LeBron undaunted by challenge of facing Warriors in Finals

Golden State Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown got his first head coaching job in 2005 when he took over a Cleveland Cavaliers team led by a young LeBron James. The Cavs have improved since last season, particularly Kevin Love.

“The whole underdog thing is amusing to me, because yeah, at the end of the day we are defending our title”, Cavs forward Kevin Love said following a May 27 practice. The Warriors have laid points in each home game of the 2016 NBA Finals series, but were a tiny underdog all three times in OH, so despite the fact that they have played as the underdog just three times this entire season (including the San Antonio game where they played without any of the stars), there’s a slight chance that we’ll see the same scenario yet again. “I tried to pay him and he wouldn’t take the money so he says I always owe him”. “I appreciate it. I’m happy we’ve been able to steam roll people and I love the fact that they’ve been able to steam roll people because I just love great things”.

The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook installed Golden State as a -260 favorite, with Cleveland at 220.

Last year, of course, the Warriors’ starting small forward was Harrison Barnes, who Cleveland basically left open and who shot 35.2 percent in the series.

“The best team in our league the last three years”, James said of the Warriors. “I think it’s the greatness of the players we have”.

The Warriors were fined by the National Basketball Association for Nelson’s comments about players who weren’t yet draft eligible. That’s enough motivation alone.

“I think the first thing for me was seeing the excitement on Kyle (Korver’s) and Deron (Williams’) face”, James said. We’re not using that as an excuse. “We have to be ready for the challenge”. Durant certainly wasn’t the first player to seek an instant championship through free agency. “So that’s what we’re focused on”.

The NFL and Major League Baseball have also had one instance in which the same teams met for the title three straight years.

Later that offseason, James ended up taking his talents to South Beach and leading Miami to four straight NBA Finals, winning two of them.

“Playing in this league, you can’t take anything for granted”, Warriors guard Stephen Curry said.

Much more of that sort of that will likely follow over the next week, filling time before Golden State plays host to Game 1. We’re only four games away from our goal, but that’s all got to start next Thursday.

Lue said his players “probably already have seen and heard” Green’s comments before, and he chalked it up to Green “speaking out of emotion”.

“The group of guys I’m working with are tremendous. Says what he really wants”.

Love was asked if the Cavs wanted the Warriors.

The Warriors, who beat the Cavs for the 2015 championship before losing the rematch last year, are 12-0 in this year’s play-offs. They played great basketball this year. Fitz expects closer games this time around, and so do we. We knew that would happen at some point.

Both teams have compared favorably with one another in this postseason.

“I had to get used to the attention”, Durant told USA Today of his move to Golden State. The Warriors in the regular season were dominate as well, scoring 115.9 points per game, and allowing just over 104.

It’s hard to believe that any team featuring LeBron James can be considered an underdog, but here we are. Then they dispatched Utah in four games. They do something, we come back and do something. Like, am I the reason that they’re not that good (laughs). In the team’s one day off between the first and second round, Thomas flew from Chicago to Washington for Chyna’s funeral, gave a heartfelt eulogy and then made the long trek to Boston for Game 1 against the Wizards. It wasn’t given to us.

Since we are likely to face picking a side between the two nearly unbeatable teams, let’s also take a closer look at what’s ahead of us.