LeBron heaps praise on Cavs teammate
Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue, whose Cleveland Cavaliers are one win away from an NBA Final rematch with the Golden State Warriors, said Wednesday coaching against the Boston Celtics without Isaiah Thomas has presented a whole different set of obstacles. Still, they’re not even significantly more dominant than the Cavaliers, who are 12-1.
The Warriors are listed as seven-point favourites for Game 1 at home, according to CBS Sports.
James needed 28 points heading into the game to surpass Jordan, who had 5,987 points, and he reached the magic number late in the third quarter with a three-point jump shot. Brown, meanwhile, led the Celtics with 19 points but was a minus-14 and had three turnovers.
To be sure, “Air Jordan” still reigns over “King James”. In the 2016 Finals, he became the first player in National Basketball Association history to lead both teams in the series in points (29.7 ppg), rebounds (11.3), assists (8.9), steals (2.57) and blocks (2.29). “I don’t have to score the ball to make an impact in the basketball game”.
Irving, who scored a career-playoff-high 42 points, rolled his left ankle with 1:49 left in his 21-point third quarter but is expected to play Thursday. “We’d love it if we could win in four games, that would be great”, Green said with a smile.
That hardly sounds like James, who not too long ago declared his confidence by noting, “I’m the best player in the world”. Given that Cleveland won both Games 5 and 7 at Golden State past year, that may or may not be a factor. The additions of Deron Williams and Kyle Korver have proved influential to the success of the Cavaliers’ second unit.
In the first championship meeting in 1952, Layne and Walker ran for TDs to give the Lions a 17-7 win and their first championship since 1935. “Thirty teams suit up every year trying to get to this point, and only two teams do”. Both these teams will be entering this third matchup with just as much hatred and anticipation as ever.
The three-pointer put the Cavaliers up by 32 points.
“It made me really appreciate that”.
So when Jefferson said – after his Cleveland Cavaliers finished off the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals Thursday at TD Garden – that James’ playoff scoring record is “unbreakable”, no one thought it was all that unthinkable.
As the Cavs’ stars did throughout the East finals, they worked together in fire-breathing tandem on Thursday. On this night, the Cavs overcame a double-digit deficit to win much like the Celtics rallied from a sizeable deficit to win Game 3 on Sunday.
LeBron James was reportedly playing through an illness in Game 3, which explains his surprisingly low output of just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting in that loss.
The Cavs led 75-57 at the half.
The NBA’s contract structure is a bit unusual, and typically works out for good players in a way where the third long one that extends to age 32 or 33 will often start looking bad at the back end (though there’s some evidence this is improving thanks to better rest and sports science).
NOTES: Cavs F LeBron James pregame on getting set to pass Michael Jordan and become the NBA’s all-time leading playoff scorer: “It’s just a personal goal of mine”.
Lue said Saturday that he expects each team to continue to try to one-up the other. “But it doesn’t mean anything going into the next series, and we have to understand that”. “They cause a lot of stress, and I’ll get to that point when we start to prepare for them”.
“I’m glad he finally admitted that he owes me money because for many years he wouldn’t admit that he owed me money”.
This game will mark the sixth time this season that Cleveland is a double-digit road favorite.