Story line: The fourth consecutive Cavaliers-Warriors matchup in the NBA Finals, the eighth straight trip to the title series for Cleveland star LeBron James, and once again it’s Golden State that arrives as the overwhelming favorite. Both teams needed to survive Game 7s on the road to win their conference championships, winning those clinchers in shorthanded fashion – no Andre Iguodala for Golden State, no Kevin Love for Cleveland. James will either become the 39th player with four NBA championships http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-michael-gallup-jersey , or the third to lose the title series six times.
How They Got Here: Cleveland beat No. 5 Indiana 4-3, No. 1 Toronto 4-0 and No. 2 Boston 4-3 for the Eastern Conference title. Golden State beat No. 7 San Antonio 4-1, No. 6 New Orleans 4-1 and No. 1 Houston 4-3 for the Western Conference title.
Key Matchup: Golden State’s Klay Thompson vs. Cleveland’s J.R. Smith. It’s safe to expect James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant to be spectacular in this series. The Warriors have more firepower than the Cavs, but they’re only great when firing on all cylinders. Smith needs to take every last bit of available space away from the ultra-quick-releasing Thompson and not let him get shots off. Should he succeed, that’s a big edge for the Cavs.
How the Cavaliers can win: James being spectacular is a prerequisite, and Cleveland needs to bring the same defensive effort that carried the Cavs in the Game 7 win at Boston. From there http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-donte-jackson-jersey , Cleveland needs to do what Houston did against Golden State – force turnovers and attack the offensive glass.
How the Warriors can win: Take care of the basketball. Do that, and they will be fine. Don’t do that, and they’re asking for trouble.
Prediction: Warriors in 5.
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Compiled by AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds
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LAS VEGAS — The Los Angeles Kings‘ chances of at least earning a split of their first two Western Conference first-round playoff road games with the Vegas Golden Knights got a whole lot more difficult late Thursday afternoon.
That’s when the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that Kings top defenseman Drew Doughty, a Norris Trophy candidate who led the league in total minutes, was suspended for one game for “an illegal hit to the head” on Vegas forward William Carrier midway through the third period of the Golden Knights’ 1-0 series-opening victory on Wednesday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night at T-Mobile Arena
Carrier, who had a game-high 10 hits in the contest, including several hard ones on Doughty Quenton Nelson Color Rush Jersey , left the ice woozy with what was called an upper-body injury after the hit while carrying the puck into the right corner of the Kings’ zone. He didn’t practice Thursday and was listed as day-to-day by Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant.
Replays showed that Doughty initially hit Carrier on the top of the left shoulder but the hit then continued and caught the Vegas forward in the head.
“Doughty delivers a high, forceful hit that makes Carrier’s head the main point of contact on a hit where such head contact was avoidable,” the NHL said in its narrative on the video review of the play. “The illegal check to the head rule does not take into account what the first point of contact is.”
Doughty set career highs for assists (50) and points (60) this season and ran his consecutive games played streak to 328 in Wednesday’s series opener, just two shy of the team record held by Anze Kopitar. The timing couldn’t be worse for a Los Angeles squad that is already without injured defensemen Jake Muzzin and Derek Forbort.
Doughty had a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety after practice on Thursday afternoon. Kings head coach John Stevens refused to discuss the situation with the media afterward other than to say “if it is (an issue), it’s next man up, obviously.”
“When I see 68 to 59 hits, I don’t buy it,” Gallant said. “If they’re counting every bump, fine. Jonathan Marchessault, he got eight hits. I mean, he finished some checks. But I don’t buy it.”
“I think the teams played hard (but) I’m not sure where that number comes from,” Stevens said. “I don’t think anybody would be playing tomorrow if those numbers were accurate. I don’t want to sound disrespectful when I say this Ravens Lamar Jackson Jersey , but sometimes I don’t even know where they’re situated when they are marking those stats. There’s such a variety in the way those are gauged building to building that we usually go and look at our own stats.”
The Golden Knights believe it is crucial that they keep home-ice advantage with another win Friday night.
“It’s big,” said defenseman Shea Theodore, who scored the only goal of the game on Wednesday. “Obviously when you get that first win you want to keep that momentum rolling. We’ve been playing pretty strong at home all year. We’re just going to try and keep the same game plan.”
Hundefreunde-Freiburg
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09.08.2018 08:49
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