The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are filled with star power. Stars need help in order to win championships. Who are the X Factors?
We often hear the phrase, “role players win championships.” This might not be 100 percent true, but it’s accurate when discussing the NBA Finals. Both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers rely on their role players to play well in big games.
With Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Lebron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love there will be no shortage of All Stars on the court. What will ultimately define the series will be the play of the “others.” Whichever group of others play the best that team will win.
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The most important Warrior besides the big four will be Andre Iguodala, he’s the Warriors X Factor. He will be the primary Lebron defender and the guy who can keep him somewhat in check if he’s 100 percent healthy. Having knee injuries and not shooting well are concerning because the Warriors will need him to play heavy minutes to limit James attacking the basket.
If Iguodala is unable to go, expect Patrick McCaw or Matt Barnes to get his minutes. McCaw has really grown up in these playoffs and looks like he will be the future sixth man, like Iguodala has been the last few years. However, McCaw’s slight frame is not a good match for the power of James. This means Barnes will get more minutes against James if Iguodala isn’t effective.
Curry’s health was a big topic of discussion during last year’s finals, but it was Iguodala being hampered with back trouble that really hurt the Warriors, for the sole reason of him being the James defender.
The Warriors have multiple guys who can defend James, including Durant, Green and even Thompson, but none of these guys defend him as well as Iguodala. Even if Iguodala is back to his old self, the Warriors will throw different defenders at James and Irving to give them different looks.
Figuring out the Cavaliers X Factor is a little difficult. Some consider Tristan Thompson to be that guy. However, Thompson is entering the Dennis Rodman territory where teams have to game plan for him because he’s such a pest on the offensive glass and switching defensively.
X factors are guys teams don’t really game plan for and step out of the shadows unexpectedly. The guy who could do that in this series is Deron Williams.
Williams is playing in his first NBA Finals and looking for his first championship ring so he will be focused. Also, Williams will be playing with James to start the second and fourth quarter, which means he won’t be matched up with Curry. He will more than likely be matched up with Ian Clark.
Clark has played really well on both ends of the floor but he doesn’t have the size to defend Williams in post ups. The Cavs run loads of Williams/James pick and roll so they could put Williams or James in the post against Clark. Shaun Livingston or McCaw could defend Williams, but then Kyle Korver might get loose if he has someone shorter on him.
Because of these matchups, Clark might not play and the Warriors might go with a point-guardless lineup of Livingston, Iguodala, Thompson, Green and David West to keep size on Williams, Korver and Iman Shumpert, all the while trying to keep James out of the paint with Green, West and Iguodala.
Role players are the difference between championships and elimination. Whichever role players perform best will spark that team to victory.