Warriors’, Cavs’ latest meeting in line to be historic clash of titans
After a yearlong wait since their NBA Finals rematch, and overshadowing this season’s playoffs, on Thursday defending champion Cleveland and heavily favored Golden State will finally tip off the first Finals trilogy in league history.
But will it be an epic ending like the Thrilla in Manila or Return of the King? Or a disappointing dud like “The Godfather: Part III” or “Matrix Revolutions”?
“This is something,’’ said Golden State forward Draymond Green, “that will be talked about long after us.”
No doubt. Fans talked about a trilogy from the moment Cleveland pulled out a close Game 7 in last year’s Finals.
It hasn’t happened in a major sport in over sixty years (the Canadiens and Red Wings from 1954-56) and it has never happened in the NBA. Until now.
“It’s a great thing for the league,” Green said. “Contrary to popular belief where everyone says it’s boring, I think people just fail to realize that you just have two great teams and don’t appreciate that. You usually don’t appreciate something until you don’t have it anymore. Maybe there’s a lack of appreciation for greatness.
“I appreciate it. I’m happy we’ve been able to steamroll people, and I love the fact that they’ve been able to steamroll people, because I just love great things.”
Steamroll isn’t hyperbole, Kevin Durant’s Warriors have breezed undefeated through a dozen playoff games and LeBron James’ Cavaliers have gone 12-1. Some even decried the lack of competitiveness in the postseason, and opined that it is actually bad for the league.
But don’t tell the Cavaliers or Warriors that.
“That almost is kind of disrespectful, because it’s not like it’s easy for us to get here. It wasn’t that at all. Us and Cleveland worked our butts off all year to put ourselves in a position to be playing for a championship,’’ Warriors guard Steph Curry said to reporters after Saturday’s practice in Oakland.
“You can’t just sleepwalk through a season and sleepwalk through the playoffs and expect to be here; you got to do something. You got to come out every night and prove yourself. Granted, anybody who was betting on who was going to be in The Finals probably picked those two. It’s easy for them to say that and just wake up in June and see it happen. We had to put that work in all year to make it happen.”
In the end, people likely won’t remember the lackluster playoffs. That was just prologue, just preamble. But they will remember the payoff.
James’ Cavaliers are underdogs, the best player on the planet expected to be overwhelmed by the top team in the world. But what- ever happens, Cavs-Warriors III will be the mosthyped showdown since Magic Johnson’s Lakers vs. Larry Bird’s Celtics in the 1980s. The stars — from James vs. Durant, to Curry vs. Kyrie Irving — will see to that. So will the backstory.
Golden State took the first meeting in 2015. But after piling up an NBA-record 73 wins, the Warriors became the first team to blow a 3-1 Finals lead, thanks, in part, to Green’s suspension for a Flagrant 1 in Game 4.
Like many good trilogies add a new and imposing antagonist for the third act — Luke Skywalker needed to face the Emperor, and Batman had Bane — the Warriors added four-time scoring champ Durant.
“He’s one of the most dangerous guys we have in the world already. It makes it even more dangerous when you equip that skill, that talent with those guys,’’ James said to reporters after Sunday’s practice in Cleveland, adding he expects this Finals to be “up there” among his toughest challenges.
“It’s going to be very challenging. Those guys are going to challenge me and challenge our ballclub. … It’s going to be very challenging not only on me mentally, but on our ballclub and on our franchise.”