Warriors Dominance over Cavs will Help the Celtics in the Long Run

The Warriors destroying the Cavaliers could be a good thing for the Celtics next season.

The Golden State Warriors have a 3-0 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, and it doesn’t seem like the defending champs will win a game.

Thanks to the added services of Kevin Durant over Harrison Barnes, Golden State simply has too much fire power for the Cavs to handle. However, that isn’t the only reason that Lebron James‘ team doesn’t stand a chance. Golden State plays a brand of small ball that Cleveland doesn’t match up with very well.

When you look at both team’s front courts, the Warriors have Durant, along with Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala for most of the game. Cleveland has James, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson as a more traditional front court threesome.

When these two lineups go head to head, Cleveland can’t keep up. As long as Cleveland keeps Thompson and Love, the Warriors are going to have the strategic advantage every time they play each other. James won’t let another full season go by with the same personnel, so I’d expect the Cavs to deal at least one of their starting bigs.

This development will help the Celtics long term. One of the main problems they had with the Cavs in the eastern conference finals were their size inside and rebounding ability. Thompson and Love dominated the Celtics’ bigs inside, which allowed James and Irving to live off of second chance points and open driving lanes thanks to Love’s floor spacing.

If Cleveland decides to trade either Love or Thompson to go towards a smaller lineup against the Warriors, then it plays right into the Celtics hands. The Warriors are the only team in the NBA that plays small ball better than the Celtics, and it would give them less of a strategic advantage against Boston.

Isaiah Thomas would have less to deal with at the rim, and the Celtic bigs would have less to worry about on the boards. When the Celtics can get away with playing small on the glass and on defense, other teams are in trouble. All you have to do is look at their series’ with Chicago and Washington during the 2017 postseason.

Next: Celtics Need to Play the Long Game

As the Warriors look like the best team in NBA history, remember this. The Celtics have always matched up better with Golden State than with Cleveland. If the Cavs trade away their size to become a better small ball team, then the Celtics automatically have a better chance at beating them. So pay close attention to the offseason, and hope that more teams try to go small, because the Celtics are one of the best teams in the league at that game.