Lebron praises Warriors’ smarts
Cleveland star says team’s basketball IQ, talent hard to beat
CLEVELAND — Lebron James was relaxed, reflective and even resigned to his fate.
The end of the series, season and maybe his second stint in Cleveland, are near.
The Golden State Warriors have made his eighth straight NBA Finals — and their seasonal rivalry with the Cavaliers — extremely one-sided.
Still weary after losing Game 3 on Wednesday, when Kevin Durant scored 43 points and shot the Warriors to within one victory of their third title in four years, James pointed out Thursday what has become terrifyingly obvious.
The Warriors, who have won three in a row to start the best-of-seven series, are at another level. And may be for a while.
“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. Let’s just speak truth,” James said before rattling off Golden State’s embarrassment of riches.
“Kevin Durant,” he said. “You’ve got two guys with MVPS on their team. And then you’ve got a guy in Klay (Thompson) who could easily be on a team and carry a team, scored 40 in a quarter before. 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.
“Then you add on a Finals MVP coming off the bench (Andre Iguodala), a No. 1 pick in (Shawn) Livingston and an All-star in David West and whatever the case may be. So they have a lot of talent.”
James, 33, is headed toward free agency and then where: Los Angeles? Philadelphia? Houston?
Or will he decide it’s too painful to part again with Cleveland, his basketball home for 11 seasons and just up the highway from his actual home in Akron?
He plans to consider everything once the season ends, but he offered some clues about what he’ll consider before making his next move.
Bottom line: James needs better, smarter teammates.
James said his decision to bolt from the Cavs the first time was simple.
The Cavs didn’t have enough talent to win a title.
But beyond the talent disparity, James said basketball intelligence is a huge part of championship pedigree.
“How do you put together a group of talent but also a group of minds to be able to compete with Golden State, to be able to compete for a championship?” he said. “That’s what GMS and presidents and certain players, it’s not every player. Every playerdoesnotwantto—sadtosay — but every player doesn’t want to compete for a championship and be in a position where every possession is pressure.”