Each week, we'll ask our stable of scribes across the globe to weigh in on the most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.
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> Fill in the blank: The pressure is on ________ in these NBA Finals.
Steve Aschburner, NBA.com: Stephen Curry. He's got to close this out, this MVP year of his. Consider it the pressure of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy. Had James Harden and the Rockets prevailed in the West finals, it would have been a little bit of a referendum on Curry's marvelous season and his ability to carry a team at his weight class. Now, facing LeBron James — another 2015 MVP candidate as well as a four-time winner — it's even more so. Curry has to be his pesky, shot-making self and not let the big lug from Akron or any of the other Cavs drape themselves over him so effectively it swings the series in Cleveland's favor.
Fran Blinebury, NBA.com: LeBron James. Because it's always on LeBron James. He's the best player in the game today, one of the greatest of all-time and yet he continues to come under more scrutiny and draw more criticism and than any athlete of the era. So even though the Warriors had a league-best 67 wins, have cruised to a 12-3 record in the playoffs and are the favorites to win the series, it's somehow on LeBron to prove that he's a winner. That's why we're already hearing so much about his 2-3 record in The Finals.
Scott Howard-Cooper, NBA.com: David Blatt. Because the pressure has been on more when he was winning in the playoffs than when he was losing the first half of the regular season. Blatt has himself to thank for that, for almost calling timeout he didn't have, and LeBron James to thank, for throwing his coach under the bus by waving off Blatt's play and then going public afterward. The Cavaliers had a very good finish to the regular season and reaching The Finals is a big positive. But if Blatt has a rough series, it's going to look very bad.
Shaun Powell, NBA.com: Um, David Blatt? We all know the story by now, how he was hired before LeBron officially returned, how the Cavs struggled at the start, and the almost "timeout" and blah, blah, blah. Blatt has the chance to erase all the suspicion and doubt about his coaching ability with four more victories, and a Cavs win would be surely classified an upset. Of course, LeBron would likely get all the credit if that happens. Blatt cannot afford to be out coached by Steve Kerr and create a dark cloud over his head heading into next season.
John Schuhmann, NBA.com: My initial answer would be David Blatt. But really, how the Cavs' offense performs is more in the hands of LeBron James than his coach. The Warriors are going to do their best to cut off the paint and keep James on the perimeter. It will be up to him to find ways to get to the basket, get his teammates open shots, or start making some jumpers himself. Thursday would be a nice time to break out of his 3-point shooting slump.
Sekou Smith, NBA.com: Draymond Green. The Warriors' forward holds the key to his team's championship dreams within him as this series nears. LeBron James always travels with two-ton boulders filled with pressure on his shoulders. He's used to it by now. But Green will see much of LeBron in this series, perhaps on a one-on-one basis for a majority of that time. If he can have a Kawhi Leonard-like effect on LeBron throughout the course of the next 4-7 games, the Warriors will be celebrating with a parade these Bay Area streets haven't seen the likes of in some 40 years (for their one and only NBA team). That's serious pressure for a guy no one was sure would be a starter in this league.
Ian Thomsen, NBA.com: LeBron James. The Finals revolves around him. His team is the underdog and yet he is expected to win. Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao — his starting front line — are out and Kyrie Irving has been hurt, and yet Cleveland is counting on him to lead his newly-rebuilt Cavaliers (at both ends of the floor, no less) to the city's first championship since 1964. Don't think he doesn't feel that pressure, and don't think it's a bad thing either — in the end he's going to find a way.
Lang Whitaker, NBA.com's All Ball blog: Let's work backward here. I don't really feel like the pressure is on Golden State, who had a terrific season and have reached The Finals for the first time in 40 years. With their young core, this should be Golden State's first trip of many to The Finals. In Cleveland, for all the talk of the Cavs being cursed and unlucky, the reality is this is the Cavs' second trip to The Finals in the last eight years. That's thanks to LeBron, who has now made five consecutive Finals trips and shrugs off pressure. I guess if anything, the pressure is on Cleveland's role players, who will have to chase the Splash Bros. and hit the open threes LeBron creates for them if Cleveland is going to have any chance.