Cleveland Cavaliers fans quietly confident in title hopes

Stephen Curry knows that the record-setting 73 wins, awards and memorable moments that highlighted Golden State’s special season will only be footnotes if the Warriors can’t quickly find their missing game. For the players involved, that means the external pressure ramps up to extremely high levels.

Shumpert made the free throw to give Cleveland a two-point lead, but Stephen Curry answered on the ensuing possession with a three-point play to put the Warriors back on top. That’s especially true of the stars, who must contend with talk of legacies as soon as the final buzzer sounds.

With so much buzz flowing out of Game 6 involving the controversial tweets of his wife Ayesha – she ranted on Twitter that the NBA Finals had been rigged to prolong the series to a Game 7 climax — the MVP embodies such a sign of the times.

Andrew Forbes, who is the son of Cavs minority owner Nate Forbes, was the person hit when Curry tossed his mouthpiece after being tossed from the game. And he knows it.

James’ has been special since Game 4, controlling the two wins with his offense and defense. Game 7 may become the most freakish in National Basketball Association history. Do you personally have to be great? He has improved as the series has gone along, getting back on track despite being robbed of some of his explosiveness due to postseason wear-and-tear. When I need to be aggressive, well, I need to be aggressive. Do it within the schemes that we’re used to as a team. After all, it seemed a tremendously rich bargain when three fans attended Game 5 for the combined price of $51,000 (more on that here). What are your teammates telling you? Steph Curry and Klay Thompson will steal the thunder of the LeBron James-Kyrie Irving duo and the Cleveland title drought will live on, unless of course you count the Lake Erie Monsters winning the 2016 Calder Cup. “But just got to be prepared for everything”, Lue said. Everybody is kind of encouraging each other, understanding the opportunity that we have in front of us. Golden State could win this game, but I expect it to go to the wire and for Cleveland to at least cover the 5. Worst case scenario, they lose Sunday (8 PM EST, ABC) and bleed a little, then start next season with a strong and relatively young core good enough to reach the Finals again and be the favorites. “You can’t ask for much more than that”.

“More than anything, we don’t want him to just sit there and rest on the defensive end where he gets his legs and stuff like that coming down on the offensive end”. There’s no next game.