It’s a situation that LeBron James has been in many times before, as he sat down on the podium to talk to the press following Cleveland Cavaliers’ game two loss to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
James’ team are 2-0 down as they now head to the home of ‘The King’ for game three. And he wants his subjects, or team-mates for a better word to be uncomfortable, and not relaxed as they head to Wednesday’s third game where the stakes are intensified.
It’s common knowledge that no team in NBA history has come back from a 0-3 deficit and the Cavs do not want to be in that situation, when they wake up on Thursday.
“At the end of the day, we have a game three to play,” said James following the 122-103 loss to the Warriors.
“We got an opportunity to go home and we’ve played some really good basketball on our home floor but that should not give us any comfort, we should still be uncomfortable with the series as we were in game one and as we were [in game two].”
There is slight comfort for the Cavaliers, heading into game three. Since the 2015 Finals, Golden State have tasted defeat four times. But, as said – it’s only a slight comfort as with those four losses – they have also won four as well.
Another reason that it’s slight is that teams that have gone 2-0 up in the NBA Finals own a 29-4 record overall. But the last team to overcome a 0-2 deficit was the 2016 Cavaliers.
“Like I said, we want to continue to be uncomfortable,” James reiterated. “Just because we’re going home, doesn’t mean that we can relax and this is the last team in the world that you want to relax against.
“They’ve proven that they can win on someone else’s floor – no matter if it’s through adversity as people may call it when they were going through the Rockets series or whatever the case may be they proved that they can win on someone else’s floor and do it in any fashion and any way.
“So I will continue to stay uncomfortable and I hope our guys continue to stay uncomfortable no matter with us going back home.”
