All eyes on James in Finals
Oakland (United States), May 30: LeBron James will attempt the most amazing achievement of his historic career by leading the twicerebuilt Cleveland Cavaliers against heavily fancied defending champion Golden State in the 72nd NBA Finals.
The 33-year-old superstar reached his eighth consecutive finals seemingly by sheer force of will, lifting the Cavs on his shoulders throughout the NBA playoffs to book their fourth finals meeting in a row against the Warriors, with the best-ofseven championship series opening Thursday at Golden State.
This marks the first time in North American pro sports history that two clubs will meet in the final for a fourth consecutive season.
A title would cap the superlatives of an epic career because never has a Jamesled finals club been so huge an underdog as the Cavs are now.
Rebuilding after the off-season trade of star guard Kyrie Irving, the Cavs struggled and were retooled again at the trade deadline, leaving James and forward Kevin Love alongside role players such as outside shooters J.R. Smith and Kyle Korver and inside man Tristan Thompson.
“I switched my mindset at the trade deadline to ‘Let’s get the most out of this season I can,’” James said. “I’m trying to squeeze the most out of this orange to where there’s no more juice left.”
Skeptics wonder how much juice James has left. He has seen 164 playoff games — the equal of two full extra seasons — from his first finals run with Miami to now.
And this year, in his 15th NBA campaign, James played all 82 regular season games, a career first, as he adjusted to ever-changing rosters. “This has been one of the most challenging seasons I’ve had. It has been six seasons in one. It has been a whirlwind. It has been a roller coaster,” James said.
James is 3-5 in career NBA Finals after losing his first with Cleveland in 2007, winning two of four with Miami from 2010-2014 and taking the 2016 title in seven games over Golden State between 2015 and 2017 losses to the Warriors. — AFP