LeBron’s team up for challenge
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — There’s a four-headed, shot-making, scoreboard-breaking monster out West awaiting LeBron James and the Cavaliers. The Warriors are stomach-churning scary. James, though, can’t run or hide. With eight NBA Finals appearances under his belt, he is ready to face a team he’s called “a beast.” After all, he has slayed behemoths before.
Pushing off any talk about the Warriors until after yesterday’s practice, James was asked to assess the task at hand: beating Golden State’s All-Star-studded lineup of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Is this the biggest challenge of his career? “It’s probably up there,” James said. “I mean, it’s up there.”
And then, almost as if he was trying to remind himself that he’s got three championship rings and is frightful in his own right, James recalled other fearsome postseason opponents — San Antonio and the Celtics.
“I’ve played against four Hall of Famers as well, too, with Manu (Ginobili), Kawhi (Leonard), Tony (Parker) and Timmy D (Tim Duncan) on the same team,” James said. “And if you add Pop (coach Gregg Popovich) in there, that’s five Hall of Famers. So, it’s going to be very challenging.”
James also took on a Celtics team loaded with bigname talents.
“I’ve played against Ray (Allen), KG (Kevin Garnett), Paul (Pierce), (Rajon) Rondo and Doc (Rivers, the former Celtics coach). So, it’s going to be very challenging not only on me mentally, but on our ballclub and on our franchise.”
The Warriors that James conquered in 2016 won 73 games during the regular season and were being mentioned as one of the best to ever take the floor. Hard to believe, but this version might be better. Golden State has been putting on a clinic over the past two months, winning 27-of-28 games since March 11 and becoming the first squad to start the postseason 12-0.
Durant, who previously faced James in the 2012 Finals with the Thunder, has elevated an already great team.
“He’s one of the most dangerous guys we have in the world already,” James said. “So it makes it even more dangerous when you equip that talent, that skill with those guys.”