Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC the NBA Finals will finally be underway, pitting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors in a Game 1 that can be live streamed free by clicking this link. Cavaliers fans can listen to the radio broadcast on WTAM 1100 while Warriors fans may do likewise on KNBR 680.
LeBron James is the focus of any team that has to face the Cavaliers, but James will not be able to will his team past the NBA's best all alone. He will need help from point guard Kyrie Irving, who has admitted he will not be 100 percent ahead of Game 1.
"It's an adjustment, but it's what it is at this point," Irving said. "But I'm just going to go out there and will myself to play."
Cleveland won't have the raucous home crowd behind them to start the series that they've had throughout the Eastern Conference slate, although James' vast postseason experience has him fully prepared for Oracle Arena's noise.
"I've been in so many loud arenas. This is going to be one of them," James said. "I've played in OKC in the (2012) finals to start off the series. I've played in Boston. I've played in Detroit when they were in their heyday. I've played in Chicago in 2011 to open up the Eastern Conference finals. I've played in San Antonio."
Stephen Curry, and Golden State's myriad 3-point snipers will be more of a factor than the Warriors' fans. They've attempted 455 3-pointers, third most in this postseason, and connected on 38 percent of them. Curry has hit 44.3 percent of his deep tries on 8.1 attempts per game.
The Cavaliers have no clear option to guard him. They'll be expected to begin with Iman Shumpert, but no matter what the Warriors will try to expose the hobbled Irving on defense, since he is no stellar defender to begin with.
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