Kevin Durant The Warriors Vs. Lebron James The Cavs - NBA Finals 2017 NBA 2K16 Sim

Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder, they pushed the Golden State Warriors to seven games and at one point they had a 3-1 lead and it seemed like the combination of Durant as well as Russell Westbrook and that whole team was too much for Golden State to handle and they'd be going on to the NBA Finals. But partly due to a heroic effort by Klay Thompson in Game 6 where he hit 11 three-pointers, Golden State was able to force an eventual Game 7 and unfortunately OKC could not handle their momentum from the beginning of the series and the rumors started circulating. Is Kevin Durant going to leave OKC in free agency? He could have pulled a LeBron James and ended up with the Miami Heat under Pat Riley and that veteran group. He could have formed a Big Four in LA under Doc Rivers with Blake Griffin, CP3, and DeAndre. Or he could have been running off of screens in Brad Stevens' offense in Boston. But as we all know, he chose to sign with the rival Golden State Warriors and given that this team has already won 73 games and made it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals, adding Kevin Durant sets up the possibility of this being the greatest team ever. When you think about the combination of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, two of the greatest shooters that we've ever seen, and then you add Kevin Durant into that mix with Golden State's offense with off-ball screens and cuts to the basket, I mean the way that they pass the ball around with three great shooters, it's going to be really scary and we can't forget the contributions Draymond Green makes in every asset of the game as well. And if we look at some of their Western Conference rivals, I mean, Russell Westbrook is still great, he's one of the best players in the league, but without Kevin Durant, I don't know if this team really has much of a chance. I mean, Victor Oladipo, it's a nice addition, but I mean, 2K thinks their small forward is Anthony Morrow right now. I mean, that's pretty much all you need to know. And that was Golden State's one real competitor in the Western Conference. Shout out to San Antonio. But there is one other team that I want to know if they can beat, and that is the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that defeated the Warriors before they acquired Kevin Durant. LeBron James put on perhaps the greatest showing that we've ever seen in the history of the NBA. Coming back from 3-1 down, let's see if he can do it against this team. We're going to assume the Cavaliers re-sign JR Smith for this, by the way. And I'm interested to see what happens. Is the addition of Kevin Durant going to be the answer that Golden State needs to defeat LeBron James? I don't know. We're going to do this in a seven-game simulation. This is all according to 2K, so of course we can take it with a grain of salt since the frickin' Minnesota Timberwolves always win the title after the first season. And so, game one, don't worry about the records. I had to make sure they both made the finals. Golden State wins game one, and interestingly enough, both Steph and Klay did not really kill it from three-point land, but they still killed it everywhere else. Kevin Durant did not have himself a really big game. And that's interesting, because if you told me that both Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were going to struggle from outside, there's no way that Cleveland doesn't win that game, right? Well, I guess Steph Curry said, screw it, I'm going to put my head down, I'm going to go to the basket, I'm going to get within the arc, and I guess it worked out. Draymond Green also had a pretty balanced game throughout. Now, interestingly enough, Kevin Durant, you noticed, nowhere even close to the top of that scoreboard. Perhaps the pressure of the finals got to him? I hope not. Now, how did Cleveland fare? Well, to be honest, no one really balled out. LeBron James was only 19 points, didn't shoot well from the field. Kyrie was okay, but I mean, Cleveland's definitely going to have to bring more than that if they expect to win this series. Now, on to game two. Can Golden State take a commanding lead? Yes, they did. Although this happened in real life, so let's relax a little bit. Steph was a bit better from three, and Durant had a bit of a bounce-back game, still didn't shoot too well from the field, but with Steph Curry getting his groove back, that's the worst thing that Cleveland can ask for. And if Durant, I mean, this team is so scary, Durant doesn't have to score 30 points every game for them to win. Now, LeBron and Kyrie definitely did all they could in this game, too. And Kevin Love, 15 and 11, is not bad. So hopefully LeBron James just said, alright, enough of this toying around, let me just attack y'all inside, because that's the one thing they still can't stop. And of course, Kyrie Irving can hit pretty much any shot that you give him. However, Cavaliers are down 2-0. They came back from this very deficit in real life. Can they do it again here? This is a huge game three. Uh-oh. It's a 3-0 lead for Golden State, and LeBron James did everything he could. 41 points, nearly a triple-double, three steals, four block shots. This was a classic LeBron James performance, a la against the Detroit Pistons, against the Boston Celtics. But unfortunately, the team around him just couldn't carry it, it's too bad. But with a performance this good, I am wondering, how did Golden State manage to win this game? Well, Klay Thompson had a hell of a game himself. 41 of his own points, 7 for 8 from three-point land. My goodness, Klay was killing them from everywhere. He does such a good job of just getting open within that Golden State offense, and it must be so demoralizing. Perhaps Cleveland was going on a couple of runs, they were feeling good, and then Klay Thompson just splashes a three-pointer right in your face, and you're like, well, screw it. Can Cleveland at least avoid the sweep? They can, they're at least up to 3-1. And not really a huge performance, but both Kyrie Irving and LeBron James did just enough to win it. They came back down from 2-0 in real life, perhaps they'll come back from 3-0 in 2K. This is the sort of thing that definitely happens in this game. Or can Golden State close it out, and that's exactly what they do. The Warriors defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games, Durant finally showed up. About time, Steph Curry was very good as well. And like I just said, this team is so damn good that Curry, Thompson, or Durant could have an off game, and it's not really going to matter. And look at this, the actual unlikely hero of this one for Cleveland, Kevin Love, 27-12. That reminds me of his Minnesota days, he must have been a beast on the glass. He's like, listen, if we lose this thing, y'all not going to blame me. Now Kyrie Irving, as well as LeBron James, both had 20 points each. But it just wasn't enough. I guess the addition of Kevin Durant, according to 2K, is going to take the Warriors pretty damn high over the top. They were already over the damn thing. And yeah, congratulations to the Warriors, at least in 2K. Who knows if this is going to happen in real life, but it should be pretty damn exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing this team in action.