His mission isn’t complete. That alone should bring Warriors fans a sense of comfort as the team limps into Game 7. Nevertheless, Iguodala is preparing for one of the biggest games of his life with the focus and determination that have served him well throughout his long career.
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Game 7 is Sunday on the Warriors’ home floor in Oakland, Calif. This is where legends are made and legacies are cemented.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were down 3-1 going into Game 5 of the NBA Finals. “I’m not going to do it again”.
GSW fans were stunned when Ayesha went into a Twitter meltdown after the game, calling out officials for poor decisions that she felt cost her man’s team.
“I start to learn from my mistakes and break into the film and seeing the ways that they’re defending me, the ways they’re defending our team, ways I can be a little more efficient”, James said.
A third ring would also put James on par with Larry Bird, the inventor of the so-called point-forward position that James relishes, within the hierarchy of modern-era superstars. Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson had a memorable, if more lighthearted, exchange in Monte Carlo before the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, after Johnson complained about a foul call during a Dream Team scrimmage.
Perhaps a monster game by Curry or Klay Thompson in a Warriors’ win would sway the voters their way despite a less-than stellar Finals by the Splash Brothers. The Warriors are only the third team to be taken to a seventh game after being up 3-1, the first in half a century.
Cleveland fans have not celebrated a major team sports title since the 1964 Browns won the National Football League crown in the pre-Super Bowl era, but the Cavaliers are on the verge of ending the epic drought.
With one more win, James has the chance to take control of the rest of his career.
Down 3-1 in the series, the Cavaliers reverted to a strategy that has served James well: Give him the ball. Then he looked disconnected in Game 6.
But failing to crown that achievement with another title, after beating the Cavs in six games a year ago in the Finals, would suck the joy out of an otherwise wondrous campaign. Although Curry struggled in last year’s finals as well, the subsequent comparisons to all-time greats have fueled a much greater round of criticism. The Cavs staved off elimination for the second time in the series, claiming a 115-101 home victory Thursday and forcing a Game 7 Sunday night in Oracle Arena.
The Warriors seemed to have identified and exploited James’ fatal flaw and it lent the air of statistical legitimacy to arguments that James’ best days were behind him and the Warriors’ sweet-shooting Stephen Curry was the NBA’s best player, not him. He was trying to throw it at the scorer’s table and missed, which strangely fit a night where the Warriors shot only 40 percent. “I try not to get star-struck with watching”, said Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith.
He has nearly single-handedly punctured the Warriors’ will, leaving the defending champions with little time to figure out how to slow him down.
Yet the aggregate score of the six games could not be closer, 610 points apiece, and the prospect of a compelling finale has reportedly raised the price for premium courtside tickets to almost $50,000.
“I’m okay we lost…”
A Golden State win would cement their season as mathematically the best ever, and place the Warriors among the all-time greatest National Basketball Association dynasties.
“You just don’t see kind of that rhythm and that flow and just the energy that we play with the offensive end”, Curry said Saturday.
“10 mins til game time and the whole teams families are sitting here on a bus”.
In 2013, James poured in 37 points to match Tom Heinsohn’s 1957 scoring record in an NBA Finals game seven and power Miami over San Antonio 95-88. His line of 41 points (again!); eight rebounds and 11 assists with four steals and three blocks translated into a GameScore of 42.5, the best ever recorded. Our back was against the wall and he took it upon himself, him and Kyrie, they put us on their backs.
Thompson expects a big game from Curry. But I don’t add too much pressure on it. “We all plan to do the same and follow his lead”. With back-to-back epic performances, he’s given hope to generations of fans who have known mostly sports misery that the drought will end Sunday in Game 7 – on Father’s Day.
Last year, the Cavs were decimated by injuries to guard Kyrie Irving and forward Kevin Love. Last time, he addressed Curry’s MVP, his words got tangled into wondering if he deserved the award after questioning the criteria.
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How we revel in the spontaneous collisions of the game’s very best.
