The buildup to this NBA Finals three-match has been terrific. (And it better live up to the hype after a lackluster postseason thus far.)
The most recent bit of jabber came, unsurprisingly, from Warriors forward Draymond Green. In an interview with Good Morning America, Green said he doesn’t care if people consider LeBron James the greatest player of all-time as long as Golden State knocks him off for this year’s title.
“He can have that title, he just can’t have this ring. Our goal isn’t to make everyone say, hey, LeBron isn’t the greatest player of all time. More power to him. Hey, go ahead. At the end of the day it’s all subjective anyway.
“As a peer, he’s had an amazing career, and he’s still doing amazing things. I can care less if anyone says LeBron is the greatest of all time. The only thing I care about is they can’t say LeBron is the 2017 NBA champion. Beyond all that, they can have it. He can have that. We want a championship, and that’s the goal.”
This postseason has certainly bolstered James’ case for greatest of all-time. He passed Michael Jordan to become the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring leader during the Eastern Conference Finals and has generally been unstoppable. The King is averaging 32.5 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and a couple of steals and blocks in the playoffs.
This is LeBron’s seventh straight NBA Finals appearance, and he’s searching for his fourth ring. If he succeeds, he’ll be just two titles behind Jordan while showing no signs of letting up.
Back in October, Green told NBA.com’s David Aldridge he wanted to “destroy” and “annihilate” the Cavs if they ended up meeting again the NBA Finals. His comments from Wednesday were softer, but the message is still clear: the Warriors are hungry as ever to win this year’s title after blowing a 3-1 lead against Cleveland last year.
[ABC]
