41 of 49 experts we found picked the Golden State Warriors over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2015 NBA Finals. That’s a surprise, even if it is common sense. You’d think more than a handful of NBA experts would go with their heart and LeBron James. Especially when you consider that 27 – 27! – of these picks are from ESPN, the worldwide leader in LeBron love.
Scoreboard Page: Congrats to LeBron James for making 5 consecutive NBA Finals. Not sure what winning only 2 of them does to his legacy – not much, since the media skews milestones to prop him up – but you can’t blame him if they don’t win this year. This injured Cavaliers team has overachieved, but the franchise should win one in the future. The Warriors, meanwhile, are a team of destiny, validating their great regular season by surviving a much tougher Western Conference playoffs. Steph Curry is unreal, and he’s not even the best player in this series. This has classic mismatch written all over it, so that’s how we’ll write it. Warriors in 5.
CBS Sports
Ken Berger: Warriors in 7
Zach Harper: Warriors in 6
James Herbert: Warriors in 6
Matt Moore: Warriors in 5
Ananth Pandian: Cavaliers in 6
Sporting News
Sean Deveney: Warriors in 7
Adi Joseph: Warriors in 5
Sports Illustrated
LEE JENKINS: Warriors in 6
CHRIS BALLARD: Warriors in 6
BEN GOLLIVER: Warriors in 6
MICHAEL ROSENBERG: Warriors in 6
ROB MAHONEY: Warriors in 6
PHIL TAYLOR: Warriors in 7
MATT DOLLINGER: Cavaliers in 6
DEANTAE PRINCE: Warriors in 5
USA Today
Sam Amick: Warriors in 7
Jeff Zillgitt: Warriors in 7
Kevin Spain: Warriors in 5
Jarrett Bell: Warriors in 7
Scott Gleeson: Cavaliers in 7
ESPN
J.A. Adande: Warriors in 7
Kevin Arnovitz: Warriors in 5
Ian Begley: Cavaliers in 7
Chris Broussard: Cavaliers in 6
Brad Doolittle: Warriors in 6
Amin Elhassan: Warriors in 5
Chad Ford: Warriors in 7
Chris Forsberg: Cavaliers in 7
Nick Friedell: Warriors in 5
Israel Gutierrez: Warriors in 5
Tom Haberstroh: Warriors in 5
Baxter Holmes: Warriors in 6
Scoop Jackson: Warriors in 6
Tim MacMahon: Warriors in 6
Arash Markazi: Warriors in 6
Mike Mazzeo: Warriors in 6
Dave McMenamin: Cavaliers in 6
Kevin Pelton: Warriors in 7
Ramona Shelburne: Warriors in 7
Marc Stein: Warriors in 6
Ethan Strauss: Warriors in 5
David Thorpe: Warriors in 6
Michael Wallace : Warriors in 6
Calvin Watkins: Cavaliers in 6
Michael Wright: Warriors in 7
Royce Young: Warriors in 6
Ohm Youngmisuk: Warriors in 7
Read more: http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2015/story/_/id/13000122/nba-finals-predictions
Bill Simmons: Warriors in 5
Read more: https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/605756352544284672