The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors have met in the NBA Finals for two straight years and appear locked into yet another collision course this spring. And there’s obviously some bad blood there. Steph Curry said last season that he hoped the visiting locker room at the Q still smelled like champagne.
Then there was LeBron and Draymond’s altercation in last year’s Finals, followed by the Cavs relentless 3-1 jokes at the Warriors’ expense, followed by Draymond admitting he wants to burn Cleveland to the ground.
So why does LeBron keep insisting that it isn’t a rivalry? The whole basketball-watching world knows better, including his own coach, Tyronn Lue. Here’s what the Cavs’ head coach had to say about it on ESPN’s Mike & Mike.
“I think any time a team plays back-to-back years in the NBA Finals, and a lot of fans around the country are looking to that third match-up, especially with those guys acquiring Kevin Durant, I think it’s a rivalry,” Lue said. “I think these two teams, they want to get there, they want to play each other, and it’s some dislike there. They want to compete and play well against this team, and it’s okay. That’s what sports should be all about. If you get a chance to have a rivalry and an opponent that you look forward to matching up with, that you want to play. If you go to three straight Finals, that to me is a rivalry.”
It’s refreshing to hear, especially from an NBA coach, most of whom are notorious for downplaying this type of talk. Through the first round, both team’s paths back to the Finals look as good as ever, but there’s still plenty of postseason games to be played between now and then.
