THE task ahead remains daunting for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they take on the reigning NBA titlist Golden State Warriors on Friday, June 16 (PH time, 9 a.m.), in Game Six of the best-of-seven Finals at the Quicken Loans Arena.
Having trailed 3-1 after surrendering a 108-97 Game Four decision that halted an eight-game home winning streak in the ongoing playoffs, the Cavs are facing three straight “elimination” games and need to win them all to secure the Larry O’Brien championship hardware and gift the city of Cleveland with its first North America major professional team sports league title since 1964 when athlete-turned actor Jim Brown powered the Cleveland Browns to the National Football League crown (Super Bowl has yet to see the light of day at the time).
Can it be done?
No single team (out of 32 series) in NBA Finals history has rallied from a 3-1 hole to capture the title. Moreover, only two teams have been lucky enough to force a Game 7 – the 1951 New York Knicks, who were down 3-0 but won the next three games before losing to the home advantageous Rochester Royals (the harbinger of the Cincinnati Royals and now Sacramento Kings), and the 1966 Los Angeles Lakers, who made it to maximum route after taking the fifth and sixth games before they were stopped by the home advantageous Boston Celtics.
Taking it one game at a time, the Cavaliers passed its initial test with a 112-97 road success in Game Five that pinned the Warriors with only their fourth setback at the Oracle Arena this season (39-2 during the regular wars, 11-2 in the playoffs).
Notwithstanding all the boos that he got from the sellout crowd at the Oracle Arena for a Game Four altercation with the Warriors’ do-it-all third wheel Draymond Green that eventually resulted in the latter’s one-game suspension due to excessive flagrant foul points, a cool and calm LeBron James collected 41 points on 16-for-30 field goal shooting while also chalking up 16 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. James thus improved his Finals record to 8-8 in “elimination” games.
His sidekick, Kyrie Irving, also tallied a playoff career-high 41 points (17-of-24 field-goal attempts, .708 percent) for his third consecutive 30 points-or-more game in the series, joining the late Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to tally 40 or more points with at least a 70 percent field clip in a Finals contest.
Chamberlain went .741 (20-of-27) from the field and netted 45 points in the LA Lakers’ 135-113 Game Six victory over the title-bound New York Knicks in Game Six of the 1970 Finals at the old Fabulous Forum. James and Irving thus became the first set of teammates ever to score 40-or-more points each in the same Finals game.
It was an extraordinary offensive performance by Cleveland in a hostile environment as rookie mentor Tyronn Lue’s troops shot .530 (44-of-83) from the field overall (vs. Golden State’s .364 clip in 32-of-88 shooting). In three-point shooting, a strong offensive weapon for the Warriors, the Cavs were 10-for-24 (.417) while the Dubs settled for a .333 (14-for-42) rate.
James and Irving also beat the Warriors’ dynamic Splash Brothers duo of Klay Thompson and back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry in their own celebrated two-on-two duel. James and Irving combined to shoot 33-for-54 (.611) from the field, including 9-for-15 from the three-point area, while Thompson (37 points, 11-20 FGA, 6-11 3FGA) and Curry (25 points, 8-21 FGA, 5-14 3FGA) together made just 19-of-41 (.463) of their floor tries, including 11-of-25 from beyond the arc.
The multi-dimensional Green, a candidate for Finals MVP honors, will be back for the Warriors in Game Six but oft-injured Melbourne-born center Andrew Bogut, may not suit up after spraining his left knee early in the third quarter of Game Five. Despite the injury, the bulky 7-foot Bogut is traveling with the team to Cleveland, though.
Meanwhile, it is unlikely that both James and Irving will have another super red-hot shooting performance in Game Six even if it will be played on a friendly floor that is the Quicken Loans Arena. The handwriting is on the wall but the Cavs are not likely to just roll over and die. Game Six again could go down to the wire, and the series perhaps back to the Bay Area for a winner-take-all Game Seven.
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