Five Keys: Cavaliers at Warriors - Game 1

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It’d be hard to imagine the league being any happier about the Finals matchup than the one that tips off on Thursday night in Oakland, matching the league’s newly-crowned MVP against the man who’s won it four times and is still considered the game’s greatest player.

As great as Curry was during the regular season, he has been even more deadly in the playoffs – coming off a record-setting Western Conference Finals in which he drained 27 treys in a five-game set. In the first matchup with Cleveland, Curry doubled-up with 23 points and 10 assists as the Warriors pulled away to top Cleveland by 18. The two-time All-Star had a quieter night in the late-February rematch at The Q, finishing with 18 points and six helpers.

Kyrie Irving – who leads the Wine and Gold in shooting from the floor and beyond the arc – might get the start against Curry, but the Cavaliers will likely throw a committee of defenders his way throughout the series. Iman Shumpert will probably log the most time, but J.R. Smith, Matthew Dellavedova and even LeBron James will make the MVP work for everything.

The Cavaliers have figured out how to marginalize Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose and Jeff Teague through the first three rounds. Curry is a different animal, but the Wine and Gold have the bodies, system and physicality to make him work on both ends, especially if Kyrie is feeling more like his All-Star self.

For as many incredible playoff runs as LeBron James has posted over his prolific, future Hall of Fame career, his run here in 2015 might be his best.

The Cavaliers have been without Kevin Love since the second quarter of Game 4 in Boston and without Kyrie Irving through parts of the Conference Semis and Conference Finals. All LeBron has done is turn up his game to compensate for the other two-thirds of Cleveland’s big three.

Against the Hawks, LeBron nearly averaged a triple-double at 30.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 9.3 assists through the four-game sweep. LeBron was still nursing a pair of nagging injuries when the squads hooked up in Oakland, but was ready to rumble in their matchup at The Q on February 26 – leading both teams with a season-high 42 points to go with 11 boards, five assists, three steals and a block in 36 minutes of action.

Aside from his struggles from the perimeter, especially from beyond the arc (where James is shooting just 18 percent), James – now making his fifth straight trip to the NBA Finals – is still among the postseason’s top three in scoring (27.6, 3rd) and assists (8.3, 3rd) while ranking fourth with nine double-doubles.

Like the Cavaliers with Curry, the Warriors will throw everything they have at Cleveland’s 11-time All-Star – with Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala doing most of the heavy lifting. LeBron has been even more than the Cavs could’ve hoped for in the postseason, but he’ll cap the greatest run of his brilliant basketball life if he’s able to bring the title back to Northeast Ohio.

These Finals will feature possibly the two loudest arenas in the NBA – and two of the NBA’s best team at defending their loud arenas.

Golden State won a team-record 39 games at home this year -- joining the 2008-09 Cavaliers as one of just seven teams in NBA history to do so. The Warriors led the league in point-differential at home, outscoring their guests by an average of 14.6 points per victory, five points better than the second-place Spurs. Like the Cavaliers, the Warriors have dropped just one home game during the playoffs, a Game 2 loss to the Grizzlies in the Second Round.

The Wine and Gold are undaunted on the road – having won four straight playoff games and posting a 6-1 mark through the first three rounds. LeBron James often says he prefers winning on the road, and he’s already posted one buzzer-beater at Oracle Arena as a Cavalier. Cleveland went 14-1 against the Western Conference in the second half of the season, and there’s an old sports adage that says “defense travels.”

That’s good news for the Cavaliers, who come into the Finals with the postseason’s stingiest – allowing just 92.6 points per game and holding 11 of their 14 foes under the century mark. They’ve held opponents to a combined .412 from the floor (2nd among all 16 playoff teams) and just .281 from deep. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson lead the league’s top long-distance attack, but the Wine and Gold are coming off a series where they held the East’s top marksmen to 26-111 in the four-game set.

If the Cavs’ defense travels as well as it has so far, they might be able to steal a game or two before heading home from what’s certain to be a deafening arena in Oakland.

When Kevin Love went down with a left shoulder injury as the Cavs swept Boston out of the playoffs, there was genuine concern that the Wine and Gold’s title dreams would be derailed. But following a Game 1 loss to the Bulls in Cleveland, Tristan Thompson has stepped into the starting role and shined like a seasoned playoff veteran.

In his last nine games as a starter, the fourth-year forward has notched five double-doubles – averaging 11.0 points and 11.4 boards – shooting a team-best .585 from the floor and adding 1.6 blocks per contest. In five of Tristan’s last six games, he’s blocked at least two shots as the Cavaliers continue to lead all postseason teams in blocks at 6.9 per contest. Since his insertion into the starting lineup, Thompson’s been the best big on the floor – despite taking on four All-Star frontline guys in Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Al Horford and Paul Millsap.

Timofey Mozgov – the only Cavalier with playoff experience against Golden State – hasn’t made as much noise as Thompson this postseason, but he’s been rock-solid, averaging 9.1 points and 7.2 boards in the tourney. Between Tristan and Timo, the Cavs have controlled the boards through most of the postseason and are a perfect 12-0 when winning the rebound battle.

Draymond Green is an All-Defensive First Team performer and already has 10 double-doubles in the postseason, Andrew Bogut was named to the All-Defensive Second Team and David Lee is a two-time All-Star – but the Cavaliers might have the size (and nastiness) advantage against Steve Kerr’s squad in the Finals.

While the Warriors are the first team since the 1997 Utah Jazz to have zero players on the roster with NBA Finals experience, the Wine and Gold feature a half-dozen veteran who’ve made the journey – including LeBron and James Jones, making their fifth straight trip.

As the Cavaliers continue their climb through the 2015 postseason, a pair of reserves – Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova – have become household names. Thompson has owned the boards since his insertion into the starting lineup and Delly has drawn plenty of both praise and scrutiny for his no-holds-barred style of play. Both players have filled in beautifully with injuries limited Kevin Love and Kyrie.

But with each round, new storylines continue to develop. And with the Cavs facing off against the high-octane Warriors, they’ll need as much production as they can get. James Jones has been locked and loaded all season long, and the crafty defender will certainly be called upon to do more of the same against Golden State. But there’s always a chance David Blatt might need to dip even deeper into his bench – even if that means going with Shawn Marion or Kendrick Perkins for a stretch.

The playoffs, especially at this level, boil down to critical, individual possessions. Everyone in the NBA universe knows what LeBron, Kyrie, Curry and Klay can do – but so often in the Finals, it’s a little-used reserve that hits a key bucket, grabs a key board or swipes a key steal who decides which team takes home the title.

The question now becomes: Who’s it gonna be?