Local coaches weigh in on Finals

June 3, 2015 at 12:09a.m.

When it comes to predicting the NBA Finals, Warren Harding coach Andy Vlajkovich probably speaks for a lot of Northeast Ohioans.

“My heart is with the Cavs but my head says the Warriors,” he said.

Cleveland’s quest to end a 51-year championship drought begins Thursday when the Cavaliers begin a seven-game series at Golden State. On one hand, the Warriors have a better regular-season record, advanced through a tougher conference and have managed to stay healthy during one of the most injury-plagued playoffs in NBA history.

On the other hand, the Cavaliers have LeBron James and a supporting cast that is playing its best basketball of the season, even without Kevin Love and (maybe) Kyrie Irving.

Vlajkovich is picking the Warriors to win in seven games.

“Cleveland must be physical and hope to wear down an excellent jump shooting-team in Golden State,” he said via email. “If the Warrior make shots they are hard to beat.

“Conventional wisdom says jump shooting teams struggle in the postseason at all levels of basketball. But Golden State doesn’t appear to be a conventional team. Should be a great series.”

Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach, whose team lost in the Division III regional semifinals to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary when James was a freshman in 2000, is picking the Cavaliers in six games.

“I think the biggest difference is, once they added the new guys, their defense got so much better,” Sembach said of the midseason trades that added Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov. “Guys like Shumpert, Smith and LeBron have length and can move. They can do as good or better than anyone on Golden State’s 3-point shooters.”

The X-factor might be Irving, Sembach said.

“A healthy Kyrie increase their chances,” he said. “He’s a great player, but when you talk defense, he wasn’t a great defender anyhow. Now that he’s injured, that could bother things.”

Youngstown State women’s basketball coach John Barnes hails from Michigan’s upper peninsula and has only lived in Ohio for a little more than two years. Still, he’s picking the Cavaliers in six games.

“I’m really excited about the NBA Finals starting this week,” he said via email. “To have the Cavs in it with LeBron and Golden State with [Steph] Curry, things will get interesting fast. The entire state of Ohio and a majority of the country is fired up to see if LBJ can bring the first championship back to Cleveland in 51 years!

“I think the Cavs will win it in six. LeBron’s experience along with Blatt’s will put them over the top. Although Blatt is a rookie coach in the NBA, he has 22 years of coaching experience to [Steve] Kerr’s one. We’ll see!”

Springfield coach Eric Fender and Poland assistant Chad Fender, who both played for the Bulldogs against James in the 2002 Division II state semifinals, are both picking the Cavaliers to win in six games.

“Just watching the way Cleveland has played defense the last two rounds, I like what they’re doing,” Eric said. “They’re rebounding the ball really well. The big thing is how they match up with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

“Being a Cleveland fan, I’m going to say they’re going to win it in six games. But if they have to go back to Golden State in Game 7, they’re going to have difficulty out there. They have to close it out in six in Cleveland.”

Added Chad, “The Cavs are playing so well and I’m biased. I’m a Cavs fan. I hope they win Game 6 in Cleveland so the city can celebrate. We’ve been through enough with the Browns and the Indians.”