PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - Just as many of us predicted, as the 2015 NBA Finals wore on, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers wore out.

Andre Iguodala was the surprise MVP holding James to 35 percent shooting when he was covering him and representing the self-sacrifice and strict attention to player health and well-being that made the difference in favor of the Golden State Warriors. After coming off the bench all season long, he was the freshest player on the court!

The team that lost the fewest minutes to player injury during the season won out in the end against a team that rode into the ground the world's best player by leaving him on the court for a whopping 46 minutes a game while averaging 36 points on 40 percent shooting.

It was still too much LeBron as the Warriors won the last three games in a row. Too much playing time, too many touches, shots and most of all, too much power. His rookie head coach, David Blatt, tried to give James everything he wanted but ended up not giving him what he truly needed. LeBron is already a team leader, player and winner but also being a player-coach was biting off more than he could chew. James had shown more respect for Mike Brown and Eric Spoelstra in the past as he vetoed plays and undermined Blatt's decision-making which ended up looking disrespectful. Blatt went along because he knew that he lacked experience at the NBA level, something LeBron had plenty of.

Of course, in the end the bottom line was that, without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, Cleveland was destined to lose anyway. Cleveland's loss in the Finals was not due to Blatt's inexperience.

On the opposing bench another rookie coach, Steve Kerr, was clearly in charge. He made the tactical adjustments when the Warriors were down 2-1 which helped Golden State conquer its own rookie nerves and inexperience, at this level, to go on to win the title. Kerr replaced Andrew Bogut with Iguodala in the starting five forcing the series to "go small" and the rest is history. Kerr helped out more on LeBron and let Cleveland's big men run wild the way the Cavs doubled Steph Curry in the first three games. In both cases, the simple idea was to get the ball out of the hands of the two superstars and make their teammates beat you and Curry had the more efficient teammates.

As much as I respect what Iguodala brought to the Warriors at every level, the MVP of the Finals was still Curry because he created so much of the Warriors offense with his shooting and passing and forced the Cavs defense to spend so much energy and concentration on trying to limit his impact. This gave Curry's teammates wide open looks.

Looking into the future, I see that Las Vegas has already named the Cavs favorites to win the title next season but I remain sceptical because I think Love might leave or be traded and if he stays, his chemistry with LeBron isn't that great.

Now that Golden State have proven that a seven seconds or less, run-and-gun team CAN win the championship - if it plays top flight defense too - their window of opportunity seems to be the largest for the upcoming seasons.  Their use of modern technology and analytics to keep players healthy, efficient and available will take them a long way. This was proven by the way Iguodala and the Warriors dominated James and the Cavs in the fourth quarters of the last three games.

As for James, who will probably choose Cleveland's coach for next season, he should remember that Michael Jordan's greatest success came when he did a little less on his own while helping his teammates to do more. Jordan also left no doubt in people's minds concerning who was the coach.

I'd like to leave you with one last quote from Iguodala, the ultimate team player and high basketball IQ phenom who took a page from one of John Wooden's or Dean Smith's books by saying: "I don't think a trophy or a ring can really signify who you are as a person but the work you put in every day says it all."

George Eddy

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