The NBA Finals are here.
And while an Oklahoma City Thunder-Indiana Pacers Finals might not have all the glitz and glamour that comes with a Los Angeles or New York franchise playing, it’s a matchup that excites former Warriors guard Shaun Livingston.
“I like it,” Livingston told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole on Wednesday. “I mean, you look at those teams … they’re playing the best basketball obviously, you know, as a team. The connectivity, the way they’re sharing the ball, defensively, there’s great coaching on both sides. Just the way the chess match that’s being played, the game within the game and then, you know, the stars, obviously, they’re playing at a high level.”
And while the youthfulness of the two teams and their stars don’t bare many similarities with the current Warriors roster, Livingston said he sees some between the Thunder and his 2014-15 Warriors squad.
“They remind me of our first year, you know, and the way that they’re connected and also defensively the way that they can just really bite down and lock into guys, 1 through 5,” Livingston told Poole.
That first NBA championship of a now dynastic Warriors teams not only torched teams with a high-powered offense led by Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, but also played flawless defense, headlined by Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green, especially in the postseason where they held opponents to an NBA-best 98.8 defensive rating en route to the team’s first title since 1975.
The three-time NBA champion also mentioned the fact that only four players on the collective rosters have Finals experience — Thomas Bryant, Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam for the Pacers and only Alex Caruso for the Thunder — and compared that to his own experiences.
“I remember our first year,” Livingston told Poole. “Just, the lights, they’re bright. That first game, it’s almost like you got to calm yourself and kind of get into the flow because you want it so much. You want to win the whole series just in that first moment because of the intensity and energy.”
While both teams in this year’s matchup have at least one player with Finals experience, that Warriors 2014-15 roster had zero.
When asked about who he expects to win, Livingston said he just wants “to see good basketball” before telling Poole that he does have the Thunder winning due to his Western Conference ties.
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