Warriors-Cavaliers showdown: Even better the 3rd time around
Last week, for the first time since the Warriors’ collapse in the 2016 NBA Finals, he watched all seven of those games against the Cavaliers.
Seeing Golden State’s dominance in Games 1 and 2, LeBron James’ rundown block on Andre Iguodala, Kyrie Irving’s Game 7-sealing three-pointer — it all reinforced what Kerr already knew.
[...] after watching both teams steamroll through the first three rounds of the playoffs, basketball fans finally have the best-of-seven series they’ve eyed.
Subplots include Golden State acting head coach Mike Brown facing the team he led to the Finals 10 years earlier; Draymond Green trying to atone for his series-changing suspension last June; and LeBron James tackling probably the best opponent he has seen in his eight Finals appearances.
Because another Golden State-Cleveland matchup was so predictable, many may forget that it’s a historical anomaly.
Though the Lakers or Celtics were in every Finals of the 1980s, the 76ers, Rockets or Pistons prevented them from meeting at the sport’s summit in three consecutive seasons.
The triple matchup has happened only once in professional baseball (New York Yankees-New York Giants, 1921-23), football (Cleveland Browns-Detroit Lions, 1952-54) and hockey (Montreal Canadiens-Detroit Red Wings, 1954-56).
The NBA Finals haven’t featured two franchises with one or no losses in the playoffs since the 1950s, when teams played far fewer postseason games.
In 2015, after winning 16 more games than the previous season, the Warriors beat an injury-depleted Cavaliers team in six games for the franchise’s first NBA title in 40 years.
In the aftermath of that 93-89 loss in Game 7, as the Cavaliers hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Iguodala told his teammates in their Oracle Arena locker room: “Losing this game might propel us to four championships.”
Seeing Golden State’s dominance in Games 1 and 2, LeBron James’ rundown block on Andre Iguodala, Kyrie Irving’s Game 7-sealing three-pointer — it all reinforced what Kerr already knew.
[...] after watching both teams steamroll through the first three rounds of the playoffs, basketball fans finally have the best-of-seven series they’ve eyed.
Subplots include Golden State acting head coach Mike Brown facing the team he led to the Finals 10 years earlier; Draymond Green trying to atone for his series-changing suspension last June; and LeBron James tackling probably the best opponent he has seen in his eight Finals appearances.
Because another Golden State-Cleveland matchup was so predictable, many may forget that it’s a historical anomaly.
Though the Lakers or Celtics were in every Finals of the 1980s, the 76ers, Rockets or Pistons prevented them from meeting at the sport’s summit in three consecutive seasons.
The triple matchup has happened only once in professional baseball (New York Yankees-New York Giants, 1921-23), football (Cleveland Browns-Detroit Lions, 1952-54) and hockey (Montreal Canadiens-Detroit Red Wings, 1954-56).
The NBA Finals haven’t featured two franchises with one or no losses in the playoffs since the 1950s, when teams played far fewer postseason games.
In 2015, after winning 16 more games than the previous season, the Warriors beat an injury-depleted Cavaliers team in six games for the franchise’s first NBA title in 40 years.
In the aftermath of that 93-89 loss in Game 7, as the Cavaliers hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Iguodala told his teammates in their Oracle Arena locker room: “Losing this game might propel us to four championships.”