I developed a lot of respect for LeBron last year when he made the Finals competitive without the next two best players on the team. I do think, though, that Cleveland should just bite the bullet and name him the coach. Seriously, MLB occasionally has a playing manager, why can't an NBA team have a playing coach? He can't do everything a HC needs to do, particularly when he's on the floor, but that's why there are Assistant coaches. If he wants to draw up plays, determine who the team trades for, etc., make it official. He's already doing it, so you can't argue that he can't do that and play, too.
I live in Oakland, but I'm not going to write off the Spurs. Even with that blowout, they still have a higher point differential than the Warriors, on a record pace. And like the Warriors, they rest their starters when leading late in games. A recent 5/38 analysis revealed an absolutely jaw-dropping stat: by +/-, the Spurs reserves are not only far and away the best in the NBA--it's not even remotely close--the stats suggest that if they were the starters, the Spurs would still be better than any other team but the Warriors:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-spurs-bench-could-probably-make-the-playoffs-on-its-own/
I still think the WCF will come down to Spurs vs. Warriors. But the semis could be challenging for both teams. The most important benefit of being the no. 1 seed may be not having to play OKC in the second round. Then again, if the Warriors are the no. 1 seed, they will probably play the Clippers, who have been playing really well without Griffin (who, just about ready to come back from an injury, has now broken his hand in a fight with a staff member, and will be out an additional month plus).
I live in Oakland, but I'm not going to write off the Spurs. Even with that blowout, they still have a higher point differential than the Warriors, on a record pace. And like the Warriors, they rest their starters when leading late in games. A recent 5/38 analysis revealed an absolutely jaw-dropping stat: by +/-, the Spurs reserves are not only far and away the best in the NBA--it's not even remotely close--the stats suggest that if they were the starters, the Spurs would still be better than any other team but the Warriors:
Every other team’s reserves rate as below-average relative to the entire league. The Warriors’ bench, for instance, ranks third with an aggregate BPM of -1.6. But the Spurs’ non-starters have an eye-popping cumulative BPM of +11.5. If we convert that number into its Elo-rating equivalent, the Spurs’ bench would come in at 1760 — enough talent to net between 64 and 65 wins over an 82-game season.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-spurs-bench-could-probably-make-the-playoffs-on-its-own/
I still think the WCF will come down to Spurs vs. Warriors. But the semis could be challenging for both teams. The most important benefit of being the no. 1 seed may be not having to play OKC in the second round. Then again, if the Warriors are the no. 1 seed, they will probably play the Clippers, who have been playing really well without Griffin (who, just about ready to come back from an injury, has now broken his hand in a fight with a staff member, and will be out an additional month plus).