OAKLAND, Calif. — LeBron James has dropped many a jaw in his NBA career, but if he can continue to pull this off, then his legacy will have to be revised if not totally rewritten. This is the NBA Finals, and the Cavaliers have no business at the present moment to be in a dead heat with the Golden State Warriors. They are without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, two All-Star starters. They’re without Anderson Varejao, once their best inside defender. They
OAKLAND — It was all right there for LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fourth quarter. Tie score. Twenty-four seconds on the clock. The Cavaliers had the ball and a gift-wrapped chance to steal Game 1 of the NBA Finals on the road. And they had James, of course, the greatest force in the game, one who already had went off for 42 points, the most he had ever scored in a Finals game. The consensus was that James and the underdog
After a one-week wait, the NBA Finals are here. But that’s nowhere near as long as these teams have been waiting for a championship. For the Golden State Warriors, it has been 40 years since Rick Barry led them to what many believe is the greatest upset in NBA Finals history, a four-game sweep of the Washington Bullets in 1975. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, it has been, well, forever. The Cavaliers entered the NBA in 1970 and didn’t even make the Finals
It wasn’t that long ago when Golden State Warriors fans booed team owner Joe Lacob at Oracle Arena — at a Chris Mullin jersey retirement ceremony, no less. Lacob had failed to deliver on some bold promises at that point, and – coupled with the trade of local favorite Monta Ellis – he made for a convenient target at the time.’ A lot has changed in the Bay Area in the three years since, as anyone at Game 5 of the
OAKLAND, Calif — It’s not often that the Most Valuable Player and the MVP runner-up meet in the playoffs — 21 times before this season, to be exact. Even less are the number of times the matchup exceeded the hype. In that case, you may want to stay tuned to the Western Conference finals, because James Harden and Stephen Curry have something special going on right now. The monster showdown continued in Game 2 on Thursday night, and it was brilliant, fabulous,