Do the Golden State Warriors deserve to be in the NBA finals – or have they moved too far away from their own identity thanks to Kevin Durant? Does LeBron James play the best playoffs of all time and is his supporting cast with the Cleveland Cavaliers possibly being done wrong? And who will be Finals MVP? SPOX editors Ole Frerks and Thorben Rybarczik discuss with DAZN commentator Alex Schlüter and FIVE editor-in-chief Andre Voigt. DAZN broadcasts the complete final series live and on demand.
Andre Voigt: I can’t quite understand how this opinion can be expressed, it’s almost ridiculous for me. Chris Paul’s injury is tragic, of course – but on the other hand, Andre Iguodala was also an important player missing. And it is by no means the case that the Warriors Chris Paul stepped out of the game, there was no Sergio Ramos on the field. You beat the Rockets athletically. Period. Something else is not possible in a best-of-seven series, but there is this system to avoid undeserved winners.
Ole Frerks: I don’t really think this outweighs Iguodala – Iggy is of course very important, but in the pecking order of the Warriors it is only fifth behind four All-Stars and two MVPs. CP3 has been the second most important player in Houston, perhaps even the most important player in this series; games 4 and 5 were won by Houston to a large extent because of him. Apart from that, of course you’re right: Golden State is the better team in sports and therefore deserves to be in the finals.
Thorben Rybarczik: Overall, the Warriors scored the Rockets with over 70 points, so I see them as the better team. Another aspect that is often taken into account is that the Warriors would have played much nicer and more dominant last year – so what? You have to look at these playoffs separately from what happened last year, it doesn’t matter. And then one simply has to say that they have delivered in the decisive moments and are therefore the deserved winner.
Alex Schlüter: I see it like you, but I still think it’s good that we’re talking about it, because such opinions have appeared several times on the net: Namely, that we didn’t see the typical Warriors basketball this year. But as you say, Thorben, that should not be compared. This year counts. What’s more, they still showed what they can do at regular intervals, especially in the third quarter. They were by far the best team in the league. About Paul: I think the Warriors would have won Game 7 if he had played. Even without CP3, the “remaining” squad still performed so well that it was a fair duel at eye level.
Rybarczik: Eric Gordon, among others, successfully jumped into the breach for Paul. He said after game 7 that the Rockets would have reached the finals if CP3 had been on the court.
Voigt: Such statements are certainly due to the frustration after the game. If he’s slept on it a few times, he might see it more differentiated. And you also have to ask yourself why Paul has any muscular injuries at all. This may be because Houston played with a six and a half player rotation and he was so overworked at the end of the game.
Schlüter: Right, Dre. In general, I find it silly to diminish the performance of the warriors just because opponents get hurt – they can’t help it. Apart from the injury of Kawhi Leonard in the 2017 West Finals, in which Zaza Pachulia was not completely uninvolved, she should not be blamed or therefore “downgrade” the Championships. Injuries have always existed.
Frerks: You certainly don’t have to downgrade titles. Somewhere in the Warriors class it speaks for itself that even in the Conference Finals against such a strong team as Houston they can perform listlessly, unfocused and without intensity (has anyone seen the rebound work in Game 7?) and still win at the end, because they do these freaky runs. But I still think it’s important to mention that the Rockets had a real chance and that they also presented Golden State with massive problems. I don’t want to speculate about Game 7 because we just can’t know how CP3 would have changed the game. That, in turn, remains a damn pity – I would simply have liked to have seen it.
Page 1: The Warriors stand undeserved in the NBA Finals
Page 2: Because of Durant the Warriors have lost their identity
Page 3: The Supporting Cast of the Cavaliers comes off too badly
Page 4: LeBron plays the best individual playoffs of all time
Page 5: My tip for the series (including finals MVP) is…