Cleveland Cavaliers

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An extremely satisfying NBA Championship run by the Warriors

Your 2017 NBA champs! (AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The narrative says that Warriors fans are spoiled. Even though a good portion of these fans have been through some ugly years for the past two decades, we are reaping the benefits of one of the greatest chapters in NBA history.

These Warriors pulled off the most impressive playoff run in history. They defeated a great team with arguably the greatest player of all time. Of course the Warriors are also stacked with talent themselves.

You can argue about how the Warriors were a shoo-in for the title after signing Kevin Durant. But that’s not the narrative. It’s not even about avenging the 3-1 collapse from last year (and the following memes).

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Don’t be foolish and blame the Warriors’ Game 4 loss on the officials

Referee John Goble and Draymond Green discuss the confusion of the technical foul calls. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

We can all agree that last night’s NBA Finals game was some of the worst officiating in recent memory.

There were the confusing technical foul assessments that nobody knew about. There was also LeBron James and Kevin Durant being allowed to jaw at each other for way longer than they should have. There was also the confusion of Zaza Pachulia and if he did take a swipe at J.R. Smith’s crotch. There was also the seemingly insane amount of foul calls that leaned toward the Cavaliers’ side early on.

It was bad.

But that is not why the Warriors lost.

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Warriors played a game for the ages

It was a weird feeling watching that final fourth quarter unfold during Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

I was sitting in my living room having a bunch of friends over to watch the game. One of them was a Cleveland native. The others were all for Los Angeles who were Lakers fans. I didn’t really care much about how they felt.

But it took me back as the game went back and forth and the Warriors lost their lead. I had a flashback to all the early years of my fandom of the Warriors and how a deficit would devastate me. That the end was inevitable and the Warriors had no chance of coming back.

That could have derailed me. But I also had a sense of calm.

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I am totally OK with the Warriors and Cavaliers resting players on nationally televised games

Here we go again.

Last Saturday during a nationally televised broadcast, the Warriors rested their key star players because they were wrapping up a brutal road trip. Last night, the Cavaliers were also on a long road trip and decided to rest star players.

And for the second week in a row, the ABC broadcast team complained. They called the Cavaliers “an absolute joke” for this. But I have to ask the question: Why are they so upset over this?

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Warriors losing the NBA Finals hurts but that’s the unpredictability of sports

The Golden State Warriors had everything in place for them to win the NBA Finals. They had the all-time record. They had the unanimous MVP. They survived the Thunder. Everything pointed out to them winning the championship again.

But  they didn’t.

This is what makes sports so interesting. The Cleveland Cavaliers were poised to write their own history and against all odds, won the final three games to take that title. The city of Cleveland, a city I have visited and enjoyed, deserve a champion and I am glad that they get to celebrate. It sucks that they did it on behalf of my team, but the Warriors had their chance and lost.

It can be said that the league was under some conspiracy to suspend Draymond Green for Game 5 and have some sketchy officiating for Game 6. Regardless, the Warriors are better than that. They played well enough to win Game 7 but the Cavaliers matched them.

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Here is the problem with the Draymond Green suspension

When the NBA handed Draymond Green a one-game suspension for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, I was baffled by the decision. This is the accumulation of four flagrant fouls, which the league deemed was worthy after what happened above.

The officials didn’t rule it that way during the game and it only came after nearly two days of reviewing.

“The cumulative points system is designed to deter flagrant fouls in our game,” NBA Vice President of Basketball Operations Kiki VanDeWeghe said in statement. “While Draymond Green’s actions in Game 4 do not merit a suspension as a standalone act, the number of flagrant points he has earned triggers a suspension for Game 5.”

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LeBron James rips the sleeves off his jersey and instantly becomes a hero to all

Adidas’ sleeved jerseys are stupid. We awaited the day that LeBron James, who had complained about it before, would do something about it.

He did.

Even though he did say that he ripped out of frustration, the message is still loud and clear. The sleeves suck.

 

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Attending Game 1 of the NBA Finals to watch the Warriors was a dream come true for me

My favorite photo I took last night.

My favorite photo I took last night.As a Warriors fan since the first time I picked up a basketball as a little kid, I have always loved basketball. It was my first passion in sports and the Warriors were my team. Attending Game 1 of the NBA Finals — a dream I thought might never happen — happened. I knew that this was a game I had to attend. Because I live in LA now, making it out to one game was a task in itself and the timing just worked out perfectly. For me, attending this first game was what I wanted. And it lived up to it.

This was reportedly the most expensive Game 1 ticket in NBA history. It was. I paid a lot of money to get my ticket. But I was willing to sacrifice about a week’s worth of a paycheck to be at the game. My friends and I hopped on BART at around 3:30pm to get to Oracle. It was a nice ride to the arena without the worry of parking or anything.

The buzz was exciting just outside the arena. People were taking pictures with the NBA Finals backdrop and there was just this excitement. They opened the doors up at 4pm and I decided to go in with my friends. Because I got in real early, it wasn’t really that packed early. The atmosphere, the electricity was ready to burst. I was so excited to just be in the environment and celebrate the Warriors and their magical journey.

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The NBA Finals patch for the Warriors, Cavs jerseys might look like this

New shirt available at the Warriors’ online store.

Since the NBA designated their logo to the back of the jerseys for this season, some have wondered if the NBA Finals patch will also be placed on the back. In years past, the NBA Finals patch has been placed in the front of the jersey. Last year, they combined both the NBA logo and the NBA Finals patch together into one.

So this year, with the NBA logo above the player name, the NBA appears to have decided to keep the NBA Finals logo on the front of the jersey.

If shirt jerseys (shirseys) are any indication, the NBA Finals patch will look like the above. Instead of a gold patch, it’s the wordmark for the NBA Finals and the NBA logo. It’s very minimal and it’s a first in my memory that they are using the script of “The Finals” as the patch for the championship round. Additionally, it doesn’t feature any gold or the image of the championship trophy.

It’s different but it makes sense. For the championship round, you want the photos and videos of the games to be distinguishable from other games from the season. Having the patch on the back of the jersey limits the visibility. But keeping it in front works well. So if this is what the NBA is doing, it’s a smart move. The patch could have been bigger or featured some gold (or even the Larry O’Brien Trophy), but I have no issue with this design. Simple works for me.

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Cavaliers fan tries to prove that Derrick Rose’s game-winning shot should not have counted

One of the best things about Twitter is reading tweets from fans who have conspiracy theories or can’t accept reality. Following Derrick Rose’s game-winner against the Cavs, I saw this tweet from a Cavs fan trying to prove that the inbound took too long. I found this very funny.

Of course, the first mistake here was that the timer started when the whistle blew, not when the inbounder received the ball. Clearly this fan doesn’t know the rules. The whistle only means that the game is resuming, not to start the clock.

Also, the five-second rule can’t be precise. It actually is on the discretion of the referee who is making the count. And if you look at the referee, he is at about 4.75 (give or take) in his count.

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