‘Ottawa’ Golden State Versus Cleveland Set for Epic Rematch
OAKLAND — NBA Finals rematches were a rarity for a long time.
It’s happened only 14 times, including just once between 1990 and 2012 (those memorable Chicago Bulls triumphs over Karl Malone, John Stockton and the Utah Jazz).
But anomalies do take place —or maybe these really are the best teams in each conference the past two years — and the NBA is set to cash in ratings-wise, with Golden State versus Cleveland, Part II.
Oddly, after so much time between rematches, this is the second straight time it has happened.
James led the Miami Heat to victory over San Antonio in 2013 in seven epic games (remember Ray Allen’s shot for the ages to deny the Spurs the title the first year?). Then the Spurs exacted revenge with a clinical five-game triumph, setting the stage for James’ return to the Cavaliers. LeBron’s’ sole stated goal was to end a Cleveland sporting drought that stood at 50 years.
James did his best, posting unheard of numbers a year ago in nearly winning MVP on a losing side, a truly difficult feat, but it has now been 52 years since the Browns won the NFL championship (before the Super Bowl existed), 68 since the Indians won the World Series and the Cavs take an 0-2 Finals mark into this series.
With Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving injured last year (Irving was hurt in Game 1, Love was lost much earlier in the playoffs), somehow James still willed the Cavs to a sixth game. The Warriors won, but most observers thought Cleveland should have been finished off far earlier.
That’s why now so many pundits are picking the Cavs to triumph. Irving is playing the best basketball of his career, Love has finally found his niche, newcomer Channing Frye is shooting even better than the great Stephen Curry on three-pointers, Tristan Thompson is cleaning up the glass and there are other weapons.
Meanwhile, how much do the Warriors have left in the tank after digging as deep as you can go in order to erase a 3-1 deficit against Oklahoma City and beat a great team that had already taken out the Spurs?
Cleveland has had an easy road to this point, losing only two games to the Raptors over the first three rounds.
Not to mention the revenge factor.
“I think motivation can only go so far. How much motivation can carry you to a championship, I’m not sure,” James had said before the rematch against the Spurs a couple of years ago.
In the end, it seems like motivation had an awful lot to do with San Antonio’s dismantling of Miami that year.
Has Cleveland had that same fire burning inside for a full year now, the way the Spurs did?
Defending champions are 6-7 in rematches, but just 1-6 in the past seven meetings, with the Michael Jordan-led Bulls the only ones to win both in that span.
Basically, a lot of things favour the Cavs turning the tables this time around.
All that said, Golden State just set the regular-season victory mark and some see this group as the greatest team ever assembled.
The juggernaut boasts the repeat MVP winner in Curry, a record-setting outside shooter in Klay Thompson, a great two-way player in Draymond Green, versatile LeBron-stopper Andre Iguodala, more youth, the inside knowledge of long-time Cav Anderson Varejao, and more.
Golden State has won 85 combined games in the regular season and playoffs, the second-most ever (three more wins and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls get passed again this season, after already seeing their regular-campaign victory mark overtaken).
But Cleveland has been on some kind of roll since going small and James is driven to deliver northeast Ohio a title and cement his legacy as one of the three or four best players ever.
It was close last year without Irving, Love and Frye. The first two games went to overtime and Cleveland actually built a 2-1 series lead before the Warriors rallied.
It might be even tighter this time around.