By Michael A. De Leon | June 7, 2007 | Print Print

At the start of the season, neither the Cavs nor the Spurs were early favorites to make it to the finals. The Spurs were too old and the Cavs were too young and inexperienced when it came to playoff basketball.When last season’s Western and Eastern conference champs got an early, first round exit, it left the door wide open for any team to emerge and take a seat in the Finals.The Spurs went through the Nuggets, Suns and Jazz to get back to the Finals for the fourth time, while the Cavs were able to beat the Wizards, Nets and Pistons to get to their first NBA Finals appearance in team history.The Spurs and Cavs are two very different teams. Not in their offensive or defensive sets or philosophy because the Cavs were built to mirror the Spurs.

But for Cleveland, they live and die by LeBron. While they have other key role players in Larry Hughes and an emerging Daniel Gibson, it’s pretty much a one-man show for the Cavs while the Spurs come at you with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili off the bench.The key for the Spurs will be limiting the Daniel Gibson’s from scoring 30 points. Don’t let Hughes make a difference. Let them go through LeBron and just keep Bowen on him.

The Spurs are one of the best at guarding the three point line and as long as they can continue to do so and do not allow themselves to get caught in mismatches due to high screens or picks, that’ll take away some of his options.

On defense, if they are able to come out and play like they played game five against the Jazz, expect a blowout. For the Spurs to really take the wind out of the Cavs’ sails, this will have to be Manu’s series. I’m not expecting a repeat of his 2005 Finals performance, but if Manu is on and in attack mode, the Spurs become even more dangerous with more scoring options.

This will be an interesting series, and being in 2-3-2 format will shake things up a bit. Leading up to game 1 tonight, all the talk has centered around King James and the Cavs. Unfortunately for Lebron, all anyone watching the finals will witness is the Spurs and Tim Duncan hoisting up another Larry O’Brien. I’m taking the Spurs in 5 games.

Look for more coverage below including a Finals preview podcast in which I got to speak to Brandon Rosage of MVN Radio and Richard Galvan of Clifford Sound.

Go to the Spurscast page or Download the mp3 to hear Brandon, Richard and I preview the series.