After their utter dismantling of the Atlanta Hawks—both in a 118-88 Game 4 victory and throughout the series as a whole—the Cleveland Cavaliers are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007, and they'll be bringing quite a bit of high-level experience to the table.
Well, relatively. LeBron James is the only member of the typical starting five who, prior to this season, had been to even the conference finals during his professional career, but the team's presumptive opponent has spent even less time operating on the sport's biggest stages.
Yes, we're assuming that the Golden State Warriors will be representing the Western Conference.
Even though the Houston Rockets rode some ridiculously hot shooting in Game 4 of their series with the Dubs and avoided elimination for another night, they're simply not going to be the first team to dig out of a three-game hole. Not against the best team in the NBA, one that will likely go down among the greatest squads in this sport's history.
This upcoming and seemingly inevitable battle between the Warriors and Cavaliers will provide plenty of terrific storylines.
We'll have Stephen Curry, this year's MVP, squaring off against James, who may well remain the best player in the world. Two tortured franchises will be attempting to get the proverbial monkeys off their backs. It will be a clash between the regular season's No. 3 offense(Cleveland) and No. 1 defense
James Jones will be making his fifth trip to the NBA Finals after advancing that far during each of his last four years with the Miami Heat. Two of those experiences resulted in rings.
Kendrick Perkins won a title in 2008 with the Boston Celtics, lost to theLos Angeles Lakers in seven games two years later and made another Finals journey with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Shawn Marion only made it to the Finals once, but when he did get there, he helped the Dallas Mavericks beat the Heat in 2011. Mike Miller was on the losing end that year, though he'd get redemption by winning titles alongside James and the rest of the Miami bunch each of the next two seasons.
That's four veteran presences providing plenty of experience. And then there's James himself.
Before this season, it seemed that a Finals appearance was against the odds for the four-time MVP. He himself admitted it, telling Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins in the official announcement of his return to Northeast Ohio, "I'm not promising a championship.
I know how hard that is to deliver. We're not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I'm realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010. My patience will get tested. I know that."
Now, a championship, one that would be the third of his already legendary career, is so close that he can probably imagine the metallic taste of the Larry O'Brien Trophy. And he knows exactly what this experience is like, as two incredible stats can help make clear.
