No team has ever come back to win the NBA Finals when faced with a 3-1 deficit. Those overwhelming odds are in favor of the San Antonio Spurs as Game 5 looms Sunday night, but LeBron James and the Miami Heat don’t seem fazed. Instead of succumbing to such unenviable circumstances, the two-time defending champions are looking at them as just another chance to make more history.
In his media availability at the Spurs practice facility on Saturday, a light-hearted, almost existential James espoused nothing but positivity despite the depressing state of Miami’s title hopes.
Why not us? History is broken all the time. Obviously we know we’re against the biggest of odds: No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals. But there was a point where no team came back from a 2-0 and no team came back from a 3-0. There was a point when no team came back from a 3-1 deficit in the Western Conference SemiFinals and then Phoenix did it… There was a point where no team came back from a 3-0 or 3-1 deficit in [Major League Baseball’s] ALCS, and then the Red Sox did it against the Yankees.
History is made to be broken. Why not me be a part of it? That would be great. That’d be a great storyline, right? We’ll see what happens. I got to live in the moment before we even get to that point.
The biggest moment for LeBron will come in tonight’s elimination game. And though he’s compiled amazing numbers through the first four games of this series, James says he’s prepared to take his play up a notch. Asked by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press if there’s something more he can do to help the Heat win, LeBron hinted at a renewed, aggressive approach to his play.
I haven’t even looked at the numbers… I’m just telling myself that I need to do more. Is that too much to ask of myself? I don’t know, but I need to do more because what I’m doing isn’t enough, and it’s just what I put on myself.
[laughs] I mean if you told me I’d be averaging 28 [points], shooting 60 percent from the floor and 61 from the three-point line and we’d be down 3-1, I’d never give you another interview, Tim. And I like you… Maybe I need to get to 32 and 65 and 65.
Game 5 tips off at 8:00PM EST from San Antonio.
Do the Heat have a legitimate chance to win the NBA Finals?
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