JFG Nation, I knew it. I KNEW IT. I knew that last night’s GSW-CLE NBA Finals game would happen just the way it did. After watching the playoffs for the past goddamn two months (NBA, I really don’t need a seven game series in April), the script basically wrote itself.

I told my co-workers yesterday: this rematch of last year’s NBA Finals was going to be very different but with the same result. All season Cleveland has been a different team – with Mozgov gone, the team ran more and shot more 3s. With a healthy Kyrie and the Blatt drama somewhat behind them, Cleveland was free to physically dominate opponents. Which, in the East, wasn’t difficult.

In the West, GSW has a fully healthy team in the Finals. Let’s be honest – that OKC matchup was brutal. Russell Westbrook might be the most athletic player in the league, and OKC’s length gave Curry and Co. fits. The OKC-GSW matchup was a coaching chess match between Kerr and Donovan. After OKC disrupted GSW’s small lineup, the Warriors did something unexpected – they went big with some half court sets getting Bogut/Speights involved. Eventually Curry woke up and realized he didn’t need to shoot over Steven Adams; he could just dribble around him for easy 2s. OKC took care of the rest of the implosion themselves (KEEP PASSING UP WIDE OPEN SHOTS, ROBERSON).

After listening to ESPN hang all over the Warriors jockstraps this past month, I was so tempted to choose the Cavs out of spite. But I had to stop myself; let’s not get crazy here. Here’s why I told my co-workers yesterday I thought GSW would win in 5:

1. Just basic predictions: GSW takes both at home, CLE adjusts to win Game 3 at home, GSE regroups and takes Game 4, and then the Warriors deal it at home in Game 5.
2. GSW’s strength is actually not their 3-point shooting, but rather their rotations. They keep rotating rotating rotating until they find the mismatch. CLE is WAAAAY slower than OKC, and there’s no way they can keep up. And that’s exactly what happened last night – GSW kept rotating until Tristan Thompson was guarding Curry. TRISTAN THOMPSON. The guy moves like molasses. Curry broke his ankles with a jab step and moved on to the dessert round with ease.
3. CLE, if they are to have ANY hope, needs Kevin Love to play like a center. CLE YOU HAVE SIZE USE IT MY GOD WHY ARE YOU ON THE PERIMETER KEVIN LOVE??? Even Jalen Rose commented at halftime: “Stop playing Love on the perimeter.” And out of the half, CLE did that – Love quickly had 15 and 12, and the Cavs were up by 1! Then the remembered that they have no discipline and handed GSW an 18 point lead. Nice work, player-coach Lebron.
4. And that’s the thing: the whole Blatt thing was ridiculous because it really highlighted how uncoachable Lebron is. He’s the greatest player on Earth and HE WILL NOT BE DENIED. Except when he had no idea how to make adjustments except for to sigh heavily and scream at his teammates. You think Tyronn Lue is doing anything? I saw his mic’d up sideline speech, and all he was saying was “Let’s close the half strong, guys.” Hey, way to innovate, coach.

I’m being hard on the Cavs, and I feel bad for Cleveland as a city, but GSW is too fast, the Cavs are getting outcoached, and there’s nothing they can do about it UNLESS 1) Kevin Love starts playing like an ACTUAL CENTER and 2) GSW suffers an injury. By the way, is Shaun Livingston still on fire? Someone put him out, please.

Your thoughts in the comments below – let’s sports nerd out today.

Today’s junk food: Buck Wild Snacks!!

Buck Wild Snacks are ALL OVER Starbucks and other food joints, so I was very excited when they reached out to me to sample the wares. I chose three items to review, but here is a rundown of all their products:

Buck Wild Roasted Garlic Popcorn: made with whole grains.

Buck Wild Caramel Bourbon Popcorn: made with whole grains.

Buck Wild Chipotle Cheddar Popcorn: made with whole grains.

Buck Wild Sea Salt Tortilla Chips: yellow corn with seeds.

Buck Wild Korean BBQ Tortilla Chips: yellow corn with seeds and grains.

Buck Wild Jalapeno Jack Tortilla Chips: yellow corn with jalapeno peppers.

Buck Wild Roasted Tomato Herb Tortilla Chips: yellow corn with seeds and grains.

Buck Wild Chocolate Banana Snack Mix: banana chips, chocolate granola, pretzels, chocolate cookies.

Buck Wild Honey BBQ Snack Mix: corn nuggets, pita bites, corn sticks, peanuts, glazed pretzels.

Like I said above, I reviewed three (below) and then passed on the rest to another food writer friend of mine to see what SHE thought! I’ll post those links up in later posts. Let’s get to my choices:

First up: Buck Wild Chipotle Cheddar Popcorn!

You guys knew I had to try the Buck Wild Chipotle Cheddar Popcorn. The JFGal loves popcorn, so she had this bag open before I could say anything. The bag smelled amazing – super cheesy with a decent smokiness.

The taste was just as good as the smell. NOT spicy, but the popcorn had a very good chipotle flavor. Smoky, sort of sweet, good adobo pepper flavor. The cheddar cheese wasn’t super sharp but plenty creamy and savory. The overall flavor had LOTS of garlic and paprika flavor. All in all, EXCELLENT – super flavorful without being spicy. Loved it.

Next up: Buck Wild Jalapeno Jack Tortilla Chips!

These Buck Wild Jalapeno Jack Tortilla Chips were the JFGal’s second choice. Opening the bag, there was a nice corn smell, with a tad of savoriness. I sniffffffed – a tiny bit of jalapeño vegetable-ness? Not much.

Biting into one of these chips, it was more crunchy than crispy. While at first I thought these were a little bland, the more I chewed the more flavor I got. These jack cheese flavor really came through after a few chews; it was creamy and VERY sharp/tangy. The jalapeños that were baked into the chips gave nice veg flavor. Not a ton of burn, just a tingle of spice enough to give that jalapeño taste. The thicker corn tortilla chip had a nice straightforward flavor; it might’ve drowned the seasoning a bit. Still, after a few chips, I can confirm these tasted good.

Didn’t like this as much as the Chipotle Cheddar popcorn, but still a good snack.

Finally: Buck Wild Caramel Bourbon Popcorn!

This Buck Wild Caramel Bourbon Popcorn was MY choice, and it was a good one. Opening the bag, I definitely got a sweet smell that reminded me of bourbon – sort of that alcohol-dredged sweetness you get from a sazerac.

The popcorn was coated with a lovely crisp shell of caramel and it was DELICIOUS. The caramel wasn’t super sweet; instead the sweetness was tinged with the most unusual flavor. THE BOURBON. It changed the complexion of the caramel and made it deeper, less sweet, and more…. Alcohol-y? You ever have those chocolates that have alcohol inside? And when you chew them the overall flavor is a SUPER boozy chocolate? Well this is similar – it tasted like sightly boozy caramel. Still sweet but not cloying and full of bourbon flavor. LOVED this.

So there ya go: thanks to Buck Wild for the samples! The popcorns will be a re-buy for me. If you’ve had these or some of the other varieties, let me know what you thought in the comments below! Or if you disagree with me NBA Finals prediction, let me know that too.

PURCHASED AT: Sent to me, but they are there at your local Starbucks, I promise!

COST: $various

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

The JFG