What Warriors and Cavaliers are saying ahead of historic rematch
OAKLAND, Calif. — In this corner, the defending champion Golden State Warriors, armed with four All-Stars who could one day be headed for the Hall of Fame.
And in this corner, the Cleveland Cavaliers, armed with LeBron James, unquestionably the best player on the planet, plus an array of players who gather so little public respect they were the ridiculed object of a recent “Saturday Night Live” skit.
And there you have the basic storyline for the historic fourth straight meeting in the NBA Finals of the Warriors, winners of two titles, and the Cavs, the heavy underdogs who hope to repeat their 2016 upset magic, when they bounced a Warriors team that had won a record 73 regular-season games.
“Golden State is one of the best teams I’ve ever played. It’s one of the best teams that’s ever been assembled,” said James, who has hoisted the Cavs on his powerful shoulders and carried them past the Pacers, Raptors and Celtics to earn his eighth straight Finals and ninth overall.
“Then they added Kevin Durant. So then what does that do to them? It makes them even more dangerous and even more powerful and great.
“For me as a competitor, it’s fun. It’s truly fun to know when I’m done playing the game of basketball that I played against some of the greatest teams that ever played, ever been assembled. And this is one of them,” James said, neglecting to mention any of the Knicks teams in the recent Phil Jackson era.
James labeled Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green as “Hall of Famers.” He also pointed to 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, a defensive pest against James in past title rounds (“He has very, very quick hands”) who will miss Game 1, at least, with a bruised leg. And there’s a lot more.
And lined up against them is James and a crew that SNL chided for being able to help out James in anything that “isn’t basketball” — from sweeping up his chalk, to giving him high fives, to still learning the rules, they are there to help.
And that was a notion the Warriors obviously trashed.
“Any time you have a team that’s led by somebody who is considered the greatest player of all time or one of them, there’s going to be an interesting sort of dynamic with the teammates,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
“We have great respect for the other guys. Kevin Love is an All-Star, perennial All-Star, great 3-point shooter, physical rebounder. Kyle Korver, one of the great shooters of all time. We’ve seen J.R. [Smith], last time he was in this building he had like 30 points in Game 5 last year.
“We know what these guys can do. You don’t get to the Finals with one man, no matter how good that one man is. So we have great respect for the Cavs, their resiliency,” Kerr added. “We’re preparing for a lot more than just LeBron.”
Probably because there really is no way to prepare for LeBron.
“He’s the Mr. Everything for them. He’s been playing amazing the whole regular season and especially in these playoffs to will his team back here,” Curry said of James, who has averaged 34.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and shot 54.2 percent in the postseason.
And so Wednesday’s media session became almost an homage to James. If there were just one guy to go up against a team stacked with future Hall of Famers, James is the one.
“Eight straight times to the Finals. The fact he’s doing that in the modern era is pretty remarkable,” Thompson said.
Smith, the ex-Knick, raved about James’ IQ.
“He shows me it day in and day out, whether it’s knowing a play M.J. [Michael Jordan] ran against Phoenix way back in the ’90s or a play that he’s seen yesterday, his IQ is ridiculous,” Smith said. “He can process things extremely fast on the move while things are happening in certain situations. It’s pretty remarkable.”
So maybe the Cavs aren’t such great underdogs after all — at least in the mind of James, who suggests maybe there is another level he can reach.
“The level that I can play at is to be seen, but the level that I put into the game and put into my craft is who I am. So numbers and things like that kind of take care of itself,” said James, seeking a fourth title.
“You guys talked about what’s your ceiling, and I’ve always kind of told you guys that I don’t really have a ceiling. I want to just try to maximize as much as I can and be as good as I can.”