Boston Celtics players Al Horford, Avery Bradley, Jonas Jerebko and Kelly Olynyk look on during the second half of Thursday s season-ending loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals in Boston.
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But Kevin Love doesn’t buy it. “We’re trying to repeat, which is so hard to do”. “I’m very happy and I’m going to enjoy it until we play Golden State”. Cleveland won by one on Christmas Day, Golden State prevailed by 35 on January 16.
“They’ve been playing great, but you can’t get too far ahead of yourself”, Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said of the Warriors. That goes for any team in the league when players of that magnitude leave the game but the Cavs must find a way to get better production from their reserves. We’ll go from there.
Kevin Durant and Steph Curry roll into the NBA Finals with a ideal record through three rounds. That’s enough motivation alone. Even Danny [Ainge] and those guys say that, so that says a lot about who they are as people. “He has us, starting next Thursday”.
The Los Angeles Lakers had set the previous record of 12 straight wins in potential elimination games from 2000-2004. “So that’s what we’re focused on”. The Warriors would like to regain the title they earned by defeating Cleveland in the 2015 Finals.
The win sets up a third consecutive match-up with Western Conference champion Golden State, the team it beat in the finals last season to claim the franchise’s first championship. Many unanswered questions could be answered this time around. “I didn’t go bald like Mike but I’m getting there”. Speaking of avenging, Draymond Green is back to end the narrative of how his suspension in last year’s Finals might have ignited Cleveland’s comeback from a 3-1 deficit. “But I’m proud of our guys”. “Says what he really wants”. The Cavs have improved since last season, particularly Kevin Love.
“I don’t think there could have been any more hype than there was”, Memphis guard Mike Conley said.
If you don’t want to rile up friends and relatives over the long weekend, you might also steer clear of the James-Jordan comparison. “We have a bigger goal in mind”.
In other sports, just the teams are saddled with salary caps or a luxury tax, so they can only afford so many stars.
“This will be talked about long after us”, Green said. “We knew they’d be right there”. One talented player can have a huge impact on their team.
LeBron James plays the role of underdog as his Cavs meet up with Steph Curry (r.) and Warriors again. Also, the Warriors are home to the only unanimous MVP victor ever in Stephen Curry, again only Golden State can claim to that.
But there’s just one trilogy that can define this Cavs-Warriors matchup. “You adapt to the style and that’s the same thing that happened to me when I went to Miami”.
He also added eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals as the Cavs romped to a 135-102 victory and a 4-1 series win. But when they trip over those bumps, the C’s will get back up, brush off their wounds and continue along their way. I think you’ve found two great teams. “That’s probably going to be the toughest part for me, just being patient and letting my body heal and understand what’s important for the future”. If anyone would prefer seeing Barnes suited up instead of Durant, I don’t know them.
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We’ve seen teams loaded with scorers before, but we’ve never seen one quite like this. “They want to let (the swelling) die down a little bit then take another MRI once everything is down and it’s back to normal”.
