2016 NBA Finals Preview: GSW vs The Cavs

Dear Lebron James:

My name is James “Albaggio” Alba and the following is the bulletin board material you need to read but the Golden State Warriors refuse to say aloud. Examine carefully because at the conclusion of this article, I’ll negate any doubts you may have going into Game 1 and hopefully come out on the flip side of the Vegas odds looking like the genius who followed his gut and threw analytics into the wind even though I know better than to bet against the MIT and Cal Tech nerds, I mean intellectuals, of the sports world.

Earlier in the day I was channeling my emphatic love for hip hop/rap and trying to discover some lyrics that would knife through the soul and disregard the rhetoric every national media outlet is going to regurgitate for the remainder of this series and surely beyond long into the summer.

I was headed home from work and the underground phenomenon otherwise known as Atmosphere appeared on my IPod shuffle and there were some piercing lyrics I thought might gather your attention.

Cue the classic song, “Puppets” and read/listen and fume at the way GSW perceives you but social media won’t allow them to say…

I think it’s great how you used to be great

I can’t hate on how you choose to relate

But I know that you had the potential

I understand why you wanted to let go

A lot of pressure

In the middle of those shoulders

And we ain’t gettin’ nothin’ but older

Ain’t nothin’ changed

But the day we run from

But nobody knows that

Better than you huh?

Let this resonate and let this fuel you because we both know the “Yay Area” (I just lost 84% of my readers’ attention who don’t listen to E-40 but for the remaining 16%…you’re welcome) want to stick this back to back world titles’ opportunity in your Kia promoting, Beats by Dre reppin’, Nike boasting, Akron loving face. Angry yet? I sure hope you’re getting close. Statistically, GSW is a NIGHTMARE matchup for your 2016 Cavs team.

The league has never seen a more efficient, not necessarily better, offense in the history of the NBA and defensively they rotate into the help position more effortlessly, they can play either big or small, and go 10 deep (productively) as opposed to your 7 deep which allows them more viable options/matchups and deters your squad from playing more aggressive because foul trouble, with that meager bench, is a blowout loss waiting to happen. Anybody else see a 6 foot 8 inch Mack truck gaining a full head of steam?

Good…..because Lebron, I know you’ve already processed and internalized all the sabermetrics, all the critics hate, all the doubt from the old NBA legends and have devised a plan to shock the world. That’s great and all but let me simplify this into Lehman’s terms what’s been eating at me since last year’s matchup in the NBA Finals that I feel hasn’t been acknowledged because of the Warriors’ eventual title.

King James, my man, you single handily won two games by your LONESOME and was in contention to win a third!!! In a six game stretch you stripped Shaq of his “Superman” title and dominated like my all-time hero Michael Jordan never even did statistically (35.8 PPG, 8.8 APG, 13.3 RPG…1^st to lead ALL categories in Finals history).

Your All-Star supporting cast (Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love) have been diagnosed with a clean bill of health and J.R. Smith seems to have avoided driving hoverboards to the arena so I like your chances.

In the grand scheme of things, if you really want to piss somebody off, Bill Simmons will have to re-write his pantheon pyramid of the greatest NBA players of all time and I’m pretty sure that will surpass his 140 character Twitter allotment which will in turn give his old school readers (myself included obviously) something to look forward to.

I’m picking you and your crew in six games because I know you don’t want to head back to the West Coast for a Game 7. I hope you feel the same.

Sincerely yours,

James “Albaggio” Alba