CLEVELAND – Steve Kerr has been very good at one thing in the NBA Finals – telling it like it is. Everyone watching this series can see the problem with Stephen Curry’s body language, and Kerr called out the MVP for it in his postgame interview Tuesday night. When your best player if lifeless and docile, you have to find a way to get through to him. Whether calling him out publicly was the right move is open to debate, but
It’s certainly not a stretch to say that the winner of Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night likely will the championship. If the Cleveland Cavaliers win, they will have a 3-1 lead and have three chances for LeBron James to snag one more victory for the city’s first pro sports title since 1964. If the Golden State Warriors win, they will have evened the series at 2-2 while reclaiming home court advantage, They also will have reclaimed some of
CLEVELAND — When your coach says you are lacking in energy, playing with very little life … Well, there really aren’t that many harsher words that can be used, are there? But those were the phrases Steve Kerr was uttering Tuesday night to describe the NBA’s reigning MVP, Stephen Curry, who came to life in the fourth quarter of Game 3 at the NBA Finals but again made too many untimely mistakes as the Golden State Warriors fell into a 2-1 hole
The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers have split the first two games of the NBA Finals, with both winning in overtime. Hoops junkies are drooling over the idea that this could be a long, hard-fought exciting series. Keep in mind, however, that the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat split the first two games a year ago on the heels of a seven-game classic in 2013. That series quickly turned as Kawhi Leonard caught fire and was over a week
When you have attended more NBA Finals games than you have watched on TV, you take a special appreciation in spending time with and family friends, watching the games in HD and observing those folks’ reactions — especially if you are in the company of people who almost never, ever watch basketball. It is good to break out of the bubble every once in a while, and sportswriters operate in a bubble when they cover the NBA Finals. Yes, they have
No Kyrie Irving? No problem. Yes, that is the optimist’s outlook in Cleveland heading into Game 2. If Irving is done for the year, no worries — as they would say in Australia. I was not expecting to find much optimism among Clevelanders following the Cavs’ Game 1 loss in which Irving aggravated his knee injury, but then I went on 92.3 The Fan radio in Cleveland with Adam “The Bull” and was hit with a dose of non-negativity that seemed so
The sun came up the East today in Cleveland, but the gloom did not burn off like the morning fog. No Friday has ever felt like the one the poor folks in Cleveland had to endure. After being one shot away from a Game 1 victory, after watching Kyrie Irving do a little of everything — nothing bigger than his block of Stephen Curry’s layup attempt with 25 seconds left in regulation — after getting almost nothing from their bench yet
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