Give Cavs a 2-0 lead and they’d be champs—again 

By Al S. Mendoza

 

Give Cavs a 2-0 lead and they’d be champs—again

IF the Cleveland Cavaliers did not win Game 1 two days ago, fine.

It is still too early to say the Golden State Warriors will win the 2017 NBA crown.

I wrote this in advance and so, I could only make a guess before Game 1 could begin.

Cavs winning, said my crystal ball.

Now if I was wrong, no big deal.

The NBA Finals can not be decided by one game.

So that even if the Cavs won, no big deal, too.

Both teams will still have a long way to go before any one of them could even say the title is within grasp.

A 1-0 lead in a best-of-seven series is as tiny as an ant: harmless.

Now, if it’s a 2-0 lead one team is enjoying, that’d be a reason to worry a bit to those betting for the squad two games behind.

That can happen tomorrow if Friday’s Game 1 winner wins Game 2 tomorrow, June 5 (Monday, Philippine time).

Because Golden State has the so-called home court advantage, the Warriors winning at Oakland back-to-back won’t be a shock.

A shocker definitely, though, should the Cavs sweep the first two games.

It could put Golden State’s championship dream in jeopardy.

It might even be an ominous sign of failure at redemption for the Warriors.

Did not the Warriors lead 3-1 last year, moving them to just one win away from claiming a second straight NBA crown?

They had three chances to become repeat champs.

They failed each time, a bizarre development that exposed uncharacteristic kinks in the Golden State’s famed offensive sock.

How could such a powerhouse team like the Warriors, boasting of the league’s No. 1 three-point shooter in Stephen Curry, absorb a three-game collapse—in a championship series at that?

How could one imagine a team like the Warriors, who set the most number of wins in league history last year, suffering a three-game losing streak when they seemed invincible all season long?

It was a collapse with LeBron James as chief architect, leading his Cavs to a smashing 3-0 sweep in the Finals’ last three games.

It was both improbable and incredible, the Warriors not knowing what hit them, what went wrong with their machine that looked well-oiled and ready to destroy the Cavs.

It was not to be.

LeBron James’s brute force was simply too much to contain as he virtually shouldered the Cavs home to victory.

The two-time NBA champion while with Miami was unstoppable in his mission to pocket a third NBA ring in 2016.

Reestablishing himself as the real King James of the NBA, his superlative performances saw him ferociously craft a 4-3 Cleveland masterpiece.

No one doubted it would happen—even after the Cavs were down 1-3.

Will the Cavs win again this year?

Give them a 2-0 lead and the Warriors could kiss their title hopes goodbye.

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