If Friday’s Raptors dismissal is any indication of what the NBA Finals will be like this year for the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James has reason to smile. While crushing Toronto 113-87 and achieving their second consecutive Finals berth, the Cavaliers got huge offensive production from Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. The two combined for 50 points making the Big 3’s total 88 (James had 33).
James’ smile comes because he is one of the greatest team players of all time, a distribute-first instinct dominating his basketball mentality. The problem with last year’s NBA Finals for the Cavaliers, of course, was that James hardly had a team to distribute to. In the 2015 Finals, Love and Irving were out injured. James (by necessity) became the first player to lead a Finals series in scoring, rebounds and assists, averaging 35.8 ppg, 8.8 assists and 13.3 rebounds. This time around, he’ll have an extra 50 points to work with. The Eastern Conference just sent a powerhouse to the 2016 Finals.
