THERE was a small commotion in the city wet-market sports hub after word got around that the Cleveland Cavaliers had been pegged plus-7 favorites over the Golden State Warriors on the eve of the NBA Finals Game 4 last week.
An amazed Buboy Sebreros, fine-looking mainstay in his father’s hot-shot vegetable stall, picked up remaining anti-Golden State bets before the Game 4 tipoff in Cleveland.
He ended up pocketing a cozy bundle of grocery cash.
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A Golden State follower and keen NBA observer, Buboy was a little aghast at the blind faith Cleveland fans continued to bestow on superstar LeBron James, despite visible slippage.
For the record, James was a key contributor to the back-to-back setbacks suffered by Cleveland in Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, played at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
However, it came as no surprise after James strutted out and reimposed himself as the Finals shifted to Cleveland for Game 3, which the Cavaliers took by a whooping 30 points.
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Cleveland followers, after all, could be right. James could’ve just waited for the Finals to go to Cleveland before be would again go full-blast and explode with old might.
Buboy Sebreros however said these LeBron diehards obviously failed to notice that the Warriors were in Game 3 practically only in the first half.
Starting the third quarter, the Warriors were visibly very passive; going through the motion, so to say, and turning the remainder of Game 3 into an observation tour.
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Didn’t the Warriors try to loosen up in Game 3, knowing fully well the Cavaliers would pour everything out in order to keep dignity and honor before adoring home fans?
Come Game 4, it was the great defending champion Golden State Warriors all over again which proceeded to deflate and frustrate the Cavaliers right there in Cleveland.
After that all-revealing Game 4 triumph, wherein James’ weakness against a caging defense—a first man confronting LeBron with a second defender waiting to foil him or clog his alternate path—Golden State is highly favored to make a championship closure at home today.
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Draymond Green, Golden State’s seasoned secretary of defense, will be out on a one-game suspension.
James, needless to say, could be up against less poisonous defenders.
But don’t tell that to coach Steve Kerr, who vowed they would go out as solidly sharp and hard as ever. He would most likely start with muscular defense specialist Andre Iguodola.
James, in short, will have to go back to his old dominant game, operate through congested paths, as he remains the key factor for the Cavaliers, win or lose.