The Oscar-winning films about crime, family, honor – and revenge – soothe and motivate him.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers return home and are looking to force a Game 7 against the defending-champion Golden State Warriors.
Bogut said he heard two bones crack, though that was apparently the bone-on-bone impact.
The fact James and Irving were en route to becoming the first teammates to score 40 points in the same game in NBA Finals history certainly played a role, but Love, who is in the second year of a five-year contract that will pay him nearly $110 million, also committed two turnovers and didn’t get an offensive rebound.
James has been in this spot before.
The significance of what happened Monday at Golden State hasn’t been lost on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stephen Curry got into Quicken Loans Arena without difficulty. Wherever you want them.
To avoid any pain whatsoever, and pack this series up for a third trip to Northern California, the Cavs can’t count on James and Irving to duplicate their effort in Game 5, when they scored 41 points apiece and had a hand in 97 as Cleveland won 112-97. Remember, the Warriors are lucky to even be in the finals in the first place. Still, his Warriors are on the cusp of back-to-back titles and could hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy again with a win in Game 6 on Thursday night. In a 108-97 home loss in Game 4, James and Irving took 33 of the team’s 38 second-half shots while the Warriors overcame a five-point halftime deficit to outscore the Cavaliers 58-42 after halftime and take a 3-1 series lead.
Whatever Lue decides, James knows how Love can help.
“It’s just about coming out with that aggressive mindset, pushing in transition and getting easy opportunities that we can take advantage of”, Irving said. “Having worked for TNT for eight years, Craig’s a good friend and that was the one thing that we never got to do with TNT”. That said, in almost every matchup outside of the Golden State Warriors, the Cavs have the advantage (with Love in the lineup). He has been one of the better catch-and-shoot players on the Cavs, making 37.5% of his attempts, and he’s scored on all of his drives to the rim. “He’s too big of a piece to our puzzle”.
However, there was one person who didn’t think Love would be a great fit with the Cavs, and oddly enough, it was someone who knew Love very well: Timberwolves owner, Glen Taylor.
Draymond Green, who missed Game 5 of the 2016 Finals after being suspended for an accumulation of flagrant fouls, had a monster performance a year ago, recording a triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. His teams are 8-7. James is a notorious creature of habit and he wasn’t going to alter his routine before Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
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“I’m not going to be travelling around, doing all that if I’m not playing”, Bogut said. “Grab some rebounds, find some teammates”. Guys put the ball in my face and get some blocks, and guys throw some errant passes and I’m able to get some steals. He has the highest scoring average in elimination games of anyone who has played in at least five.
