LeBron & Co. struggling against loaded Warriors
CLEVELAND — This is frustration personified. LeBron James, universally acknowledged as the best player in, well, the universe, is being haunted and beaten by a concept he once championed. The super team. In this case, it’s the nightmarish ogre called the Golden State Warriors, the team that might drive him out of Cleveland again.
“We’ve had an opportunity to win two of these games in this three-game series so far and haven’t come up with it,” said James, whose Cavaliers teeter on extinction as the Warriors look to complete a 4-0 NBA Finals sweep Friday in what could be his last game in Cleveland. “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.” No arguments. “Let’s just speak truth,” James said during a media session of about 20 minutes Thursday when he explained the Warriors are loaded with two former MVPs in Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, plus Klay Thompson “who could easily ... carry a team.”
Don’t overlook Draymond Green, “arguably one of the best defenders and minds in our game.” The bench is stacked with 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, a No. 4 overall pick in Shaun Livingston and former All-Star David West. So they have lots of talent.
So do the Cavs, James said. But not nearly as much as the Warriors, who also possess the “minds,” too. All NBA players can play, but the guys who think it through are the guys hoisting title trophies.
It was a lack of talent that drove James in 2010 out of Cleveland down to Miami where he teamed with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to win two championships. Miami followed the blueprint of the Celtics, who teamed Paul Pierce with Ray Allen, Kevin Gar- nett and Rajon Rondo.
“I knew that my talent level here in Cleveland couldn’t succeed getting past a Boston, getting past the San Antonios of the league,” James said, noting he knew what Bosh and Wade had inside from past experiences. “I knew their minds. I knew how they thought the game, more than just playing the game.”
James returned to Cleveland where he saw a budding stud in Kyrie Irving, who he tried to build up to be mentally strong.
The Cavs assembled a talented, mentally tough team with the tools to dethrone the Warriors two Junes ago.
“We come back from 3-1 and we beat them. But that was the best regular season — probably the best team I had ever played against,” James said.
Then the Warriors added Durant, “one of the best players the NBA has ever seen.”
So the Cavs are behind. But are they so far behind Golden State that James leaves Cleveland? Flip a coin. Some say he’ll bolt. Some say he’ll stay. If the Warriors are as unbeatable as perceived, why go West, unless a possible super team in Houston appeals? In the East, does Boston or Philadelphia make sense? Does he stay, hoping the Cavs’ No. 8 pick can be a Jayson Tatum-like difference-maker?
James was asked without “trying to get you to say anything negative,” what he felt about the Cavs’ competitive level now.
“You actually are trying to get me to say something,” James said laughing.
So the frustration comes knowing the Cavs could be up 2-1, instead of down, 0-3.
“It’s like playing the Patriots [or] San Antonio. The room for error is slim to none,” James said. “When you make mistakes they make you pay, because they’re already more talented than you are but they also have the minds behind it, too, and they also have the championship DNA.”