LeBron talks on Game 4 scenario
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 08 Jun 2018
So far, 131 teams have tried, and 131 have failed.
This is the grim fact, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are facing with they play the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 Friday (Saturday in Manila) of their NBA Finals were they?re in deep 0-3 hole no teams in the history of the league have succeeded extricating themselves from.
LeBron and the Cavs were able, to rise from a 1-3 grave two years ago when they beat the Warriors for their lone title conquest against Stephen Curry and the Warriors that evened their record to 1-1 following Golden State?s victory in 2015.
But this year, LeBron himself expressed doubts about his present team?s capability to duplicate that feat.
During press conference in his team?s practice Thursday, a day after losing to the Warriors in Game 3 when Kevin Durant scored 43 points and lifted Golden State within one win of their third title in four years, James pointed out what he pictured an obviously terrifyingly scenario.
Bron was relaxed, reflective and even resigned to the fate his team is facing in his second stint as a Cav. The Warriors, in their rivalry, he admitted, are very one-sided.
"Obviously, from a talent perspective, if you're looking at Golden State from their top five best players to our top five players, you would say they're stacked better than us,? James said as quoted by journalists present.
?Let's just speak truth," James said before rattling off Golden State's wealth in talents.
"Kevin Durant," he said. "You've got two guys with MVPs on their team. And then you've got a guy who could easily be on a team and carry a team, scored 40 in a quarter before,? he relayed in reference to Klay Thompson.
?And then you have Draymond (Green), who is arguably one of the best defenders and minds we have in our game. So you have that crew,? LeBron added.
"Then you add on a Finals MVP coming off the bench (Andre Iguodala), a No. 1 pick in (Shawn) Livingston and an ex-All-Star in David West and whatever the case may be. So they have a lot of talent."
Looks like too much, indeed, for the Cavs to overcome or even match.
James wasn't making excuses for Cleveland's postseason meltdown, saying had it not for a reversed official's call or J.R. Smith's brain-lock in the closing seconds of regulation in Game 1 or Durant's brilliance in Game 3, the Cavs could be leading the series.
Perhaps forgetting that had George Hill made his second free throw that preceded Smith?s bonehead play, the Cavs would have won and led 1-0 instead.
The three-time champion, though, didn?t dismiss the possibility of the Cavs' chances to become the first team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs.
"We've been in a position where we could win two out of these three games," said James, who had 33 points and his 10th Finals triple-double in Game 3.
"So what do we have to do? Do we have to make more shots? Is it we have to have our minds into it a little bit more? Is it if there is a ball on the ground we can't reach for it but you've got to dive for it?" he rattled in.
Those questions will find answers starting Friday (Saturday Manila time). That is if the Warriors, who have to overcome, too, one adversity after another all-season long, sweep the Cavs.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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