As for Game 1, the Warriors are, as expected, favored. The team has overcome ankle and knee injuries that first sidelined and then limited Curry, beat a talented Portland squad and then overcame a 3-games-to-1 deficit against Oklahoma City, a team that was best suited to match up with their speed and skills, in the Western Conference Finals.
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“This whole playoff run has kind of been a roller-coaster ride for me specifically, but for our team”, Curry said after closing out the Thunder.
“We never lost confidence, and every game just played with fearlessness and that confidence that we could get back to the finals, however we had to get it done”.
The questions surrounding Curry’s health will continue but the Warriors will be favourites to complete their historic season by beating the Cavaliers again, having swept the regular-season series 2-0. The Cavs fought chemistry issues and fired coach David Blatt, replacing him with his top assistant, Tyronn Lue, despite the best record in the East under Blatt.
LeBron James is happy that former teammate Anderson Varejao is back in the NBA Finals with the Warriors.
Blatt was sacked less than a week later. However, he will have to take his game to another level (which he is fully capable of doing) if the Cavaliers hope to defeat the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors.
LeBron has been in Samsung ads for a year telling us how it’s all about “winning one for the ‘Land” and that ending Cleveland’s championship drought. But he shouldn’t need to carry as heavy a load with Love and Kyrie Irving available this time. He earned four most-valuable-player (MVP) awards with his all-around skills. Game 1 tips at 9:00 PM ET on ABC.
Cleveland has its own reasons for these Finals to feel far different from last June. “I didn’t appreciate past year”, James said. “So much was going on in my mind, knowing that Kev was out for the rest of the season and knowing that Ky was dealing with injuries”. He’s been potent from beyond the arc, shooting 46.2 percent, but the Warriors are better than any team the Cavaliers have faced in the playoffs.
These Finals could serve as a shootout.
Offensively, the Warriors’ game plan should be is simple: Get the ball to whomever Kyrie Irving is guarding. “Let’s order one more ring for Andy!”
This is his sixth National Basketball Association finals in a row and seventh overall. The names on the front of the jerseys are the same, but that really is all there is to connect these teams to the ones that saw the Warriors win the title a year ago. If we focus on recent play, Cleveland certainly looks “better built” this time around.
The two God-fearing superstars will face off in the NBA Finals beginning Thursday night. You find a new wind for that. “You don’t come in saying, ‘Oh, they’ve had more rest than us, we’re doomed.’ No, we’ll be just fine”.
Oddly, after so much time between rematches, this is the second straight time it has happened.
“Some of those shots”, James said. “Like Coach (Tyronn) Lue said, we’re just waiting on the victor”. “I’m looking forward to evening the score with Sen”. It’s an unbelievable team that we’re going against.
Prediction: I don’t think this show will close early.
“I’ll just try and look out for his big screens”, said Dellavedova.
We went over to visit Uncle Joe, and saw the O.J. Simpson trial end while at his house.
Cleveland: Has never won the National Basketball Association title. There are two things that stand out for me when thinking about Uncle Joe. Timofey Mozgov gave the Warriors fits last season, but now he’s not even in the Cavaliers’ rotation.
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Warriors Coach, Steve Kerr, talked about his team’s fantastic comeback, “We were not just down 3-1, we had gotten blown out two straight games”, Kerr said.
