Alexis Morgan and the SLAM Staff Predicts the 2016 NBA Finals

LeBron doesn’t want to admit it, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are the underdogs in this NBA battle royale.

Our informal, thoroughly unscientific staff poll confirms it: The Warriors are entering the Finals as the heavy favorite with over 70 percent of voters picking Golden State to repeat.

You know the narrative all too well at this point: Golden State staged a historic comeback against the Thunder to get to the Finals, where they’ll meet the Cavs for the second straight year. Cleveland, outside of a two-game slide in Toronto, cakewalked through the East behind a deliberate, yet incredibly efficient offense.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are back in the fold, but their defensive shortcomings could lead to mismatches for the Warriors who want to create chaos. Does Cleveland have the chops to survive the inevitable three-point barrages of the Splash Bros?

Each game will be a fascinating chess match with all the makings of a heavyweight battle for the ages (props to Maxamillion for the hype mix above).

Let get into the picks…

Alexis Morgan, Contributor
Pick: Warriors in 6
Why? Chef Curry and Klay Thompson against LeBron & Co. will give us more beautiful basketball to drool over. But the Dubs just came back from a 3-1 deficit against a very strong Thunder team. If they survived that, they can survive anything. I was hesitant to say 6, but the Cavs are well-rested and the Warriors just fought tooth and nail plus will have to venture to Cleveland twice.
Read more at http://www.slamonline.com/nba/2016-nba-finals-picks/#CUGMvVkBM0ZryslX.99

Read the rest of the Staff picks at http://www.slamonline.com/nba/2016-nba-finals-picks/#CUGMvVkBM0ZryslX.99