Status as underdog not worrying Cavs
The odds are longer than a Stephen Curry 3-pointer, Kevin Durant’s wingspan or Draymond Green’s catalog of technical fouls.
LeBron James and the Cavaliers are being given little — or no — chance of winning their fourth straight NBA Finals matchup against the Warriors, who have been installed by Las Vegas bookmakers as 12-point favorites to win Thursday’s Game 1, the largest spread in a finals game since 1991, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue isn’t blinking. “We’re all focused on winning a champi- onship,” Lue said Tuesday before the team flew to California. “We played our best basketball going into the playoffs.
“We’ve gotten better and better throughout the course of the playoffs. We know what we have here and what we’re trying to do.”
Cavs versus Warriors, Part IV: an expected conclusion to an unpredictable season.
Lue said All-Star forward Kevin Love remains in concussion protocol and his status for the series opener is in question. Love sat out the Cavs’ Game 7 win in Boston on Sunday after he and Celtics rookie forward Jayson Tatum accidentally banged heads during the opening minutes of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Love was replaced in the starting lineup by veteran Jeff Green, who stepped up and scored 19 points as the Cavs completed their comeback after trailing 2-0 and 3-2 in the series.
Love is expected back during the finals, and Lue needs his experience against the Warriors, who rallied to win the Western Conference finals by taking Game 7 on the road.
“They’ve been tested, we’ve been tested,” Lue said. “They’ve been to Game 7s, we’ve been to Game 7s. We’ve won championships and they’ve won championships, so they understand what it takes.”
Lue will count on four players who have been around since the Cavs first met the Warriors in the 2015 finals. And because they won a championship in 2016 together, the core four of James, Love, J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson share something special.
“This is a bond that can’t be broken,” Lue said. “Even when they’re struggling, I just have a belief that when we need those guys and we call on those guys, they’ll be ready and they’ll produce.”