WARRIORS IN AWE OF KING JAMES
TONIGHT’S BIG GAME
GOLDEN STATE will have to overcome the greatest basketball player of all time to defend their title.
That is the claim from Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr, who reckons Lebron James is now better than Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’neal and even Michael Jordan.
The Warriors beat Cleveland in overtime in game one of the best-ofseven NBA Finals, despite James scoring 51 points for the Cavaliers.
And as they prepare to face off in game two tonight (BT Sport 1, 1am), Kerr has warned his side about what to expect from the underdogs. Kerr said: “We’re playing a great team. It’s the Finals and it’s not going to be easy. They’ve been to the Finals four years in a row, just like we have, for a reason.
“They have a guy playing basketball at a level that I’m not sure anyone has ever seen before, when you consider everything that he’s doing.
“He’s got a really good group of team-mates around him. It’s going to be a tough series.”
Cleveland had a golden opportunity to win the opener with the final shot, only for JR Smith to dribble the ball away from the basket to run out the clock, believing they were ahead by a point instead of tied at 107-107. James’ on-court frustration with Smith was mirrored by his reaction to constant questioning over the incident in his press conference afterwards, where he walked out, telling one reporter to “be better tomorrow”.