For the love of the game

  Tennis is dominated by athletes in their late 20s and early 30s, but, Roger Federer is defying the odds and is playing at a high level even in his mid-30s. Federer who will be 36 in 6 weeks time has spent 302 weeks as the World no.1 and is the winner of 18 Grand Slams (a record in men’s tennis)

  What motivates someone to do something with as much passion, even after they have achieved everything they possibly can and have reached the pinnacle of the sport? Possibly they just want to be doing more of what they love? They do it for the love of the game.

Roger Federer falls knee first on Wimbledon's centre court

 

  8^th July, 2016 Wimbledon semi-finals, 34 year old Roger Federer vs 25 year old Milos Raonic. Federer scuffed a two sets to one lead and a 5-6, 40-0 advantage on his own serve to take the fourth set into a tie breaker. He lost the set and got broken early in the 5^th. Later on in the set he fell knee first on the grass of Wimbledon’s centre court and he just stared at the grass for a few seconds. The King had fallen on the very same turf where he had announced himself to the world on his first appearance on centre court as a 19 year old in 2001, when he beat Pete Samparas(7 time Wimbledon champion and at the time 13 time Grand Slam Champion). Federer then went on to win 7 Wimbledon titles(2003-07, 2009, 2012). His year was plagued by knee injuries and that fall on his injured knee had many pundits and fans writing his career obituaries. “Federer can’t compete against the younger generation anymore.” “Has age finally caught up with the great man?”

Federer on his knees, staring at the grass.

  

  Following his semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in January, Federer injured his knee while running a bath for his twin daughters. He rushed back into action following surgery and realised he wasn’t performing at an optimum level. Defeats in the semi-finals at Stuttgart, Halle and Wimbledon made him realise that he had to respect his body as at that age (34) the healing process takes longer. With an aim to let his knee heal properly, he decided to sit out for the remainder of the 2016 season which meant missing the 2016 Rio Olympics and announced that he would return to the ATP World tour in January.

  In January 2017, Roger Federer would be 35 years and 5 months old. He would be ranked outside the world’s top 16. He could beat lower ranked players while playing on one leg as we saw all through Wimbledon last year, but, his struggles against top 10 players like Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic made me wonder whether a single victory over a top 10 player in the early rounds would be a pyrrhic victory, leaving him with nothing left for the next round. Being ranked 17^th meant, he was on course to meet a top 10 player in the 3^rd round itself. A loss in the 3^rd round, would result in a ranking points drop which would see Federer fall out of the top 30 in the world- he was defending 720 points from his semi-final appearance in 2016. An exit in the 3rd round would see him lose 630 points.

  The longer a player is out of the game, greater is the speculation if he would ever be able to make it back. The career obituaries increased. Questions were asked about why Federer has to return after 88 titles, over a 1000 career match wins and $95 million plus in prize money. What more did the man have to prove? Was he coming back for a farewell tour?

  Why couldn’t he respect the fact that sport is a young man’s game and walk away whilst still at the top of the game? If the money from endorsements were to be taken into consideration, he wouldn’t have to work a day for his entire life, if he called it quits. The man could just disappear from the public eye and settle in the Swiss Alps for good. But, Roger Federer loves tennis, which is what keeps him on tour.

  He returned to action at the Hopman Cup in Perth and then headed off to Melbourne for the Australian Open. There was nowhere for him to hide if the comeback went bad. Firstly, tennis is an individual sport. Also in the televised world of professional sport, there was nowhere to hide. The world was watching closely.

  After an unimpressive first 2 rounds, he produced a master class against Tomas Berdych (straight sets victory) before beating Kei Nishikori in 5 sets. He beat Stan Wawrinka in 5 sets to advance to the final where he took a sets lead against Rafael Nadal twice and made a comeback from 1-3 down in the final set to win it 6-3. The world was stunned and his legion of fans were delighted. He had won his first 7 competitive matches (3 of them 5 setters against top 10 ranked players) back after a 6 month hiatus and had ended a 4 and half year Grand Slam drought. This was his 3^rd Grand Slam win after becoming a father and he was the 4th oldest Grand Slam winner.

With the Australian Open Trophy, his 18th Grand Slam title which ended his longest Grand Slam drought

 

  On the same weekend, the 2003 U.S.Open Champion and last man to be World No.1 before the dominance of the Big 4, Andy Roddick(34) who had played 4 Grand Slam finals against Federer, was announced as a class of 2017 inductee into the tennis hall of fame. Lleyton Hewitt (36), Marat Safin  (37), David Nalbandian (35) were the guys whom Federer used to battle with regularly between 2001-2005. They were all retired at this time. What had kept Federer going, long after his contemporaries had retired?

  In 2017, Federer notched up further titles in Indian Wells and Miami. He has a 19-1 win loss record on tour this year. He had a 2000+ points lead in the 2017 ranking charts and to many pundits, he had a chance to amass a bulk load of ranking points on clay as he was actually being aggressive in his play.

  Stunning? Appetite for success not over? What made him dig deep and overcome and win a slam yet again? What changed? Roger Federer is hitting the ball harder and looking to finish points at every possible opportunity. He has improved his backhand and is actually hitting it flatter and deeper. Should we be surprised? The man has been reinventing himself all throughout his career.

  As he entered his 30s the struggles began, he got blown off court in the 1^st week of grand slams(Wimbledon 2013 and U.S.Open 2012, 2013). The reason for that was his small racquet head. While most players would not tweak with equipment or playing style so late into their career, this was Roger Federer. He was prepared to do anything within his power to be good at the thing he loved the most.

  Federer experimented with larger racquets and from the 2014 ATP season, hired Stefan Edberg as his coach so as to successfully incorporate the serve and volley into his game. He was growing older and needed to keep the points shorter. His coach was the king of the serve and volley game. Roger Federer started making more and more forays to the net and kept the points short, he did get passed on many occasions but the points were won or lost without him exerting a lot of energy. You win some, you lose some, but here he was giving himself a chance to win rather than getting outhit from the baseline.

  At the end of the 2015 his weak backhand was still hampering him. He began reaching finals again(Wimbledon 2014, 2015 and U.S.Open 2015, losing to Novak Djokovic each time). Most 33 year olds would just be pleased that they were reaching the 2^nd week of Grand Slams, let alone finals. Federer wanted to win, to be the best at what he loved doing and that is playing tennis.

  In 2016, Federer hired Ivan Ljubicic with an aim to improve his backhand. He began hitting the backhand, rather than lobbing or slicing it. The weakness was now a weapon. The main weapon in defeating Rafael Nadal in Australia. His opponents were now being presented with a shot that had an injection of pace in it, a shot which was surprising them.

  Any athlete knows the importance of setting goals. Setting the right goals were of utmost importance to a player who is in the twilight of his career.

  Roger Federer knew that in order to prolong his career at the top of the game, he had to take adequate rest and not play every tournament. After winning in Indian Wells and Miami. Federer identified that the demands of playing well on a clay court would be taxing on his surgically repaired knee. Also ,with clay being a slow surface he wouldn’t get as much value for his shots as he would on grass and hard courts. With an eye on the grass and the autumn hardcourt season, Federer decided to sit out the entire clay court season in order to stay well rested.

 The 10 week break opened up the risk of allowing his rivals to catch up to him (Rafael Nadal has overtaken him). He could have potentially poured water on his chances of finishing the year ranked number 1,(he would be rested but he would lose momentum) as he would be playing lesser tournaments than his rivals and would be under pressure to make deep runs in the limited number of events he was entering.

  This is proof that he isn’t playing the game for the ranking, or to win trophies, he is looking at the surface, and his body and doesn’t want to play tournaments at the risk of producing sub-standard tennis. He can play defence and ensure deep runs in tournaments, but it isn't satisfying to him. He'd rather play an attacking brand of tennis that he thrives on. He's playing the type of tennis he loves. It doesn't matter if he wins or loses as long as he's enjoying himself.

  He isn’t going to strain himself like he did in 2013 where he played the tournament in Gstaad ,just to make up ranking points so as to qualify for the season ending ATP World Tour Finals. He isn’t going to play somewhere just for appearance fees unless he is absolutely fit and feels like playing. Sounds like how a casual club player would talk. Play the game when they want for the love of it and not just for the sake of it.
 
  The love for the game is what fuels him. What else can it be? Now he’s 35 years old, has 4 children, has won 91 titles and has amassed over a 100 million dollars in prize money alone. Why would he bother hanging on if he wasn’t enjoying himself, if he wasn’t loving what he does? The reason he continues to reinvent himself even now and take any possible step to prolong his career, is for the love of the game.

 

Lack of teenage Grand Slam champions

Boris Becker(Won Wimbledon in 1985 and 1986 as a 17 and 18 year old), Stefan Edberg (won Australian Open in 1985 as a 19 year old), Mats Wilander (won the French Open in 1982 as a 17 year old), Pete Samparas(won the 1990 U.S.Open as a 19 year old) and Michael Chang (youngest men's Grand Slam winner at the 1989 French Open)

What’s common about all these grand slam champions? They all conquered the Grand Slam events as teenagers and with the exception of Chang, all of them used the serve and volley, which was the  hall mark of that era. The evolution of the game is a reason teenagers are unable to win a Grand Slam in the present day. Tennis has evolved from serve and volley style prevalent in the 80s and the 90s, to the monstrous baseline slug fests of the present day which explains the dominance of players who are in their late 20’s and early 30s. The current top five in men’s tennis are all aged 30 and above and are primarily baseliners. 

It is common sense to understand that a full grown man who has spent numerous years on tour will have the power and experience to outhit a teenager in a baseline slugfest which goes on for over 3 hours in a best of five sets grand slam match. Youth is better in sport? Youthful energy and adrenaline maybe good enough to win matches or have a deep run in a non grand slam event where the matches are contested in a best of three sets. 

Nowadays every top player travels with a huge support staff (coach, trainer, physio, chef) Some players even have mental conditioning coaches to help them stay mentally strong so as to be able to outthink their opponents deep into matches which enter the 4^th or 5^th hour.

A young player will not amass enough in prize money and unless they win they won’t get sponsorship money like the big names do. All players will have to pay for their own travel, lodging and racket stringing and that will leave them with not enough to hire physios and trainers. Their bodies will not be as conditioned as the big guys.

People who have been watching the sport for many years will agree that serve and volley has become almost extinct, but even viewers today can watch Wimbledon Official Films from the 1980’s and closely observe the wear of the grass on any of the courts. As per tradition the defending champion opens play on a lush green court. After two weeks, when the finalists step out on the 2^nd Sunday there used to be a brown patch across the service line, but not one as prominent as the brown patches from the serving/ receiving point to the service box. In last year’s final there were just worn out patches across the service line and small barely won out patches in the box (they are caused by the doubles players) Clear evidence that serve and volley is almost extinct in the sport.

 Wimbledon's centre court during the 2014 final having worn out patches only along the baseline. The grass inside and around the service box is still fresh, showing lack of activity at the net( i.e. lack of volleying)

Wimbledon's centre court in 1986 which features worn out patches all across the playing surface(an abundance of net play and volleying)

Let’s look at a serve and volley game…. A big serve and then charge the net, if your opponent manages to make a return you simply just drop the ball back onto their side of their court.

The serve and volley requires excellent footwork and wrists. Something a teenager can possess and can have a chance at competing with the goliaths of the game.

In the current era of baseline slugfests, a serve has to be absolutely perfect. Players like Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have raised the level of service returns to such an extent that the server’s advantage is lost the moment the receiver strikes the ball back. What follows is a long rally as defensive skills have improved with players just aiming to keep the serve in and then reset the point over the next three shots. Nowadays even smashes are returned, as players go about 7-8 metres beyond the baseline and return them from right under the nose of the audience. Defensive skills have increased and sharpness at the net is gone. I blame the rise of the two handed backhand for this. The shot allows a counter punch sort of defensive shot which is extremely negative in baseline play as no player takes the initiative to finish off a point(but useful in keeping opponents from approaching the net to finish off a point as the two hander is excellent in hitting a passing shot past an opponent who is stranded at the net).

The returner in modern day tennis has gotten the confidence to stand 5-6 m behind the baseline as they know their opponent too will stay rooted to the baseline and engage them in a long rally, rather than hit a drop shot.

Among the new breed of players, only Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov have been using the single hander successfully. If coaches identify that the key to countering the defensive play is an all-out attack on both wings, tennis could witness the renaissance of the single handed backhand.

More energy is exhausted, as to defend on the baseline a player ends up constantly sprinting from one end of the court to the other and hitting a ball travelling at over 100mph back to their opponent who is 30 metres away. Rallies last about 10-15 shots per exchange on an average. A five setter has about 250+ points played. Think of the amount of physical strength and stamina required.
Do teenagers have this sort of energy? Yes! Can they sustain it across 5 sets or even across 3 sets? It’s possible. Can it be done across 7 games spread out over 14 days? Not possible in the present day.

I’ll bring up the example of this year’s Australian Open 3^rd round clash between at the time, 14 time Major winner and at the time World. No 10 Rafael Nadal and world no.20 Alexander Zverev (the then top ranked teenager in the men’s game) He managed to outhit Nadal and reach a 2 sets to 1 lead. He was going toe to toe with the Mallorcan in the 5^th set and was absolutely giving it his all. Nadal was playing smart and just working the young German all over the court and exhausting him and he finally broke. He lost his speed for the baseline slugfest had drained him, a 19 year old vs a 30 year old. He doesn’t have the physical structure that Nadal does. Had he managed to conquer Nadal in the match I’m openly saying that the young German would have run out of steam in the next round thus rendering his victory against Nadal, a pyrrhic victory.

Rafael Nadal at 19 years and 2 days old when he won the French Open. Teenagers in the current ATP top 100 do not have such a physique.

Serve and volley seems to be the only way teenagers can break out and win Slams like players did in the 80s and the 90s. At the 2005 French Open(48 Grand Slams ago), Rafael Nadal (a baseliner) won seven consecutive best of five setters to become the first teenage Grand Slam winner in the 58 Grand Slams since Pete Samparas' 1990 U.S.Open triumph (and the only teenage Grand Slam winner in the 106 Grand Slams contested from the 1991 Australian Open till the 2017 French Open). Nadal was a teenager who won a Grand Slam with a baseline style of play but that type of athlete is a once in a lifetime athlete. The average teenage athlete will not be able to overpower an athlete in their late 20s.

As a member of the audience, though I like the game of cat and mouse in a rally and waiting for that one moment when defence will be turned into offense through an incredible passing shot. It gets boring, really boring to watch them scramble and slide rather than watching a quick game involving a test of sharp reflexes and anticipation at the net.

A shorter and sharper match is what audiences need. Shortening a match to a best of three sets has been discussed, but that is not the solution. A change in playing style is needed to make the game unpredictable and for tennis fans to once again witness a faster game(and possibly increase viewership).
 A faster game with shorter points and more usage of the serve and volley could give teenagers a chance to win the Majors once again.

Can Roger recover from this setback

In a major setback, top seed and World no.5 Roger Federer succumbed to a 6-2, 6-7, 4-6 defeat to wildcard and World no. 302 Tommy Hass on his return to the ATP World Tour at the Mercedes Cup grass court event in Stuttgart in the round of 16.

The loss was the 35 year old's first, to a player ranked 300 in the world or below since 1999 (at that time an 18 year old Roger Federer wasn't in the top 100)
Federer's game was not at the level at which it was in March and he failed to capitalise on the key moments such as a match point opportunity in the 2nd set tie break and allowed Tommy Haas to level the contest. The 39 year old rode on a wave of momentum and denied Roger 7 break points in the 3rd and converted one of his own break opportunities.

0/7 on break points in the decider against a man who has 4-8 win-loss this season, is a telling stat. Major cause of concern for Federer. He lost the 2015 U.S.Open final to Novak Djokovic as his breakpoint conversion was an abysmal 4/23 that night.

Roger Federer had created that aura of invincibility around him post the sunshine double, but with his defeat in Stuttgart, that has been shattered. Players will believe that Federer is beatable and he will be under the pump even more (most players already raise the game when they are up against a big name) Federer doesn't take many matches to get up to full speed is a common statement. But if people are looking at the start of the year as an example they are mistaken.
Federer himself has stated that he only practises on hardcourts. So, for him the court transition in January from the hardcourts in Basel to Melbourne's fast courts was relatively easier than what it will be now from the quick hardcourts to the even quicker and skiddy grass courts.

This was a test of how Federer's knees hold up to the fast grass courts after his hiatus, and he failed miserably. If last night's game was an indication of his form. One can safely say that Wimbledon won't have its first ever 8 time men’s singles champion.

No matter how rested or how many balls he had hit in practice or how talented a player is. He needs matches to get the feel of playing well and in those matches he will experience crunch situations and get the experience of having to raise his game at the crucial moments in matches. In both of Federer's losses this year he had match points and failed to convert them.

Having registered for the tournament in Halle, Federer can get in some valuable practice and matches in on the lush green lawns. A similar early exit in Halle could prove to be disastrous to the 18 time Major winner as he will head off the SW19 with hardly any grass court matches under his belt.

In the writers opinion, he played better on grass last year when he was on one leg than he did last night against Tommy Haas.
 
Can Roger recover? He desperately needs to turn this around and if his career is any indication, he will do his utmost best to do so. But will it be enough?

NBA FINALS 2017

The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 129-120 in game 5 to secure a 4-1 win in the best of 7 NBA Finals and completed their mission of beating those Cavaliers and in the process regaining the Larry O’Brien Trophy. But will they be thrilled by it? The Cavaliers managed to spoil the Dubs’ perfect post season by winning game 4 of the playoffs and denying the Oakland based team the opportunity to become the first team to go undefeated in the NBA playoffs.

The Warriors had run riot through last year’s regular season (73-9) and had the finals in the bag before they became the first team to blow up a 3-1 lead when they lost to Cleveland Cavaliers.

During the post season the shame faced Golden State Warriors pulled off a free transfer which is considered as the move which bought the league. They signed the 2^nd best player in the Western Conference. People criticise the move, but it isn’t illegal, as any player is allowed to sign for any team and any team can sign any player. Durant followed the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ line of thought. LeBron James did the same thing in 2011 when he left Cleveland and joint Miami. There are comments being made about how his legacy would have been enhanced had he stayed put with the Oklahoma City Thunder and beaten the Warriors. The fact is that no one remembers anything else except the team that won and who was on it.

By converting the star trio to a star quartet, the Warriors had built a team with a specific purpose of beating the Cavaliers and were imperious en route to the finals where they were widely expected to face Cleveland. Heading into the finals with a playoff win-loss of 12-0 the Golden State Warriors swept through the first 2 games at home and followed it up with a narrow come from behind win in the 3^rd game in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. On the brink of a 0-4 sweep in the finals the Cavaliers pulled off the impossible and fired in 24 3 pointers(NBA playoffs record) recording a massive 21 point win to deny the Dubs a historic 16-0 playoff clean sweep.

Kevin Durant who managed to cross 30 points in every game in the finals and was voted as the NBA playoffs MVP. LeBron James became the 4^th player and 1^st MVP to lose 5 finals. Well, to lose finals you have to reach the finals. And this time it was no fault of LeBron as he averaged a triple double in the finals and put in 41 points in game 5 which the Cavs lost by 9 points. There won't be many who will say that it took 4 Olympic Gold medallists and an all star quartet to stop a 32 year old LeBron.

The Warriors are now 5 time NBA champions and with no sign of a force rising in the Eastern or the Western Conference they look set to be the dominant team for the foreseeable future. People argue that Cleveland could mount a comeback next season, but LeBron James will be 33 and one wonders how long he singlehandedly can carry his teams. Take James out of this year’s finals and the Cavaliers would have been blown away by the Golden State Quartet. He needs help and it wasn’t there this time around. When his team performs, will he be able to? Will Kyrie Irving step up and fire a 30 pointer per game like Kevin Durant? Time will tell.

French Open: Thiem vs Djokovic

For the first time since  July 2014, Novak Djokovic is not the holder of any of the 4 majors. This time last year Novak Djokovic had become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all 4 majors at the same time.

The Serbian World.no 2 was annihilated 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 by 6^th seeded Austrian, Dominic Thiem in the last 8 of the French Open.

Thiem seemed unperturbed by a rain delay which resulted in the re scheduling of his quarter final match to early morning on Wednesday. He stepped out onto the clay against a man who had destroyed him 6-1, 6-0 just 2 weeks back at the semi-final stage in Rome.

From the moment the match started Thiem unleashed his wicked single handed backhand(the shot is even better on clay as the surface offers him more time to play the shot), which in my opinion is the best shot in the game. It beats Wawrinka’s powerful flat backhand and Federer’s artistic backhand strokes.

The backhands were powerful and deep and Djokovic’s returns were not deep. The clay caused the ball to sit up, right in Thiem’s hitting zone.

 Djokovic offered a fight in the 1^st set before squandering 2 set points at 4-5, 15-40. He lost the game and eventually and lost the set in a tie breaker.

Thiem broke early in the second set and showed no signs of slowing down thereby not allowing Djokovic to get a foot in the door. The backhand barrage continued and forehands flashed past the faltering Djokovic. Thiem wrapped up the second set and broke Djokovic in the 1^st game of the 3^rd set. He held his own serve and followed it up with two more breaks of serve and raced out to a 5-0 lead in just 17 minutes. Down a triple break, Djokovic’s will to fight back seemed to have been bulldozed aside by the Austrian. On match point Djokovic put in an effort that is associated with him and saved it, however it was business as usual on the next point with Thiem sealing the match with one last backhand winner, and advancing to his second straight semi-finals in Paris. With this win he avenged his last years semi-final defeat to the same opponent.

Djokovic must have been reminded of the 2015 French Open Final when Wawrinka's single handed backhand blew him off the court. The third set which was Djokovic's first bagel set loss at the Slams since the 2005 U.S.Open, saw him win just 8 points across the set. Djokovic will fall out of the world's top 2 for the first time since 2011 and it his first Grand Slam straight sets defeat since the 2013 Wimbledon final to Andy Murray.

Though the Djokovic-Thiem encounter may have deprived us of the much anticipated Nadal-Djokovic clash, we will see the 9 time French Open Champion, Rafael Nadal take on Dominic Thiem who is the only man to notch up a victory against him on the red dirt this season(Rome Quarters) Nadal did beat Thiem en route title wins in Madrid and Barcelona.

 Hopefully the win over Djokovic isn’t a pyrrhic victory. He did it in straight sets and should have enough left in the tank to compete against the Mallorcan Matador. If Thiem can bring his today’s self onto court, Nadal’s quest for La Decima could be under serious threat.

ICC Champions Trophy game 1: England vs Bangladesh

The heavily marketed and eagerly awaited ICC Champions Trophy kicked off with hosts England taking on Bangladesh at the Kennington Oval. The game was viewed by England as an opportunity to get back at Bangladesh who had unceremoniously dumped them out of the 2015 World Cup in the group stage.

England won the toss and Captain Eoin Morgan had no hesitation in asking a Bangladesh side who had been bundled out for 84 runs against India in a warm up at this very venue to bat first. Bangladesh started of cautiously and had notched up just 6 runs in the first 4 overs before unleashing an attack on the English seamers. They reached the 80 run mark in 15 overs.

Opener Tamim Iqbal (128 of 142 balls) negated the threat of the new ball and played a brilliant One Day innings that we have been deprived of in this era of power hitting. The knock, though slow anchored the innings and was a factor in Bangladesh having a solid platform and being able to cross 300. At 261-2 in 44.3 overs with 2 set batsmen in Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim (79  of 72 balls) at the crease, Bangladesh seemed set to reach 320 or more, but lost the duo in the next two balls. The new batsmen had to go for the big shots immediately upon arrival and lost their wickets without causing much damage.

With wickets falling at regular intervals, the innings didn’t have that final flourish and they ended up scoring 305 of the allotted 50 overs.

Set a total of 306 to win, England lost opener Jason Roy(1 of 8 balls) early, but Joe Root(133 of 129 balls) came in and was a part of two huge century stands with Alex Hales(95 of 86 balls) and captain Eoin Morgan(75 of 61 balls) that saw England cross the finish line for the loss of just 2 wickets, with 2.4 overs left.

England have a health +0.40 run rate and will be upbeat ahead of their next game against New Zealand. Bangladesh have it all to do in a make or break clash against Australia.

NBA Finals 2017

The finals cap a predictable pre season that had precious little in the way of drama and a lopsided playoffs that both finalists stormed through. Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference and Golden State swept through the Western Conference. Which led us to…..

Part 3 of Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors!

(from left-to-right) Stephen Curry and LeBron James

In 2015 Cleveland reached the finals, but were under strength with Kevin Love benched due to injury. Kyrie Irving cracked his knee in the 1^st game and an injured LeBron James was left to lead the Cavs against a formidable Warriors team which had 3 all-stars. He powered the Cavs to victory at the Oracle Arena and followed it up with another in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. However, he ran out of steam and Cleveland lost the next 3 games and the series by the score line 4-2. Unlike 2015 the Cavaliers have a full strength star trio and head into the best of 7 series with no player having any injury or niggle.
In 2016 it was the Warriors turn to suffer injuries, but they raced to a 3-1 lead. LeBron James stepped over Draymond Green and drew a violent reaction from him resulting in his suspension and the Warriors lost momentum and the next 3 games to lose the series 3-4. They became the first team to squander a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals history. Unlike 2016, none of the main players are carrying any niggles of any sort. This Warriors side is at full strength.
Being the 1^st team to squander such a lead must have hurt, but not as much as losing the decider on home turf. The wounded and broken Warriors have had only 1 goal and that is TO WIN BACK The Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy!
In 2017 both teams are at full strength and none of the 7 All Star players are a doubt.
Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant and bolstered an already star studded line up. They have a reply to Cleveland’s star trio(LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love) with a star quartet of their own(Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green)
Golden State weren’t able to match their incredible 73-9 record in the regular season, but tabled an impressive 67-15 in the regular season and are peaking at the right time. They won their best of 7 Western Conference quarterfinal, semi-final and final by identical score line of 4-0 each and have become the first team to reach the finals with a 12-0 playoffs win-loss record.

 This is only the third time in NBA history that a team has reached the finals on the back of a clean sweep in the playoffs. The Warriors are only the second team in NBA history to go unscathed in the playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers did it twice(11-0 in 1989 and 2001). They lost the 1989 finals 4-0 to the Detroit Pistons and won the title in 2001 after a 4-1 thrashing of the Philadelphia76ers.

With the Warriors having 4 members of the All Star team on their roster, one can’t eliminate the possibility of them sweeping the finals 4-0 and finishing the playoffs with a perfect 16-0 score.

 However, the Cleveland Cavaliers aren't pushovers and having just ended a 52 year wait to bring a sporting trophy home to the city of Cleveland and they will not want to wait another 52 years to do so again. Especially when an opportunity has presented itself just a year after their drought ended. The chance of winning back-to-back trophies for the sporting success starved city is what can drive the Cavs. They were seeded second in the Eastern Conference but turned on the heat in the playoffs and were on course to reach the finals with a score line identical to that of the Warriors and had a playoff win-loss record of 10-0 before dropping a game to the Boston Celtics in the Conference finals. A 12-1 record is incredible.

As per NBA scheduling each team plays a team from the other conference twice on a home and away basis. Both sides won their respective home games with Cleveland overturning a fourth quarter 14 point deficit to one by a solitary basket at the Quicken Loans Arena. At the Oracle Arena in Oakland, the Warriors annihilated an exhausted Cleveland side by a final score of 126-91. A blowout victory.
LeBron James has been part of the past 6 NBA finals and has a 50% success rate. He knows a lot about losing NBA finals, so despite Golden State’s historic 12-0 run to the finals they would not be taking anything for granted, especially after last year. On team Warriors is Kevin Durant who was a part of the Oklahoma City Thunder which lost the 2012 NBA Finals to a LeBron James led Miami Heat. He, along with the members who suffered a painful defeat at the hands of LeBron James, will have unfinished business with the 3 time Finals MVP.
LeBron James at 32 years of age is having one of his best seasons, but he will need Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to have better than ordinary games for the Cavs to mount a challenge. James himself will have to ensure that he doesn’t have an off day like the one he had in game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics. The NBA teams have been clueless as to how to stop the Warriors juggernaut. If any team can actually stop them, it’s the Cleveland Cavaliers.

When the playoffs began, it was almost as if everyone knew which two teams would make it to the finals. The world has been waiting for this clash, for a long time. For the sake of the fans, to reward them for their patience in waiting for the best teams to collide, the final series had better come to a gripping close when the familiar foes battle it out in the first ever three peat final in NBA history.
Who will reign supreme? Will Golden State win their fifth title? Or will it be title number 2 for the Cavs?
Find out!!!!