It’s “been awhile” since Kyrie Irving watched a replay of his game-winning 3-pointer in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, but it’s still fresh in the mind of the Cavaliers point guard.
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The Warriors and their cast of All-Stars led by Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are undefeated after sweeping their three best-of-seven playoff series, a feat never accomplished before. The Warriors were a great Under bet in non-conference contests, with a 9-21 Over/Under mark.
Golden State, unbeaten this postseason at 12-0 with sweeps of Houston, Utah and San Antonio, hosts the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers in Games 1 and 2 on Thursday and Sunday.
Not necessarily. Out of the last five times that a road team has lost Game 1, three of those have won the series.
That really is what the rubber-match Finals comes down to, real stars.
All these questions will be answered. “This year we will win it on our own turf and Cleveland will be lit up like Las Vegas”, said Wheeler.
“We’re a better Cavaliers team, and they’re a better Warriors team”, he said. He returns this year more closely resembling the stat-stuffing machine he was in Minnesota than at any other time since he was traded following James’ decision to come back to Cleveland. “I’m still feeling a lot of the effects of what I’ve got going on”, added Kerr, who won the Coach of the Year award last year for leading the Warriors to a record 73 regular-season victories. Can Brown get the best out of Draymond Green?
Cleveland were the first team to draft a Canadian player with the first overall draft pick when they selected Anthony Bennett in 2013. They played great basketball this year. The Warriors can spread any defense thin with their buffet of options.
However, as LeBron is quick to tell you, he doesn’t care what anybody outside of Cleveland’s locker room thinks, nor should he.
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has Golden State as a minus-260 favorite compared with Cleveland at plus-220. It was a stark contrast to their December 25 meeting this season, when James went 4-for-4 for 10 points when he was defended by Durant.
“This is a high powered team … it’s going to be very challenging not only on me mentally but on our ball club and on our franchise”.
It’s not because I’m picking Golden State to win this series that starts Thursday night.
Kevin Love sat out the 2015 finals with a shoulder injury and was more of a blue-collar, dirty work player in last year’s conquest. I believe he knows he’s better than Kevin Durant.
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But only the Warriors can say that when Game 1 tips they’ll have spent 52 straight days without losing. He was outstanding, the Warriors were outstanding, he and Durant combined to frighten opponents nearly nightly.
