The NBA finals is into Game 6 on Tuesday night and the Golden State Warriors can clinch the championship with a victory for a 4-2 series win, while the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to force a Game 7 with LeBron James and the King could win MVP if he has another standout performance against Stephen Curry and the Warriors.
The Cavaliers had the advantage after winning Game 3 and taking a 2-1 lead, but the Warriors bounced back to win the next two games. The Cavs were able to hang around in both losses, but by the end the scores for both games were not close. James is doing all he can to help his team win and some in the media have argued that he should win the MVP even if the Cavaliers lose the series.
James set a record for the most points scored through three games of the NBA finals and he has had multiple triple doubles in the series. Curry has also been playing very well, especially in the last two games and if he has a strong performance, there is a good chance he follows up his regular season MVP with the award in the finals. The Warriors have not won a championship in 40 years, while the city of Cleveland has not won any type of title in five decades.
David Blatt took some criticism after the Game 5 loss for playing a small lineup, but the Warriors were simply too fast for the regular Cavs starters. The team does not have much of a bench compared to the Warriors and Timofey Mozgov was limited to just nine minutes after leading the Cavs in scoring with 28 points and 10 rebounds in the previous game. James said that he is confident in his team and his talents as the best player in the world and the Cavs think they can get the series to a Game 7.
The Warriors would have the major advantage in Game 7 since they are such a good home team, but the Cavs have already shown that they can win in Oakland. The grueling travel schedule has been tough for the Cavs, as players like James and Matthew Dellavedova have had to play heavy minutes with the team dealing with injuries. Making the performance more impressive is that James is the only star player the Cavs have healthy with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving out for the series.
Tristan Thompson has been very good throughout the playoffs with Love out and he has been an important part of the Cavs success. The team needs Thompson to be strong on the offensive boards and the Cavs cannot afford to play soft defense during the Game 6 matchup. The Warriors have won in Cleveland and the team is confident after the shooting performance in Game 5. The Cavs have to contest shots and be prickly when it comes to Curry, as he has started to heat up since the end of the Game 3 loss for Golden State. The series could end on Tuesday night in Cleveland for the Warriors with a win.