Cnotes NBA Finals News-Notes-Need to Know !!

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NBA Finals Outlook


June 1, 2015


The last two years a pair of veteran teams met in the NBA Finals, with Miami winning its second straight title in seven games against the Spurs and then San Antonio thrashing the Heat a year ago. But the winds of change have blown, with LeBron James bolting Miami for his hometown and the Spurs losing in the first round in seven games to the LA Clippers.


Now the Golden State Warriors have exploded with a historical season, tops in the NBA in field goal shooting and three-point shooting, plus No. 1 in FG defense allowing just 42% shooting. And he gets to face LeBron, making his fifth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, his first with Cleveland since 2007.


Throw in the fact that Cleveland has young Kyrie Irving as a young star, has a new generation of young players finally emerged on the NBA Finals stage? Three years ago it was supposed to be the time the kids stepped up in Oklahoma City. OKC came close, winning Game 1 of the Finals before Miami won four in a row. The previous year a younger Miami team came close, carving out a 2-1 series lead before collapsing, as it was those old fogies in Dallas who came away with the title - another veteran team winning the whole thing.


Overall, veteran NBA teams have been on a roll, with the Celtics winning it all in 2008, the Lakers in 2009-10, the Mavericks in 2012 out of nowhere, and the Heat twice under LeBron and the Spurs last year, with Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich. This year young teams from Boston, Atlanta, Washington and Memphis made the playoffs but are gone.


This year the NBA's Final Four had a pair of teams with a lot more youth than veteran leadership in the Rockets, Hawks, Cavs and Warriors. While the NBA is more of an athletic game, primed for young legs, the experience of the Mavericks certainly helped them three years ago, while the Spurs had a terrific blend of young and older players last season.


But at some point age can work against a team, breaking down from injuries. There really haven't been many youthful teams winning the NBA title lately. The Celtics and Lakers were veteran teams that clashed in the Finals in 2008 and 2010. The experienced Lakers topped the young Orlando Magic in 2009, blowing out the kids in Game 1, 100-75. Prior to that veteran teams like the Spurs, Pistons and 2006 Miami Heat won titles.


LeBron James is 30 and has been in the league 11 years. Another thing that stands out with the NBA's Final Four of 2015 is defense. Golden State (No. 1) and Atlanta (No. 6 were in the Top six in field goal shooting defense allowed during the regular season. Houston (12th) was decent, too, while the Cavs ranked 20th, though that’s a bit misleading as they added key defensive personnel in mid-season and have been a strong defensive team the last two months.


A year ago the NBA’s Final 4 (Thunder, Pacers, Spurs and Heat) all finished in the Top 10 in the NBA during the regular season in either points allowed for field goal shooting defense. Oklahoma City was tops in the West in FG shooting defense, while the Pacers were best in the NBA.


This shouldn't surprise. Three years ago Miami was sixth in points allowed during the regular season, Dallas was 10th.


So how did the mighty Golden State Warriors do against the best of the East?


The Warriors whipping the Cavs at home (112-94) in January, then lost at Cleveland in February (110-99), its seventh road game in eight contests. Golden State lost 124-116 at Atlanta in February when the Hawks were rolling, then won at home, 114-95 in the rematch.


A lot of blowouts!


That’s not something the NBA wants to see over the next week.


Are the kids from the West ready to take over? Or will we see LeBron hoist the trophy again?


Let the games begin!
 

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Ohio homeboys: Superstars LeBron, Curry both born in Akron


June 1, 2015


AKRON, Ohio (AP) - Welcome to the Rubber Capital, where car tires first rolled, the Goodyear Blimp took flight and two bouncing baby basketball prodigies were born less than four years apart in the 1980s.


LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the NBA's two biggest stars set to square off in the upcoming finals, are from the same city.


Genuine homeboys. The prodigal son and the precision shooter. Talk about a long shot.


James re-signed as a free agent with the Cavaliers last summer, returning to his home after four years in Miami to chase an NBA title. And as fate would have it, Golden State's Curry will come back to his Ohio birthplace to pursue his dream.


''It's kind of ironic that he's going back to Cleveland, where he came into the world, to try and get the world championship,'' said his father, Dell Curry.


Wardell Stephen Curry was born on March 14, 1988, arriving while his daddy, traded by Utah to Cleveland before his second pro season, was playing in Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks.


Curry made his world debut with almost the same speed in which he comes off a screen, catches the ball and drops one of his 3-pointers - lightning quick. His mom, Sonya, said her delivery was only about 2 1/2 hours, roughly the length of a pro game. Within two weeks, she took her boy to his first NBA game, and from the moment he neared the hardwood, she knew she and her husband had created another ballplayer.


''He was asleep,'' she said last week after the Warriors won the Western Conference title and advanced to their first finals in 40 years. ''We walked in, and his eyes were wide open the whole game - the whole game - and then as soon as we left and went to the family room, he fell asleep.


''And so then we knew that he was in tune with that arena and basketball in every sense.''


The Currys didn't spend much time in Ohio as Dell was selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the expansion draft and the family was uprooted again.


Until he left for Florida in 2010, Akron is the only place James ever knew and where the public first glimpsed his greatness as a high school star. He's defiantly proud of his city, often referring to his humble upbringing by saying he's ''just a kid from Akron, Ohio.''


The four-time MVP said he and the league's current MVP, who was also the top vote-getter for this year's All-Star game, have not discussed their Akron bond.


''No, we never have,'' James said. ''I don't think we'll talk too much about it, either, coming up.''


James has been a fan of Curry's for years, first recognizing his potential when the Warriors' guard was at Davidson. James watched Curry play several times, once driving to Detroit to see him in the NCAA Tournament. James said he knew almost immediately that Curry was destined for stardom.


''I just thought he was special, a special kid,'' James said. ''I'm very good at noticing talent and I thought he was special then and he still is.''


James appreciates Curry's game, a blend of finesse, skill and drive.


''He has a great motor,'' James said. ''I think a lot of people don't understand how great his motor is. He never stops moving. His ball-handling, his ability to shoot the ball off the dribble and off the catch. It's uncanny. I don't think there's ever been a guy in on league to shoot the ball the way he does off the dribble or off the catch, off the ball. He just creates so many matchup problems for your defense and you just always have to be aware.''


The Akron boys aren't real tight. Curry was once a guest at James' home, but he's not that familiar with his actual hometown. Still, he and James have a unique connection.


''It's nice to have that in common,'' Curry said. ''But he has more of a history with the city than I do. Maybe three or four years ago I went to his house in Akron and kind of took a lay-of-the-land kind of deal. But other than that, I'm from Akron, but Charlotte raised. So that's kind of where it ends.''


James speaks with admiration of Curry, a player some believe is heir apparent to become the face of the league. If he wins a championship, Curry's ascension could happen quicker.


Perhaps because Curry comes from Akron, James, who has `Akron' tattooed on his right shoulder and `Est. 1984' tattooed on his left, has gone out of his way to help the 27-year-old.


''I've had an opportunity to speak to him a few times on the floor in the past. Just talk about the process of being a great basketball player, and being a leader and doing what it takes to get to this point,'' James said. ''I don't know if he used it or not, but he's done great for himself. He has a great family. His dad comes from this pedigree. He's got so many great people around him, so he doesn't need nothing from me.''
 

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2015 NBA Finals: Steph Curry's rise from question mark to the MVP


We know the story of Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry. It's been an evolving tale of being overlooked, underestimated and climbing above it all to be named the Most Valuable Player in the NBA for the 2014-15 season. He wasn't ranked or recruited in high school. It almost seemed like he was being granted a favor to play at Davidson in college.


But out of nowhere, the small guard with loads of questions and a game with little conscience exploded and became one of the most watchable players of this era. He's not only a superstar, but also the league's Most Valuable Player in only his sixth NBA season, the 19th player to win an MVP award in his first six seasons.


How did we get here? How did a player who wasn't recruited become a mid-major star before turning into the most valuable player in the world on the verge of leading his team to a championship?
The star of Davidson: Understanding how far Curry has come is understanding what he was coming out of college. It's not like he was a surprise lottery pick; he was ranked in the top five or top 10 on most draft boards, but there were huge questions alongside those rankings. He was an undersized shooting guard, unlikely to have the instincts and playmaking ability of a prototypical NBA point guard. He wasn't looked at as a special athlete, or even quick enough to consistently get off his shot -- or a player strong enough to battle physical NBA guards, especially if he was destined to be a 2-guard.


When you get labeled a tweener, especially at guard, it can be the kiss of death. You're not trusted to run the offense, but you're not trusted to defend your assigned position, either. And these were valid concerns. The talent was there. But was he physically gifted enough to maximize that talent?


Coming out of Davidson after his junior year, Curry didn't profile as a point guard. Mostly, you looked at the way he was utilized in a pick-and-roll set and walked away somewhat dumbfounded that he could be so inefficient at it.


For someone whose points per possession at Davidson ranged from 1.05 to 1.14 and had an effective field goal percentage of anywhere from 55 percent to 61 percent, his pick-and-roll numbers his final season at Davidson were abysmal. He accounted for only 0.735 points per possession as a pick-and-roll ball-handler and his effective field goal percentage was only 37.5 percent.


To put that in perspective, Jonny Flynn's rookie numbers in the pick-and-roll with the Minnesota Timberwolves were 0.766 points per possession with a 41.7 percent on eFG. In his last year at the college level, Curry wasn't better than Flynn against NBA defenses for the first time.


Some of Curry's decisions seemed quite ambitious. He'd try to split soft traps when the defense hedged on a pick-and-roll without making sure to keep his dribble low and close to his body. He take those deep pull-up 3-pointers off the pick and roll, but it wasn't met with the same excitement and anticipation we feel today because we weren't used to that decision.




This video shows problematic decisions scouts and executives saw when evaluating Curry. Looking at them now, it looks like the way we're used to seeing him these days, but his game in college didn't yield the same results. It was like watching a puppy try to troubleshoot getting to a toy or something it wanted to chew on.


The shots were off-balance. The drives were a bit wild and the floaters and layups he attempted were reckless. He was feeling his way as a playmaker because everything was centered on finding him deep shots.


It wasn't all bad, though. He had solid passing instincts at times, as long as he was able to find the space. Despite having a turnover rate of 17.2 percent in the pick-and-roll his last year at Davidson, he was able to find big men rolling to the hoop or lurking from the weak side.


His pick-and-roll playmaking numbers suffered a bit because teammates often failed to finish plays. Kickout passes to shooters. Drop-offs inside to big men hovering around the hoop. Finding the roller over the defense as he dribbled away from the passing target. Curry found teammates enough to show he had a feel for the NBA, but still had a lot of room for improvement.


Even though the shooting percentage wasn't there his junior season, Curry's scoring instincts out of the pick-and-roll showed up. He was better in every other facet (spotting up, cutting, transition, isolation, etc.) for scoring efficiency, but the instincts were there.


Curry occasionally would make off-balance shots and even when he missed layups off splitting the trap, you loved his aggressive scoring mentality. He just needed better understanding of positioning and getting buckets. His numbers shooting off the dribble when coming around on picks were bad. But he was trying to make his instincts work with his abilities while developing the game we see him play today.


He just needed to get to the NBA for it all to flourish.


Rookie year -- establishing the shooter: Curry's best skill is obvious. He's the greatest shooter in league history. We didn't know this would be the case coming out of college, and some folks still hesitate to give him such praise because he has a long way to go to match career numbers by Ray Allen and Reggie Miller. However, the volume and accuracy Curry delivers have never before been seen.


Even knowing he was a great 3-point shooter (41.2 percent on 1,004 attempts in three years at Davidson) in college, we've seen plenty of legendary college shooters look pretty good in the NBA without becoming stars. Curry immediately established himself as a great shooter in his rookie season. During his final season at Davidson, Curry was a good spot-up shooter but it wasn't something he did much.


Synergy Sports has spot-up opportunities for Curry as only 8.9 percent of his offense during his junior year. It makes sense it would be that low considering he had to do most everything for his team. He made 40.9 percent of this shots with a 54.5 effective field goal percentage. His guarded catch-and-shoot attempts yielded an eFG of 52.8 percent, while unguarded catch-and-shoot shots gave him an eFG of 61.2 percent. He knocked down 34.7 percent of his jumpers off the dribble (42.1 percent eFG).


He could shoot but wasn't set up nearly as much as necessary for those percentages to really spike.


Once he got to the NBA, those attempts skyrocketed. His percentage of scoring opportunities coming on spot-up attempts jumped to 16.8 percent, nearly double his final Davidson season percentage. And when you give a shooter those kinds of opportunities, you're going to see the natural talent and hard work produce results.


Curry was an elite spot-up shooter instantaneously. His eFG on spot-up attempts was a ridiculous 70.4 percent, and he was the top scorer from spot-up opportunities. Only Jason Kidd (66.8 eFG) and Anthony Morrow (70.7 eFG) were better volume shooters on guarded catch-and-shoot attempts (Curry had an eFG of 66.6 percent). His unguarded accuracy (69.4 percent eFG) put him in the 91st percentile.


He set the record (later to be broken by Damian Lillard) for most 3-pointers made by a rookie. The kid could shoot which helped unlock playmaking opportunities because defenses had to crowd him to prevent the shot.


Curry saw so much more of the floor because of the spacing the NBA game provides. Teams couldn't load up on Curry in the NBA like they did with the college rules. Since he was a rookie, teams didn't know just how deadly he could be. His eFG rose a full 10 percent in pick-and-roll situations and he went from generating 0.781 points per possession with shooting or passing in the pick-and-roll his junior year to 0.946 points per possession as a rookie in the pros.


That's a major jump in production, even though the NBA is supposed to be much harder, especially for rookie point men. Curry went from turning the ball over 17.2 percent of the time in pick-and-roll situations his final college season to 13.4 percent as an NBA rookie. He was better across the board in every facet and it looked like he had a real future as an NBA lead guard.


He just needed to stay healthy to build on his experience.


Development slowed by ankle issues: He developed even more the next two season, but was derailed by setbacks. In his second NBA season, Curry became a more efficient scorer as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, transition weapon, isolation creator and off screens and hand-offs. His biggest jump came as a transition scorer though.


The Curry we see now, looking to become a threat as soon as he crosses half court, started to emerge. As a rookie, Curry scored 0.943 points per possession and had an eFG of only 52.6 percent. It was an improvement from his final days at Davidson, but it wasn't good enough for the NBA. He was in only the 16th percentile for transition scorers. In his second season, that efficiency made a huge leap.


Curry looked more comfortable attacking the basket in transition and started becoming that pull-up 3-point artist who dazzles us now. His scoring efficiency jumped to 1.15 points per possession (48th percentile) and his eFG jumped to 61.6 percent. He wasn't the most dangerous threat in transition, but he started to understand how he could confuse a defense by exploiting the transition 3.


Unfortunately, he couldn't build much from his second year to his third year because of multiple ankle sprains in 2010-11 created ligament damage. During May of 2011, he had ankle surgery to repair the damage. He'd have to wait to get back on the court under new coach Mark Jackson because the 2011 NBA Lockout delayed the start of the season.


Before the season finally began, Curry again sprained his ankle. In 2011-12, he improved across the board in most scoring situations, even jumping up to an absurd 72.2 percent effective field goal percentage on spot-up jumpers. But he played only 26 of 66 games because of ankle issues, and another ankle surgery seemed to set him back and put serious doubt into his future as a star.


Burning down buildings in his ascension to stardom: The half-court line has a function. It evenly splits the two ends of the court. The line was implemented in the 1930s to prevent a "soccer style" of offense in which teams could use the court to play "keep away." This was before the shot clock was introduced in 1954, so you could really keep the defense running around using the entire length of the court. Since the half-court line was implemented, it's served as a barrier for the offense.


In the 2012-13 season, the half-court line finally had a new significance. As soon as Curry crossed it with the ball, defenses felt angst. It was impossible to know what he was going to do with the ball, but you knew you had to take away his space then because you couldn't afford to give up morale-shattering deep 3s.


It's also the season Curry established himself as the most lethal outside shooter in NBA history. He broke Allen's record (269) for 3-pointers made in a season (272). He hit with blistering regularity (45.3 percent) from downtown, adding the most lethal accuracy to the highest volume anybody could imagine.


At the trade deadline in the previous season, the Warriors traded Monta Ellis, making Curry the primary ball handler of the future. He no longer shared time as a playmaker. He was the Warriors' true point guard, the leader of the present and future. And this liberation, coupled with a new defensive mindset, helped the Warriors take the next step.


Curry was the great equalizer for the Warriors in every respect. His transition scoring jumped to 1.228 PPP and his eFG in these scoring situations rose to 69.6 percent. Of the high volume transition scorers, Curry was bested only by LeBron James and Kevin Durant in efficiency and percentage, and Curry didn't have an alien body to do most of his work at the rim.


He posted career highs in points, assists and minutes as he lead the Warriors to their first playoff berth since 2007. And it was in that first round against the Denver Nuggets that you couldn't help but notice where the league was headed.


Down 2-1 in the series and trying to steal a game back in Oakland, the Nuggets were hanging on by a thread after the first half. By George Karl's admission during the series, the Nuggets had stolen Game 1 on an Andre Miller layup. Curry answered back with 30 points and 13 assists in Game 2 in a blowout victory, and then had 29 points and 11 assists in Game 3 as the Warriors hung on to win.


In the third quarter of Game 4, Curry torched the Nuggets' hopes of winning the series. He scored 22 points in the third quarter on his way to 31 overall, as the Warriors took a 3-1 series lead. They closed it out in Game 6 before losing to the Spurs in the next round.


As the 2013-14 season started, expectations for Curry and the Warriors rose for the first time. They announced their presence in the 2013 playoffs and that presence was going to be challenged every game. The only way to meet those expectations was with Curry leading the team to greater heights. Any lingering doubts Curry could be a playmaker and a "true point guard" in this league were completely eradicated.


Only Ellis generated more points in the pick-and-roll with shooting or passing than Curry in 2013-14, and Curry's eFG was nearly three percentage points higher. Goran Dragic of the Phoenix Suns is the only high volume pick-and-roll creator who shot a better eFG (by 0.9 percent) than Curry. He was the pick-and-roll in 2013-14 and it was a big reason the Warriors were so dangerous.


They improved to 51 wins -- their highest win total in 20 years -- Curry not only was named to the All-Star Game for the first time, but also was second-team All-NBA. The Warriors would be eliminated in seven games in the first round by the Clippers, but began to setting their sights on the highest of goals.


The NBA's Most Valuable Player: As we sit one playoff round away from finishing the 2014-15 season, there's no doubt this campaign has belonged to Curry.


He dominated the highlights. He dominated the MVP discussion most of this season and ran away with the voting (100 of the 130 first-place votes). Not only was he voted in as an All-Star starter, he was the leading vote-getter. He was a unanimous decision as All-NBA First Team (along with LeBron).


And Curry earned all of those accolades. He was the best player on a 67-win team that mosstly blew away the rest of the league every night. They were one of the most dominant home teams we've ever seen. Curry was so good as the leader he often rested in the fourth quarter.


He was the third best spot-up shooter, behind Klay Thompson and Kyle Korver. Curry was the best pick-and-roll creator. He even beat his record for 3-pointers made in a season by knocking down 286.


For Curry, 2014-15 was the most efficient scoring season of his career. Tracking his progression from his final year at Davidson to this MVP campaign, you can see he didn't have the highest marks in every major scoring situational category of his career, but they average out to his most productive year.






The same goes for his shooting efficiency. Across the board, Curry had near highs in effective field goal percentage for the five major scoring situations. They also average out to the best shooting season of his career.






Curry has answered every question since he entered the NBA Draft. He wasn't a true point guard. He wasn't quick enough to be a lead guard nor big enough to be a 2-guard. He wasn't supposed to be this good and he probably wasn't even supposed to get this far. We've seen plenty of big time college scorers from smaller schools flame out once they face tougher defenses and bigger, more physical NBA players.


That's not what happened with Curry. Instead, he set fire to the league.


There are no longer questions of whether Curry can get the job done; there are only questions of whether you can possibly stop him. More terrifying, he's only 27 and still getting better.


VIEDOS CAN BE SEEN HERE:


http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...eph-currys-rise-from-question-mark-to-the-mvp
 

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Nash on Stephen Curry's shooting: 'The greatest there's ever been'


Steve Nash is one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, with four 50-40-90 seasons (field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, free throw percentage) on his resume. He's also one of the biggest basketball influences for MVP Stephen Curry, who seems to be breaking shooting records by the minute. We've never quite seen a shooter like Curry, but stylistically Nash is the most similar. The future Hall of Famer had a great deal of praise for Curry when asked by Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher to put his greatness into perspective:


"The only pause I have is from fear of being ignorant," he said. "Am I missing someone? Does he need to play longer or do it longer? Does he have to do it in the playoffs more years? But my first reaction is, 'Why not?' He's as good as anyone I can think of on every level—pure shooting, array of shots, percentage, getting hot, plays to the end—he checks all the boxes."





"Steph takes it to another level," Nash said. "I was able to do it going left and right, and we can both do it at speed, but I was always trying to get to the three-point line. He can do it from deeper and, frankly, I never took a step-back. He has no trouble taking a step-back and making it. You add that to all the other shots. It could be a clincher in this game of deciding who's the best."





"Consistency," Nash said. "Can someone consistently make shots, night in and night out, year after year? That's the true mark of a player. You could break it down a lot of ways, but that's the bottom line. How rare are off nights? There are certain guys, they shoot the ball, you always think it's going in. Steph is able to seamlessly get his feet down, gather his weight between his feet and go up in the air and shoot it in rhythm as if he'd just been standing there, caught it and shot it.


"Truly, from the eye test, he's the greatest there's ever been."


Nash also pointed out that Curry will likely have a lower field goal percentage than him forever, but didn't think that was a problem. Nash's mentality was always different -- he wanted to get his teammates involved first, while his coaches often begged him to be more selfish. Perhaps Nash would have shot more often if he entered the league 15 years later with the same skill set, but maybe that just never would have been his nature.


Curry has spoken about Nash paving the way for him many times, and he knows their games have been compared for years. You can be sure that he'll appreciate this particular compliment from this particular source.
 

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Bet $6,600.00 to win $3,000.00 on Golden State Warriors Game 1

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