OAKLAND, Calif. — When the NBA Finals began, a general national consensus viewed the series as Golden State, with four All-Stars of varying talents, going up against the almighty LeBron James and a bunch of Cavaliers who had vowels in their names.
LeBron went out and scored 51 points in Game 1. And the Cavs lost. LeBron went out and missed a triple-double by one rebound Sunday in Game 2. And the Cavs lost, this time by a 122-103 score. Think they’re asking too much of LeBron?
“No, I don’t really get caught up in that. I mean, the odds have been against me since — I don’t know, since I was 5, 6 years old,” James said after his 29 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds simply were not enough to overcome the depth and power of the defending champs.
“We’re talking about basketball here. It seems like I come up here and tell you guys this all the time. The odds have been stacked up against me since I was an adolescent,” James said. “So I put our team in position to try to win a championship, to compete for a championship. You know, it’s my job to make sure that we’re as focused, laser focused as possible, do my job, and continue to instill confidence into my teammates until the last horn sounds. That’s my job. That’s my responsibility. That’s my obligation, and I need to continue to do that, which I will.”
James was as spectacular as he ever has been in Game 1. So Warriors coach Steve Kerr called for his gang to make James uncomfortable in Game 2. Mission accomplished.
“He played really well,” said Draymond Green, one of a cast of defenders. “But you’ve got to make things as tough on him as you can.”
So everybody got a piece of LeBron. You know, a guy could get a complex.
And a guy could definitely start seeing all this as less than fun. This could really cut into the whole “love of the game” thing.
“Absolutely not,” James insisted. “I mean, it sucks to lose. It sucks when you go out there and you give it everything that you have and you prep and your mind is in it and your body is in it and you come out on the losing end. But nothing would ever take the love of the game away from me. The love of the competition is something I live for and something I wake up every day and train my body for and train my mind for. Yeah, I mean, it sucks to lose, that’s for sure, but it definitely won’t stop me from preparing to be better the next day.”
