If Cleveland comes back and wins the series, what will the narrative be?

[Moranis]

Obviously this is a gigantic IF, but I'm curious as to what you guys think the initial narrative will be (historically narratives always change).

[max215]

Green suspension without a doubt for me.

[Donoghus]

Green suspension.  League steering the series in favor of the Cavs.

[CelticSooner]

A little bit of everything. GS collapsing and "The King" getting Cleveland a championship leading the pack.

[dannyboy35]

I don't think the cavs have much of a chance with game 7 in golden state they will be getting every call. But I think it would put a huge asterisk on last year's title. I already believe Cleveland would have beat them without injuries.

[CelticGuardian]

GS will pretty much be reduced to the Brooklyn Nets and LeBron is still Commissioner of the league.

[dannyboy35]

Draymond hurt his team. There's an argument for WHEN he was suspended but he should have been out last series. I think okc should really be in the finals right now.

[mef730]

"The league fixed it to give a championship to Cleveland."

Mike

[gift]

If Golden State loses the next two I don't think you can solely blame the Green suspension. It will be a footnote, but not the main story.

City of Cleveland championship is without a doubt the biggest story. That's what people will remember.

Also, I agree there's an argument that Green should have been suspended against OKC which makes it less likely Golden State is even in the finals. So that reduces the conspiracy effect for me.

[ManUp]

The greatness of Lebron.

[CelticSooner]

Green not being suspended for Game 4 against OKC had very little effect on the series. OKC still won that game easily. Regardless Golden State has no excuses for losing this series. They are more likely to win tonight then lose two games in Oracle.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I understand Green's importance to GS, but I think the significance of his suspension is overblown. It was one game. If GS still loses Games 6 and 7 (the latter at home) with him, that will be proof enough for me that his suspension will have had little to do with their historic collapse.

[PhoSita]

It'll depend on how that happens.

If Kyrie and Bron average forty points the next two games, then it's all about what they did to overcome the Warriors.

But if the games are close, or the Cavs just win both games handily, then it'll be Draymond suspension, Warriors choke, and Lebron is the best player and Curry is overrated.

[Csfan1984]

Prince Irving not King James leads Cavs to championship.

[bdm860]

I think the initial narrative will be a hodgepodge of different things but centered around 2 major themes:

1. The greatness of LeBron: how he brought a championship to Cleveland, 3 rings, and revisiting 2015.  It's clear now he would have won in 2015 if not for the Irving and Love injuries, and he still took the Warriors to 6 games by himself last year.

2. One of the greatest seasons ever, filled with records, upsets, and the unpredictable which shows the diversity/balance in the league.  We had 2 teams challenging for 70 wins, with 1 setting the all time record, yet neither won the championship.  Only 9 teams ever came back when down 3-1 before these playoffs, now we have 2 more in back-to-back series.  No team has ever come back 3-1 to win, then lose the next series when up 3-1, blah, blah, blah.

Not that I necessarily agree or disagree with 1 or 2, but I can just picture all the ABC and ESPN analysts talking about those things now following a Cleveland victory in Game 7.

As for Green and Bogut, I don't think they're big enough stars to be part of the narrative.  Even if they were, the narrative is rarely centered around the losers.  In '11 I think the narrative was more about Dirk, Cuban, and Co. rather than the superstar-laden Heat not delivering a championship.  Only hardcore C's fans think the loss in 2010 was because of Perk's injury.  Nobody really cares that Karl Malone was injured in '04 or how the Lakers were imploding, everybody just talks about the Pistons victory and their team defense.  In '05 the narrative wasn't Sheed not guarding Horry on the inbounds play, it was more how great Duncan and friends were, back where they belong.  Sure there will be some talk around some of the many what-ifs by hardcore fans and some talking heads as they try to fill up a 1/2 hour or an hour tv show or podcast, but the main narrative will be on LeBron's greatness and how awesome the NBA is in general and how any team can win.