If the Cavaliers win to force a Game 7 that was virtually unthinkable less than a week ago and then go on to win the series and become the first team in the history of the National Basketball Association to rally from a 3-1 hole in the Finals, then Green’s loss of composure and will go down in the annals of American sports history with the ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs and Scott Norwood’s kick sailing wide right as all-time championship gaffes.
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There are a lot of factors that have brought us to this moment - Draymond Green’s suspension, the Warriors’ defensive deterioration, Kyrie Irving’s near-impeccable Game 5, the Cavs’ dominant start to Game 6 - but make no mistake, this is the doing of James.
Stephen Curry (30 points) and Klay Thompson (25) tried hard for the Warriors as they looked to seal back-to-back championships.
Now, he has become a liability, particularly in the NBA Finals as love is a shell of the player he used to be. Angry people and the internet are a timeless mix, and this is a particularly amusing example, because seriously, who is out to get the Currys, or the Warriors?
But after splitting the next two games, the resurgent Cavs used a sparkling Game Five performance to shift momentum in their favor and, perhaps, place a seed of doubt in the minds of the Warriors.
If a Game 7 is needed on Sunday night, this series would need 18 days to go from start to finish – and that would match the 1978 NBA Finals for the longest championship round in major USA sports history.
The Cavaliers can make history, and capture Cleveland’s first pro sports championship in 52 years, with a victory in Oakland on Sunday.
“I don’t really think about past experiences too much”, James said dismissively.
“I’m not great at maths, but six to eight weeks minimum is what I’ve been told, so it is very unlikely at this point, to be honest”, Bogut told reporters in Cleveland ahead of the Warriors’ game six clash with the Cavaliers.
Green said “it was one of the weirdest days of my life” when he was not able to play in Game 5.
“We definitely need Kev to play better”, James said.
Starting with 5:38 in the third quarter of Game 6 and ending when both teams emptied their benches for garbage time, James scored or assisted on 35 of the Cavs’ 36 points. He was expected to play for Australia in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, with that team’s first game scheduled for August 6.
Though the state of the series is identical to last season’s first Warriors-Cavaliers showdown, the circumstances and the feel of it are different and more complicated.
“It’s an incredible feeling when you can quiet 20,000 screaming fans”, Green said Wednesday at The Q.
Curry was ejected from Game 6 with 4:22 left after he was called for his sixth personal foul, cursed at an official and fired his mouthpiece into the front row, striking a fan.
“I’ve got to come out and play my game regardless, but there are those little fine lines where you just know you can’t cross them”. In Game 5, he finished with six.
“That’s a good reminder”, Thompson said.
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“But he has a chance to redeem himself tomorrow”. But at the same time, like I said, can’t just show up and expect to win.
