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[QUOTE="NineOneSeven, post: 1778001, member: 871"]
This is the series everyone (outside of the fans of other contenders) wanted. It's what I predicted in the preseason-- not like I really went out on a limb there.

Lots of storylines, lots of intriguing matchups.

As fantastic as Irving is on offense, his defense is the opposite. He will have a tough time guarding Curry, or Klay, or even Livingston with his height. The trade-off being, Irving can obviously score from wherever on the court. Cavs, like OKC, played well last year when they went big. GS struggles with rebounding at times against size, as we saw in the last series. The problem with going big, again no surprise, is on defense against perimeter guys. We saw what happened with Adams on direct switches on Curry. Bad idea. Wouldn't be surprised to see Shumpert a lot in this series. When Green is the big man, I expect Love to play the five, because Thompson will end up being on the perimeter at times guarding Green (who may even be handling the ball). Love vs Green also presents interesting matchups for both parties. Love's defense is suspect, and Green has shown he likes to be aggressive. I think both of these guys could get each other into foul trouble. I only expect to see Mozgov occasionally at the end of quarters when Bogut/Ezeli/Varajeo are in.

As for guarding the overall best player on the floor, I expect Barnes/Andre/Green to be the main 3. I don't think we will see a lot of double teams on Lebron because that leaves shooters open, which has shown to be the Cavs' strength. I actually think James might guard Klay the most, similar to what he did against Derozan.
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