A position-by-position look at the matchups in the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers:
CENTER: Kevon Looney vs. Tristan Thompson. An afterthought much of the season
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playoffs and has provided the Cavaliers with 6.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per
game. Warriors coach Steve Kerr went with Looney against Houston but could go a
number of ways in this series, with JaVale McGee, Zaza Pachulia and Jordan Bell
among his options. And of course, the Warriors are at their best when they go
with none of the above, using Draymond Green as the center in a small-ball
lineup. Edge: Warriors.
POWER FORWARD: Draymond Green vs. Kevin Love or Jeff Green. The Cavaliers are hoping Love can return after the All-Star missed Game 7 of the Eastern
Conference finals because of a concussion. Jeff Green started in his place and
scored 19 points in the victory in Boston. Neither player can match the
all-around production the Warriors get from Draymond Green, with his defense,
rebounding and passing. All he has to do is keep his emotions in check. Edge:
Warriors.
SMALL FORWARD: Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James. Durant was last year’s NBA Finals MVP, is the No. 3 scorer by average among players who have played at
least 10 finals games (32.9 points), and still might be the second-best forward
in this series. That’s how good James remains at 33, as he proved while
averaging 34 points, 9.2 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the Eastern Conference
playoffs. In his eighth straight NBA Finals, he probably needs to produce
numbers like that in every game to give the Cavaliers any chance. Edge:
Cavaliers.
SHOOTING GUARD: Klay Thompson vs. J.R. Smith. The Warriors might not even be here without Thompson’s clutch performance in Game 6 of the West finals against
Houston. He can heat up in a hurry from the outside, and as an added benefit no
longer has to spend so much energy defending Kyrie Irving as he did so often in
the last two NBA Finals. Smith can also heat up, but can also be prone to
prolonged bad streaks and losses of
concentration
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POINT GUARD: Stephen Curry vs. George Hill. Injured to start the postseason, Curry showed just how explosive he and the Warriors remain with some big third
quarters in the West finals. There were questions as he struggled earlier in
that series if he still wasn’t fully healthy, but he sure looked good enough at
the end. Hill is a steady veteran and the most productive of the four players
the Cavaliers acquired at the trade deadline, but like a lot of Cavaliers will
be at a speed disadvantage in this series. Edge: Warriors.
RESERVES: Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Nick Young, McGee, Bell, David West, Pachulia, Quinn Cook and Patrick McCaw vs. Kyle Korver, Jeff Green, Jordan
Clarkson, Larry Nance
Jr.
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Iguodala’s health looms as the biggest question entering the series after he was
sidelined for much of the West finals with a bone bruise in his leg. The 2015
NBA Finals MVP leads the defensive effort against James and is part of the
Warriors’ best lineup. Korver’s shooting is a key off the Cleveland bench, but
Clarkson, Nance and Hood have never become regularly reliable after being
acquired in February. Edge: Warriors.
COACHES: Steve Kerr vs. Tyronn Lue. This was a challenging season for both. Lue stepped away from his team for a while for health reasons, as Kerr had to do
during the last two seasons. Kerr acknowledged the struggles of keeping his team
motivated this season, even letting the players coach themselves in timeouts
during one game. Both coaches pushed the right buttons when their teams were
pushed to the brink in earlier rounds, but Kerr just has more of them at his
disposal. Edge: Warriors.
—
See ya, Sid. Hello, Jack Eichel.
Once the shock of being traded wore off, Conor Sheary put aside his past of playing alongside Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, and began eagerly
looking ahead to what might be in store with the Buffalo Sabres.
”I wasn’t expecting it, but at the same time you have to look at the positives,” Sheary said Thursday, a day after the Buffalo gave up a conditional
fourth-round draft pick to acquire him and defenseman Matt Hunwick.
”I have to put my Pittsburgh years behind me now
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with the new chapter in my life.”
In Buffalo, Sheary gets the opportunity to recreate his role as a play-making, two-way forward on a line centered by Eichel.
”When you’re playing with a guy like that, you kind of try to get him the puck as much as you can,” Sheary said.
”I think a big part of my game is creating turnovers and getting chances for my linemates,” he added. ”Hopefully, we can create some chemistry there. It’ll
be awesome and maybe we’ll grow something with that.”
With two years left on his contract, Sheary was the odd-man out in Pittsburgh, which freed up $5.25 million in salary cap space in trading both
players. The Penguins quickly used some of the savings to re-sign forward Riley
Sheahan to a $2.1 million, one-year contract.
The Sabres, by comparison, lack play-making depth at their top-line wing positions, especially after trading Evander Kane to San Jose in February.
Buffalo’s top three centers and Kane accounted for scoring 94 of the team’s
league-worst 199 goals last season.
Five-on-five production was also an issue cited by general manager Jason Botterill as the reason he acquired Sheary. All but eight of Sheary’s 95 points
in 184 career games have come in even-strength situations.
Another benefit for the rebuilding Sabres was adding a two-time Stanley Cup winner to a team that has finished last in three of the past five seasons.
”I think if I can just bring a little of that playoff experience to the locker room and try to change the culture, that’ll be a good
thing
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”He definitely taught me a lot. And I’ll definitely take that and use that to my
advantage moving forward.”
Botterill previously served as the Penguins assistant GM and had a hand in signing Sheary, who was a late bloomer in part because scouts considered him too
small at 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds. Undrafted after completing his college career
at UMass, he signed an amateur tryout contract with the Penguins’ AHL affiliate
in March 2014.
Two year later, Sheary made his NHL debut and eventually scored six goals, including a winner, and 10 points during Pittsburgh’s first of two championship
runs.
After scoring 23 goals and 53 points in 61 games in 2016-17, Sheary’s production dropped last year, when he finished with 18 goals and 30 points in 79
games.
Sheary blamed the drop-off on a lapse in confidence that lead to a midseason slump in which he had three goals and six assists in 35 games. He closed the
year with six goals and two assists in his final 15 games.
”I think toward the end of the year I finally found myself again,” he said. ”Although I didn’t score in the playoffs, I felt as though I was contributing.
Hopefully, I can build on that going forward.”
—
.
