I Was Wrong, Sorry LeBron
By: Connor Lenahan
Last weekend after hearing that Kyrie Irving had broken his kneecap in game one of the NBA Finals, thus causing him to be ruled out for the remainder of the series, I wrote that the series was over. It seemed at the time, after the Golden State Warriors had taken the Cleveland Cavaliers to overtime and won in game one, that the Warriors would be able to sweep the floor with the suddenly Irving-less Cavs.
Welp, that’s not what happened. The next two games, both hard fought battles, went to Cleveland and a rejuvenated LeBron James, who seems to have decided that every critic would be proven wrong by his team. LeBron’s prediction seems a hell of a lot more likely to be true than mine at this point. Tomorrow night marks game five of the Finals and it’s become borderline impossible to figure out what will happen. Golden State won game four last and marked the first real decisive win of the series. If they did the same thing twice more, which could happen, then MVP Steph Curry takes home his first ring.
However, LeBron & Co. can beat this Warriors team as is, and on the Warriors’ home court as well. That’s huge. Suddenly it becomes a three game series. It’s impossible for me to pick between the two with regards to who I think will win, mainly because the Cavalier defense will likely dictate this series as it has since game two on.
I do have a rooting interest though. Golden State is a relatively young team overall. It’s biggest stars are not winding down their careers. On the contrary, Steph Curry has been getting better season after season and looks to be peaking. There will be more Finals appearances from Curry and all. That said, if LeBron dragged this Cavs team to a title – not mentioning how he’d be doing so as Player/Coach/GM of the franchise – then it would be the single most impressive Finals in league history.
I’m not a dedicated fan of either team with no geographical bias. I love LeBron and Steph. At this point the smart thing to do is to root for the better story. Right now? Give me Superhero LeBron capping off his return season. It would be one thing to tell my grandkids that I watched Steph Curry win the NBA Finals.
It’s a whole different thing to say I watched LeBron win this Finals.