2019 fantasy Finals matchup: Sixers vs. Warriors
The Philadelphia 76ers have the some of the best odds to win the 2019 NBA Championship, imagine what the season leading up to that would be like.
Las Vegas just released the odds for the 2019 NBA Champion. The Golden State Warriors is the favorite at 5/4 followed by the Houston Rockets and the Philadelphia 76ers at 7/2. Vegas must be assuming that Philadelphia signs LeBron James in the off-season to be given 7/2 odds. Let’s follow the LeBron-led Sixers as they take on the Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals
PRELUDE
The Wells Fargo Center is electric as game one of the 2019 NBA Finals tip-off is about to happen. For Philadelphia fans, this moment has been a long time coming.
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Philadelphia secured the home court advantage based off their league best 62-20 record. To get to the finals, Philadelphia had to go through the revitalized New York Knicks, Miami Heat and finally Boston Celtics. The Boston series ended in spectacular fashion with LeBron James blocking a Kyrie Irving shot at the buzzer to preserve the Philly Game 7 victory.
Golden State had a similar road dispatching the surprising Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers and the Rockets in another tough seven game series. Houston again was up three games to two against the Warriors when Chris Paul re-injured his hamstring. With Paul again out for games six and seven, Golden State came back and won.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin was hired to replace Bryan Colangelo, who resigned one week following the Twitter “Burnergate” story where Colangelo and his wife were exposed using Twitter to blast Sixers players and coaches. Griffin’s first order of business was to sign LeBron James to a three-year $100 million contract.
Griffin kept Philadelphia’s roster almost intact. He re-signed J.J. Redick to a two-year team friendly $25 million contract. Amir Johnson was not resigned and Griffin decided to pay off the final year of Jerryd Bayless‘s contract for $8.6 million and send him packing. Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli were both not re-signed as well.
Griffin raised some eyebrows when he used Philly’s 10th pick in the 2018 draft to select Villanova’s Donte Divincenzo. It’s rumored that Griffin took Divincenzo as insurance in case Markelle Fultz didn’t work out. Fultz this season has been the best player on Philly’s second group which includes Robert Covington, Divincenzo, Richaun Holmes and fan favorite T.J. McConnell.
There’s no question that James is the leader on the Sixers. James holds everyone accountable, including stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, when their play is sloppy. Once this season Simmons threw a behind the back pass out of bounds, LeBron gave Simmons “the look” and nothing else had to be said.
Last year Embiid and Simmons averaged little over seven turnovers a game between them. This year their combined turnovers are less than six between them. The Philadelphia 76ers averaged the most turnovers in the league in last year with 16.5 per game, are middle of the pack this year with slightly over 15 per game. That’s just one of many areas LeBron James has made a difference on this young Sixers team.
Next: Sixers draft profile: Jalen Brunson
The game is about to start as Meek Mill is finishing up rapping the National Anthem.