap from a team perspective.”
At least none that didn’t involve the Washington Generals.
“Obviously (LeBron) James is going to have to be great, and just like the 3-point shot was a detriment to both Boston and Houston in their Game 7 defeats, I think (the Cavaliers) are going to have to be lights-out from the 3-point line to have a chance to win a game,” Van Gundy said. “A” game. One.
“I’m not going to say (the Cavaliers have) zero percent chance,” said Jackson, who got to the NBA Finals as a player with Indiana in 2000 and will be calling his 10th Finals. “They have (James), the best player in the world.”
“With that being said, Houston, the majority of the (Western Conference finals) series, they did a very good job defensively following game-plan discipline. The Warriors will make you pay the price for making mistakes. So if you are to have any chance of beating them at all, you have to make sure that defensively you’re of one accord. They are clearly the favorite, without question, but the luxury of having the best player in the world in that situation, anything can happen.”
Especially if you use your imagination.
“We’re all going to try to paint a picture of there’s a chance that Cleveland could win,” Van Gundy said. “It will be interesting to see how competitive LeBron James can make this Finals, but any game they get in this Finals would be a huge upset, to me.”
• Monday night’s Game 7 between the Warriors and Rockets attracted hordes of hoops-loving fans to TNT. According to the cable network, the game averaged 14.8 million viewers, making it the secondmost watched NBA game in cable TV history and the most watched NBA game of the season.
The game peaked with 14.8 million viewers. It was the top-rated program across all of television (cable and broadcast) over Memorial Day weekend.
Overall, TNT’s coverage of the Western Conference finals averaged 9.4 million viewers, up 51 percent over last year’s Eastern Conference finals (Cavaliers-Celtics) on TNT and an increase of 45 percent over the numbers produced by the 2017 West finals (Warriors-Spurs).
The NBA Finals will be carried exclusively by ABC.