LeBron James is ‘pretty remarkable’ for THIS – Warriors coach Steve Kerr

Round 4 – as many predicted, and others probably lamented – is happening.

For the fourth year in a row – a first in American professional sports history – the same teams will meet in a sport’s championship round, when the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers meet for Game 1 of the NBA Finals here Thursday night.

James is playing at such an extraordinary level that anything is possible, including what would go down as one of the biggest upsets in National Basketball Association history.

One of the streakiest shooters in the league, Smith has had prolonged slumps.

“You’ve got to appreciate the moment”, Warriors guard Stephen Curry said.

“You think back five years ago when he was with Miami, they were playing the Spurs in the Finals and the Spurs were going underneath on every screen, daring him to shoot”.

The five-time All-Star averaged 25 points during Golden State’s seven-game Western Conference finals victory against over Houston Rockets. The Warriors not only overcame a double-digit halftime deficit for the second straight game to win, but more impressively covered the spread both times after losing the previous two games by a total of seven points. “And I was like, ‘OK, I am not settling for that conversation, now that is just ridiculous”.

This all came one night after LeBron James carried the Cavaliers to a Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics. “But I just felt like it was bad timing for our team”. “If you want to see somebody else in the postseason, then you got to beat them”.

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, look to even up their NBA Finals series record against the Dubs.

“That’s if you’re lucky, you’ll get to that point”, James, 33, said Wednesday. “There has been everything that you can ask for”.

James never counted out Golden State. That is a tall order considering the defending champions have scored at least 100 points in 13 of their 17 playoff games. “But I think it’s worked out for us both in these four years so far since I’ve been back”.

Film-wise, those two games are meaningless now. If the Cavaliers are forced to decide between a team led by an oft-injured Kevin Love, or a roster that pairs Love with a few above average Rockets players, Cleveland may choose the latter.

Outside of James, these Cavs are drastically different than the team the Warriors played in last year’s NBA Finals.

“At what chapter will the LeBron versus Warriors fit into my book?” “So it’s going to have to be grind-it-out games where the tempo is controlled and to do that you have got to have smart, tough guys on the floor”. “But we’ll worry about that when we get home”. In total, 21 out of the league’s 30 teams played with a patch during the first season, with notable teams from big markets, including the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets, taking the court without patches.

Cleveland was only 50-32 this season.

The Warriors and Cavaliers met twice in the regular season, but it might not be wise to read too much into the results.

“What he brings to us on the defensive end will definitely be missed”, Green said. “Everybody had their opinions on what our team was, what we would do, what we can’t do, from the start”.