LeBron James was relaxed Rashaan Gaulden Jersey Panthers , reflective and even resigned to his fate.
The end of the series, season and maybe his second stint in Cleveland, are near.
The Golden State Warriors have made his eighth straight NBA Finals – and their seasonal rivalry with the Cavaliers – very one-sided.
Still weary and wrestling with emotions after losing Game 3 on Wednesday night, when Kevin Durant scored 43 points and shot the Warriors within one win of their third title in four years, James pointed out Thursday what has become terrifyingly obvious.
The Warriors are at another level. And may be for a while.
”Obviously, from a talent perspective, if you’re looking at Golden State from their top five best players to our top five players, you would say they’re stacked better than us. Let’s just speak truth,” James said before rattling off Golden State’s embarrassment of riches.
”Kevin Durant,” he said. ”You’ve got two guys with MVPs on their team. And then you’ve got a guy in Klay (Thompson) who could easily be on a team and carry a team, scored 40 in a quarter before. And then you have Draymond (Green), who is arguably one of the best defenders and minds we have in our game. So you have that crew.
”Then you add on a Finals MVP coming off the bench (Andre Iguodala), a No. 1 pick in (Shawn) Livingston and an All-Star in David West and whatever the case may be. So they have a lot of talent.”
Too much, it seems, for these Cavs.
James wasn’t making excuses for Cleveland’s postseason pickle because if not for a reversed official’s call or J.R. Smith’s brain-lock in the closing seconds of regulation in Game 1 or Durant’s brilliance in Game 3, the Cavs could be leading the series.
The three-time champion Ito Smith Jersey Elite , though, was being open and honest about the Cavs’ chances to become the first team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs.
To this point, 131 have tried, and 131 have failed.
”We’ve been in a position where we could win two out of these three games,” said James, who had 33 points and his 10th Finals triple-double in Game 3. ”So what do we have to do? Do we have to make more shots? Is it we have to have our minds into it a little bit more? Is it if there is a ball on the ground we can’t reach for it but you’ve got to dive for it?”
Those were today’s relevant questions. Tomorrow, they’ll be different ones if the Warriors, who have dealt with adversity all season, sweep the Cavs.
James is headed toward free agency and then where: Los Angeles? Philadelphia? Houston?
Or will he decide it’s too painful to part again with Cleveland, his basketball home for 11 seasons and just up the highway from his actual home in Akron?
The 33-year-old plans to consider everything once the season ends, but he offered some clues about what he’ll consider before making his next move, a decision that will dwarf any other NBA news in July. James also laid out a potential blueprint for the Cavs to follow if they want to keep him.
Bottom line: James needs better, smarter teammates.
No player in the league understands the current climate better than James, who formed a super-team in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and won two NBA titles before returning to Cleveland and joining forces with All-Stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. The Cavs’ reign lasted only one year, destroyed by Durant’s shocking departure from Oklahoma City for the 73-win Warriors, a team he couldn’t beat but was glad to join.
James said his decision to bolt from the Cavs the first time was simple.
”I knew that my talent level here in Cleveland couldn’t succeed getting past a Boston Tom Glavine Jersey , getting past the San Antonios of the league or whatever the case may be,” he said.
But beyond the talent disparity, James said the key to winning a championship is ”you’ve got to be very cerebral too.”
James then explained what it takes to be the last team standing, and in the process seemed to take a swipe at unnamed current and former teammates.
”So now everyone is trying to figure that out,” he said. ”How do you put together a group of talent but also a group of minds to be able to compete with Golden State, to be able to compete for a championship? That’s what GMs and presidents and certain players, it’s not every player. Every player does not want to – sad to say – but every player doesn’t want to compete for a championship and be in a position where every possession is pressure.”
Months of weight will lifted off him once the Warriors, who haven’t lost four straight games since 2013, are crowned again.
This series has been a painful reminder to James that the great teams have more than one king.
”When you make mistakes they make you pay,” he said, ”because they’re already more talented than you are but they also have the minds behind it, too, and they also have the championship DNA.”
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Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell and Wilson Ramos are hoping they both get selected to the American League All-Star team. Saturday afternoon’s performance at Citi Field may have strengthened the batterymates’ chances.
Snell blanked the Mets over a career-high-tying 7 1/3 innings, Ramos drove in a pair of runs and the Rays downed New York 3-0 on Saturday.
”I’d be pumped,” Snell said about the possibility of playing in the Midsummer Classic. ”I’d be stoked.”
A late afternoon start under clear blue skies featured two young left-handers at the top of their game in recent weeks, both successfully dodging a slew of baserunners early.
Ranked among the league leaders in several categories Joel Iyiegbuniwe Jersey Bears , the 25-year-old Snell was as advertised- keeping the Mets off the board despite allowing the leadoff runner to reach in six out of eight frames including each of the first four.
Snell (12-4) struck out nine, scattering six hits and three walks while lowering his AL-leading ERA to 2.09.
”Blake has been tremendous for us. He’s been the workhorse.” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. ”We’re talking about a potential All-Star candidate.”
The lanky lefty has yielded two runs or fewer in nine of his last 10 starts and is 4-0 with an 0.63 ERA over his last four outings, two against the Astros.
”He deserves to be in the All-Star Game because he’s had an awesome year,” Ramos said of the Rays starter. ”There’s nothing better than being with your teammates in the All-Star Game.”
The feeling is mutual.
”He needs to go,” Snell said, rallying for his backstop. ”It would be even cooler if I did go and pitch to him. I think that would be special for the both of us.”
After being held scoreless in 34 of their previous 36 innings, Tampa Bay finally broke through in the fifth. Matt Duffy lined a leadoff double down the right-field line, the fourth two-bagger surrendered by Mets starter Steven Matz to that point, advancing to third on a groundout.
Ramos followed with a sharp grounder to shortstop. A charging Amed Rosario booted the ball before recovering and throwing to first for the out. With Duffy running on contact, Rosario likely would have cut down the run at home had he fielded the ball cleanly. Instead, the Rays took a 1-0 lead.
”He just came in on it hard,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. ”He looked up just to see where the runner was and it hit off his heel.”
Matz (4-6) continued his recent surge, charged with one run on five hits and three walks in 6 1/3 innings- striking out five. The Long Island native has allowed four earned runs across his last three starts, a span of 18 2/3 innings.
He escaped trouble early by getting Adeiny Hechavarria to fly out, ending a bases-loaded threat in the first. The Rays left seven men on in the first four innings and were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position during that stretch.
”I get in situations throughout the game where I can crumble,” Matz said. ”But I think just realizing what I’ve got to do out there Isaiah Oliver Falcons Jersey , and just the task at hand, has really helped.”
Tampa Bay was 2 for 25 with runners in scoring position in the first two games of the series, stranding a total of 18.
The Rays added some insurance in the eighth on a bloop single by former Met Carlos Gomez, scoring Daniel Robertson. Ramos singled home a run in the ninth.
Sergio Romo pitched a scoreless ninth for his ninth save in 13 chances.
Neither Snell nor Matz had faced the opposing team before.
Jose Bautista was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts after hitting a game-ending grand slam in the series opener Friday night.
LOOSE LUMBER
Both starting third basemen lost the grip on their bats an inning apart. Todd Frazier swung at a fastball in the bottom of the fourth, fouling it off and also sending his bat deep into foul territory down the third base line. Duffy had a similar experience in the fifth, letting go of his lumber and causing it to fly towards the Rays’ on-deck circle.
CLOSE CALL
The Rays had a brief scare in the second when Snell’s pitching hand was grazed by a 92-mph sinker. The southpaw took his base and did not appear to be in pain.
”I’m happy that it didn’t really hit me hard,” Snell said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: Rookie infielder Willy Adames was scratched from the starting lineup. ”He’s just under the weather,” Cash said. ”He was battling a bug last night and I think he woke up this morning a little bit worse.” … RHP Jake Faria (strained left oblique) was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with high-A Charlotte Saturday night. … INF Christian Arroyo (strained left oblique) could play for Charlotte on Monday but the club is not fully committed to that plan, according to Cash.
Mets: LF Yoenis Cespedes (right hip) is continuing baseball activities including running straight sprints, although he has yet to begin turning the bases to simulate a double. ”Trying to figure out that schedule as we go along,” said Callaway about when his club’s top slugger might play in a rehab game. ”All that’s going to be based on how he bounces back day-to-day.”
UP NEXT
Rays: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (2-3, 3.92 ERA) pitches in the rubber game on Sunday. He has allowed just two runs over his last two starts, a span of twelve innings in which he fanned 14 batters.
Mets: RHP Chris Flexen (0-1, 10.80 ERA in 3 relief appearances) will make his first start of the season.
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