Round 4 – as many predicted, and others probably lamented – is happening. Cleveland and Golden State will meet for the fourth straight year in the NBA Finals, the Warriors looking for a third championship in that span and LeBron James and the Cavaliers trying to wrestle the crown away just as they did in the 2016 series.
On one side, the best team of this era.
On the other, the best player of this era and maybe any era.
Game 1 will be hosted by the Warriors at Oracle Arena on Thursday night.
”You’ve got to appreciate the moment,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. ”Somebody asked, `Four years in a row getting to the finals, do you appreciate it?’ Yes.”
Both teams are entering this title matchup with injury concerns. Cleveland’s Kevin Love is in the concussion protocol and will need to complete a series of tests before he’s cleared to return, and Golden State’s Andre Iguodala – a former NBA Finals MVP – wasn’t able to finish the Warriors-Rockets series because of a bone bruise in his leg.
The Warriors hoped Iguodala would return to the Houston series, but his progress stalled.
”That’s just not an easy injury to predict in terms of recovery,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
There wasn’t a lot of similarity in Cleveland’s and Golden State’s seasons, but their last few days have been mirror images of one another – both teams had to win Game 6s at home to fend off elimination, then had to go on the road and prevail in Game 7s to win their respective conference finals.
”One of the most challenging seasons I’ve had,” said James, who may be playing the best basketball of his life right now at the end of his 15th season.
Here’s some of what the Cavaliers have dealt with since Golden State-Cleveland III ended last June: Kyrie Irving got traded for Isaiah Thomas over the summer, coach Tyronn Lue had to miss time to deal with health issues, Love missed two months, they lost 11 games by 16 or more points, revamped their roster in February and spent much of the season unable to guard anybody.
They’re in the finals again anyway, led by someone who will play in the last series of the season for an absurd eighth consecutive year.
”It’s been a roller coaster Virgil Green Jersey ,” said James, who is seeking a fourth ring in his ninth finals appearance overall. ”It’s been good, it’s been bad. It’s been roses. There have been thorns in the roses. There’s been everything that you can ask for.”
This wasn’t all peaches for Golden State, either. The Warriors didn’t get the No. 1 seed out West, lost Curry to a knee injury late in the regular season, lost 10 of their final 17 games and got pushed to the brink.
”I’m glad we’re going back,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said.
The Warriors swept the two regular-season meetings with the Cavaliers, winning by seven at home on Christmas Day (without Curry) and prevailing by 10 in Cleveland about three weeks later.
Film-wise, those two games are meaningless now. Of Cleveland’s five leading scorers against Golden State this season, three no longer play for the Cavaliers. James and Love combined to score 100 points in the two games, but Dwyane Wade, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas were all shipped elsewhere by the Cavs in a series of trade-deadline moves.
”We obviously know what LeBron’s capable of,” Curry said shortly after the Warriors’ Game 7 win at Houston ended. ”It’s a new team over there, so the other guys, we’ve got to lock in on their tendencies. But we’ll worry about that when we get home.”
If the Cavaliers win this championship, it might be time to declare the regular season irrelevant.
Cleveland was only 50-32 this season. Should James and his mates get it done, that would be the second-worst, regular-season record for an eventual champion in the last 40 seasons. Houston went 47-35 on the way to the 1995 title; to find another champion who was worse, go back to Washington in 1978 when the Bullets were a mere 44-38.
”Everybody doubted us,” Cavaliers forward Jeff Green said. ”Everybody had their opinions on what our team was, what we would do Cortez Kennedy Jersey , what we can’t do, from the start. … And now, I mean, we’re where we want to be. We’re where we set out to be and where we knew we could be at this point.”
Same goes for the Warriors. This season was no cakewalk for them, either.
”We’ve been through a lot with this team,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. ”Believe it or not, it’s not all success with the Warriors. We got our bumps throughout the season. But to get to this point again, we earned it.”
And now it’s time for one of these teams to earn a title.
Again.
—
Philadelphia’s first Super Bowl parade provided catharsis Thursday for hundreds of thousands of Eagles fans, deliriously joyful after decades without a title and relishing the national spotlight on a team that few outside the city thought could win it all.
Fans clad in Eagles green jammed the streets from dawn near the stadium to an afternoon rally at the city’s famed ”Rocky” steps, lining up 20 deep in spots to catch a glimpse of the champs. The Eagles rode in open-top double decker buses to the art museum that Sylvester Stallone made famous for a rally nearly 60 years in the making.
Center Jason Kelce gave voice to every frustrated Philly fan with a remarkable, impassioned and profane speech that had him defending the general manager, the coach and a litany of players who supposedly weren’t smart enough, big enough or talented enough to win a championship.
”We were a bunch of underdogs,” shouted Kelce, channeling Rocky himself. ”Bottom line is we wanted it more!”
And so did football-crazed Philly – desperately.
Until Sunday’s 41-33 victory over the favored New England Patriots, the Eagles remained the only team in their division without a Super Bowl title – an ongoing humiliation that gave Philly an inferiority complex and made Eagles fans an easy target for fans of other teams, especially the rival Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
”This Super Bowl championship is for you,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie told the vast crowd. ”You are the most passionate and deserving sports fans on the planet. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
Added Super Bowl MVP quarterback Nick Foles: ”We finally did it. We’re Super Bowl champs!”
The parade began at the Eagles’ stadium complex and slowly made its way up Broad Street past the cheering throngs. Carrying the Lombardi Trophy, coach Doug Pederson walked part of the route – allowing fans to touch the gleaming hardware – while Lurie held a sign saying ”THANK YOU FANS” as he stood next to the team’s three quarterbacks: Foles, injured starter Carson Wentz and third-stringer Nate Sudfeld.
Dan Tarvin, 29 Michael Strahan Jersey , was pumped after getting to high-five Pederson and GM Howie Roseman, who was instrumental in putting together a squad expected to compete for championships for years to come.
”They are more than heroes. They’re legends. They’re immortal in this city, forever,” Tarvin said.
Corey Carter, 32, of West Philadelphia, clutched a woodcut of an Eagle that he dubbed the ”Lombirdy Trophy.”
”This is the greatest day!” Carter said. ”Besides God, my kids and my wife, it’s Eagles. That’s all there is. My family and then Eagles, and this is the greatest day of my life, ever.”
Schools, museums, courts, government offices and even the Philadelphia Zoo were shut down so the city could fete an underdog Eagles team that few outside Philadelphia thought had a prayer of beating the mighty Patriots led by superstar quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick.
Organizers prepared for as many as 2 million people, though city officials didn’t release a crowd estimate.
Terry Gallen, a fan from Glen Mills, in the Philadelphia suburbs, said he ”broke down like a baby and cried” when the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
”It means everything,” Gallen said. ”We’re loving it.”
At the rally, Lurie, Pederson and a slew of players all took the microphone and dedicated Sunday’s victory to the fans.
But it was the crowd-pleasing Kelce who best channeled the gruff but ultimately good-hearted ”attytood” for which Philadelphians are famous.
Wearing an outlandishly sequined Mummers getup – a nod to Philadelphia’s raucous New Year’s Day parade – Kelce declared that ”no one wanted us. No analyst liked to see us win the Super Bowl. And nobody likes our fans.”
He then led the crowd in a jolly – and filthy – chant set to the tune of ”My Darling Clementine”: ”No one likes us Patrick Onwuasor Jersey , no one likes us, no one likes us, we don’t care!” The big-bearded lineman uttered at least two profanities that made it onto live TV, recalling Chase Utley’s similarly profane speech at the Phillies’ World Series parade 10 years ago.
Police investigated at least two stabbings on parade day, including one man stabbed inside a mall just off the route. No details about his condition were released. A second man was taken to a hospital with a stab wound, and police said they were trying to piece together what happened. City officials said they wouldn’t have arrest numbers until Friday.
The parade was overwhelmingly peaceful, though, giving fans an emotional release after decades of disappointment.
For lots of fans, the parade was a reminder of the Phillies’ victory lap after a 28-year World Series title drought.
For others, it took on spiritual shades of the pope’s visit in 2015.
”It is like a religion,” said Kevin Fry, 37, of Prospect Park in suburban Philadelphia, a press operator at the Inquirer and Daily News who helped print 700,000 copies of the Super Bowl edition that proclaimed ”At Last!”
And for Natasha Curley, 31, a janitor from Trenton, New Jersey, the Super Bowl title means that rival fans can stop their yapping – at least till next season.
”This stops all the hate,” Curley said. ”They got nothing to say now.”
—
Associated Press reporter Kristen De Groot in Philadelphia and Michael Rubinkam Kevin Hervey Jersey
StormMc Forum
Thema drucken
11.09.2018 16:26
Antworten
