More sadness was destined for the Cavaliers in their 46th year without a championship, while the city of Cleveland itself would continue to sputter in sports, unable to gain any title of note since the Browns won a 1964 National Football League championship.
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In a “winner take all” match-up between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, Game 7 of the NBA Finals is expected to go down as an instant classic.
“This is what we’re playing for”, said Cavs coach Tyronn Lue. Curry had 18 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes. And their actions seem tame compared to the complaining of Curry’s wife, Ayesha, who posted some controversial thoughts on Twitter about James, about racial profiling by security at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and about Game 6 being “absolutely rigged for money” and “ratings”. “I’m happy to say that I had some part in the history of the game to say, ‘Hey, look, I was there when this happened, or the game went to a couple more countries”. “There were some real cheap fouls called on him”. He even let Curry know how he felt with a little trash-talking after blocking a layup late in Game 6.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position to do something special”. Instead, they visualize making the big shot in Game 7.
And now it’s on Curry to answer. And then in frustration he threw his mouthpiece into the stands, hitting a fan.
Stephen Curry will be playing with extra incentive against the Cavaliers on Sunday night. But if the former MVP – who still very well may be the best player in the world – outduels the current MVP, the Larry O’Brien Trophy may be taking up occupancy in Cleveland for the first time. James was unstoppable, putting together another legendary performance to keep his team’s season alive in a must-win game. You think about where we are. I’m out there trying to do the same for my team. It’s tied up 3-3, and we’re going to be going back to home.
It has been a series laden with epic swings in momentum, laden with blowouts and drama. Golden State’s most recent three-game losing skid came November 20-23, 2013.
“We’ll rally the troops”, Kerr said. There’s nothing like a Game 7.
Only two of the past 31 NBA Draft top picks have won an NBA title with the team that drafted them, San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and David Robinson. The Warriors are embracing the pressure. For a team that already drew a 23.2 rating on the CSN Bay Area network for its record-setting 73rd win during the regular season – which the network says is the largest number any National Basketball Association regular season telecast has drawn on a regional sports network – perhaps focusing on who is watching is less important than what is happening.
“We broke the record but that don’t mean (expletive) if we don’t win it”, one of Blades’ customers put bluntly, an opinion Curry and Klay Thompson share.
Kerr and his players do agree on the desire to win another championship.
Even in the first three rounds of the playoffs, the Cavs got less than 11 percent of their (initial-clock) shots in the first six seconds, according to SportVU.
“The word everyone likes to use in sports is ‘pressure, ‘” James said Saturday. He was almost invisible in Game 5 and was limited to 12 minutes in Game 6 because of foul trouble. History says Cleveland loses this game for that reason and plenty of others – The Drive, The Fumble, The Decision among them.
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“I came back for a reason, and that is to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland, to northeast OH and all of OH and all Cavaliers fans in the world”. If he delivers Sunday, the promise would be fulfilled and a new chapter could await. Last year, he was thwarted in his bid for glory by the very same Warriors; this time around, he looks to dish out the very heartbreak he absorbed. The fact that this one will be on the road is irrelevant to James. “We’re here on Game 7 with a chance to do it”.
