Everyone prepares for the NBA Finals differently. Some people watch film and scout the matchups, or listen to expert opinions on the showdown between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors.
The Tomo News YouTube channel, meanwhile, creates an insane preview of Warriors/Cavs III with its trademark Tawanese animation style full of exaggerated character types and goofy pratfalls.
Tomo News had made this an annual tradition, and this year’s video is just as crazy as the last.
There are plenty of strange choices made in the video, but it does accurately tell the story: The Warriors blew a 3-1 lead last year, then got Kevin Durant to join the team and reach a third straight NBA Finals.
The weird use of Russell Westbrook actually makes it funnier, I think, and it’s actually not a bad introduction to the Finals if you haven’t been paying attention this year.
Visual metaphors are often used to show the history behind the matchup here. For example, here’s Stephen Curry and LeBron James playing video games together. This is what happens when Curry wins.
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But for every Dancing Curry there is a Crying Curry.
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The important members of each team are highlighted. They even manage to reference Kyrie Irving saying that Earth is flat. It’s a great Thomas Friedman reference, too.
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Some of the truly weird parts come from an attempt at wordplay. For example, here’s Kevin Love in a Timberwolves jersey urinating on Kevin Durant to force a turnover.
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Do you get it? I almost do! Anyway, here’s maybe the best screenshot of the video, especially without context.
The next line says the Cavaliers need James to “dump” on both ends of the floor, but you don’t even need that to know they’re going for a joke there. The scene ends with a fart noise to really sell it.
And then there’s Draymond Green mashing LeBron James’ testicles with various instruments and hitting a very small Kyrie Irving with a chair.
If the actual NBA Finals is as interesting as this video, we’ll have plenty to talk about.
