Can James steal the show with the entire cast this time, or will the Finals be another coronation for Curry and Co.?
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“That’s really one thing that I admire about him”. I think everyone’s just more excited. So everything I’ve done has been a success. Russell Westbrook is just like JR Smith who the Warriors are going to run into in the Finals. “So I don’t – (pressure) doesn’t really get to me too much”.
“If you’re a Cleveland sports fan, you know however it ends, whichever [pro] team finally wins the title, it will be some enormous upset because we know the stars and planets and fate and the establishment of whatever sport it is, lines up against Cleveland sports teams no matter what”. It’s an unbelievable team that we’re going against. “We look forward to the challenge”.
“People look at my situation and take it for granted seeing I’ve been here six straight times”.
The most obvious difference for the Warriors is evidenced by their championship ring-adorned fingers.
As the Golden State Warriors made the long, frustrating flight home from Oklahoma City last week, suddenly facing elimination from the National Basketball Association play-offs, Draymond Green gathered with teammates at a table in the front of the plane to discuss how to get the defending champions back to winning and fast. He is back for the rematch, and power forward Kevin Love is poised for his Finals debut after he missed last year’s series because of a dislocated left shoulder that required surgery. Western Conference rivals Golden State and San Antonio – who fell to the Thunder in the second round of the playoffs – are potential suitors.
With the Cavaliers “big 3” of James, Irving and Love all healthy and clicking it’s very possible that the city of Cleveland’s championship drought will finally come to an end.
In the post-season, the Dubs have stifled their opponents by allowing them only 100.9 points per 100 possessions, two points better than the Cavs’ 102.9 rating. Obviously in today’s game they are.
“I had a picture in my mind that this could happen”, Varejao said Monday night after the Warriors advanced with a Game 7 victory in the Western Conference finals. “So I’m fortunate to be here again”. Six of the last seven teams to lose the Finals the previous year won the next facing the same opponent. “The Cavs have never had a better basketball team in terms of sheer talent than the one they’re taking into this series”. Matthew Dellavedova tenaciously hounded Curry in last year’s finals until he exhausted himself and wound up hospitalized. Against the Pistons, James reread Jerry West’s biography “West by West: My Charmed and Tormented Life”.
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Most are picking the Warriors to top the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, and the odds reflect that. The only time he has not received that honor since then came the following season, when the Cavs reached the finals for the first time in franchise history as he was nosed out by Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. The roster was so shredded by injuries that James now concedes he didn’t even appreciate what was his fifth consecutive shot at a championship.
