NBA Finals: Game 3

 

Pregame
We've recruited ESPN the Mag contributing writer and Crooked River Burning author Mark Winegardner to help us cover the 2015 NBA Finals — maybe our best chance in 51 years for that elusive title. But he's not #AllinCLE. Not yet anyway. 

After a 95-93 overtime victory in Game 2 — the greatest victory in team history — everything had changed. LeBron couldn't wait to see and hear the fans at home for Game 3. Winegardner flew in from Florida to cover the games in The Q.

Mark Winegardner:  Can't overestimate the vibe down here. You tear up merely soaking it in.
Jason Brill, associate editor: A third NBA Finals game would have that kind of effect. Especially tied 1-1. Feels so different than '07.
MW: Found metaphor = the arena has been remodeled since then, as has the team, as has the city.

JB: As has LeBron. Less than 20 minutes to the tip.
MW: So afraid to feel anything at all.
MW: What's fun here is to just to ride the energy. Which is kind of hard to explain. But, increasingly, it's making my heart beat faster. #nohyperbole
JB: That kind of shared energy can do very real things. Do you think that translates into real home court advantage.
MW: Yes.

Cavs Fan Guide: Celebrity Spotting 101

Where there’s a King, celebrity royalty follows. From TV personality Drew Carey to actress Katie Holmes, a slew of stars have expressed they are #ALLINCLE as the Cavaliers pursue Cleveland's first championship title since 1964. Games 3 and 4 may draw noted fans Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden, boxer Floyd Mayweather and pop star Rihanna. Sure sightings are country group Rascal Flatts, who are singing the national anthem for Game 3, and R&B artist and Cavs minority owner Usher, who will take the mic for Game 4. And where's there's an Usher, there's a Bieber — a Justin Bieber, who attended the Cavs opener with singer. So just in case you are one of a lucky few who spot a star, here are a few pointers.

Machine Gun Kelly
Try to photobomb the tattooed, mohawk-sporting MGK, who popped up in Haden's picture during the Eastern Conference Finals and tweeted it out with the caption "meme it." Throw up an "L" for "Lace Up," if you're able to get close by. Pay him back by asking the Twittersphere for a caption.

meme it.

A photo posted by Machine Gun Kelly (@machinegunkelly) on Jun 3, 2015 at 12:38pm PDT

Floyd Mayweather: You'll know it's Mayweather, because he'll be the guy courtside dressed head-to-toe in the Money Team gear and wearing ridiculous sunglasses inside. And don't mock him for wearing jorts. He is, after all, Floyd Mayweather.

Jay Z and Beyonce: It's still unclear if the power pair was really spotted in the Euclid Avenue Starbucks during the Cavs opener, but it’s a long shot (C'mon guys do you really think Queen Bey gets her own coffee?). You’ll score points if you support her vegan announcement by offering her a Restore Cold Pressed juice (Cavs player Matthew Dellavedova was spotted at the new downtown shop).

Kanye West: Sneak down to the court and wish Yeezy a happy belated birthday. Try to get him to smile. He's really, really good at avoiding smiling while on camera.

Shaq: Ask Shaq which club he plans on going to after the game so you can try to re-create his photo with MGK while 'Till I Die' and "Till I Die Part II" play on loop. Don't forget to ask him about the 'Shaqtus' cake Colossal Cupcakes made him.

you know what im probably saying in my head in this pic? -- holy shit im in the club turning up to 'Till I Die' with @shaq right now‼️😱😎 music is a beautiful thing. cleveland is a beautiful thing. shoutout @billbellamy 💯

A photo posted by Machine Gun Kelly (@machinegunkelly) on May 25, 2015 at 3:33pm PDT

Rihanna: You can try to cheer as loud as RiRi, but the bar is set high. The singer attended both games in Oakland to cheer on LeBron and was asked to move seats after her cheering annoyed Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob during Game 1. Maybe this time she'll be seated by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

Usher and Justin Bieber: This time, take it easy on the Biebs. When the duo attended the opener in October, Biebs got booed but Usher was quick to hug him. Be warned that he may flash his abs.

JoAnna Garcia Swisher: You're more likely to find the actress down the street at Progressive Field, as her husband Nick Swisher and the Cleveland Indians play the Seattle Mariners tonight. But if you do happen to see her, she'll might be screaming loudly for Matthew Dellavedova and freaking out just as much as your average fan in the crowd. Except for the fact that she's an Astronaut Wife. 

#currentmood #Dellavedova #NBAFinals #HometownThrowdown pic.twitter.com/ksiVslP9xt

— JoAnna Garcia (@JoAnnaLGarcia) June 8, 2015

Rascal Flatts: Gary LeVox, the lead singer vocalist in Rascal Flatts, is from Westerville, Ohio, and has worked with Bieber in the past. So after he and the rest of Rascal Flatts perform the national anthem, look to the Bieber-Usher area.

Johnny Manziel: Regardless of your post-Browns season emotions toward Johnny Football, do not, under any circumstances, antagonize Manziel. He may throw a water bottle at you. He'll probably be with teammate and friend Haden courtside or he may even head back to his old stomping grounds at The 9 for an afterparty at the Vault Social Lounge. Oh wait, we forgot he dropped his party boy lifestyle for a quiet existence in a golf course community.

Cavs Fan Guide: ESPN’s John Anderson returns to town for SportsCenter broadcast

Photo by Phil Ellsworth, ESPN Images

As a youngster growing up in Wisconsin, one of John Anderson’s prized possessions was a Cleveland Browns football helmet. “My uncle lived in Cleveland and got one for me back when an NFL helmet was hard to come by,” says the 50-year-old ESPN SportsCenter anchor. “I would pretend I was Brian Sipe.”

Anderson joins colleagues John Buccigross and Lindsay Czarniak for live broadcasts from their East Fourth Street pop-up stage Tuesday through Thursday at 6 p.m. and immediately after games 3 and 4 as part of ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Finals (ESPN will also broadcast its First Take show live from the Music Box Supper Club Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to noon with 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. segments on game days). We talk with Anderson about Cleveland Cavaliers fans, social media and the rise of the network.

Q: This will be your third trip to Cleveland since the Cavs’ opening night loss to the New York Knicks in October. What’s it like to go on the road with SportsCenter?
A: One more trip here and I fear I’m going to have to pay Ohio income tax. It’s nice to have a studio with all the bells and whistles, but on Fourth Street you can’t help but feel all the energy right on top of you. The fans have always been fantastic here and now, with a chance to win a championship, they will be off the hook. As a Rust Belt guy, I know when fans are fully invested in their teams.

Q: Unlike many broadcasters, you’re not on Twitter. Why?
A: There are people who use it intelligently, but they’re a small percentage. Twitter is America’s knee-jerk reaction to everything. Everyone there is pretty sure they are the funniest people in the world, and everyone’s an expert. It helps promote our product, but it’s just not me. I don’t use it because a) I would need an editor and b) if I have a really good thought I don’t want to give it away at 8:30 if I might need it at 11.

Q: You have been at ESPN for 16 years. How has the network changed during that time?
A: It’s exploded in size, and it has exploded in its coverage. SportsCenter itself has increased its reach by going to events like the NBA Finals. And it’s become much more important programming to people. Sports are the actual reality television.

Q: What do you watch on TV?
A: If sports are on, that’s what I’m watching. I’m not watching Game of Thrones or House of Cards. If I get home at 2 a.m. and the Irish Open is on, I’m watching it.

By Barry Goodrich

NBA Finals Game 2: Team Grit

   

   Rarely, in the history of seven-game series in any sport has a 1-0 lead felt so insurmountable as it did going into Game 2 of these NBA Finals.

   Cleveland — improbably — surmounted the hell out of it.

   Until yesterday, no team had ever won a Finals game without the services of its second-[1] and third-[2] leading scorers, yet with those guys relegated to hospital beds footnote status, the Cavaliers went into Oracle Arena, where the Golden State Warriors sport the best home-court record in the NBA, dictated the pace of the game from beginning to end, and won, in dreaded overtime[3], 95-93.

   Remind me again why we[4] thought the Cavs were toast?

   They’ve played 106 minutes of basketball, on the road, against the 67-win, best-in-the-NBA Warriors, and led for more than 79 of those minutes.

   They’ve had four opportunities for buzzer-beaters in regulation, two in Game 1 (LeBron and Iman Shumpert), two in Game 2 (LeBron and Tristan Thompson), missed all four, and emerged with the series tied 1-1, with no need to thank anything resembling good luck.

   Matthew Dellavedova, who as recently as the trading deadline seemed to be holding down the position (backup point guard) most in need of an upgrade, started at point guard. And he didn’t start especially well, either, getting torched at both ends of the court by Klay Thompson. But once he switched to NBA MVP Steph Curry (and vice versa), the game turned around. In fact, with Delly guarding him, Curry, probably the best and most resourceful outside shooter in the history of the game, didn’t make a single shot[5].

   The Cavs, who as recently as January were one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, are winning because they’ve transformed themselves into one of the best. It ain’t always pretty, but no fan base is better equipped to embrace winning ugly than we are.

   That said, don’t try telling Cavs fans that we’re not beholding a vision of rare beauty.

   Behold: LeBron James.

   He entered this season as part of any NBA Mount Rushmore conversation.

   It’s increasingly likely that, however it ends, he has emerged to challenge Michael Jordan as the NBA’s GOAT.

   LeBron has led his team in points, rebounds and assists in 35 playoff games — 11 more than the next two highest[6] combined.

   Michael Jordan never had a stat line in the Finals like LeBron’s 39 point, 16 rebound, 11 assist game yesterday. In fairness, because he never played a single game in the Finals without his two best teammates, Jordan didn’t need to. In the series in which Jordan carried the heaviest load, the 1998 Finals against Utah, he totaled 24 rebounds and 14 assists in six games. In just two games, LeBron has 24 rebounds and 17 assists. Jordan averaged 33.5 points per game. LeBron is averaging 42.5[7].

   Yesterday, the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrated the biggest win in the history of the franchise.

   Now, they, as ever, are following LeBron’s lead and coming home[8].   // Mark Winegardner

                         

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[1] Kyrie Irving, DNP, fractured left kneecap.

[2] Kevin Love, DNP, left arm nearly yanked off by a clumsy Celtic.

[3] So maybe, just maybe, the overtime loss in Game 1 won’t go down in ignominy and history as The Overtime? At minimum, it’s pretty to think so.

[4] Maybe not you, but, yes: me. And pretty much everyone in the NBA chattering class.

[5] Dellavedova has used the playoffs to go from folk hero to damned good player, a journey highlighted by being responsible for postseason career-worst offensive games from former MVP Derrick Rose, current all-star Jeff Teague and now Curry.

[6] Larry Bird with 13 and Tim Duncan with 11.

[7] If you think Jordan shot dramatically better, you’d be wrong; he went 43% from the floor and 31% from three, while LBJ is shooting 40% from the floor and 36% from three.

[8] Me, too! I’m leaving Florida today, flying back to the only place I’ve ever lived that felt like home, where I’ll crash for a few days in my mother-in-law’s spare bedroom so I can cover the Finals for Cleveland Magazine. Stay tuned!

NBA Finals: Game 2

Pregame
We've recruited ESPN the Mag contributing writer and Crooked River Burning author Mark Winegardner to help us cover the 2015 NBA Finals — maybe our best chance in 51 years for that elusive title. But he's not #AllinCLE. Not yet anyway. 

After a 108-100 overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 1, the Cavs lost Kyrie Irving for the season with a fractured knee cap. Things looked bleak. Has anything changed Winegardner's opinion since Friday?

Steve Gleydura, editor: Pregame thoughts?

Mark Winegardner: You mean aside from creeping dread and grim resignation?

SG: So you haven't softened any?

MW: That is actually one of those big philosophical questions.

SG: Indeed.

MW: Do I want to talk myself into some scenario in which Cleveland has a genuine right of hope (and risk being a pathetic homer or a chump)?

SG: Funny, because that's where I am. Resigned for the worst, but with a creeping theory that to exorcise 51 years it's going to take something spectacular.

MW: Maybe you're right. I sure wish it were enough just to have an excellent and healthy team, though.

SG: The Red Sox had to come back from 3-0 against the Yanks in 2004. Maybe this is that for us. ... Or we'll be put out of our misery early.

MW: Man, only in Cleveland would a one-game lead seem insurmountable. In fairness, if Klay Thompson and Steph Curry were out and Kyrie and Kevin Love healthy, we would surely sweep them.

SG: The only reason we're even discussing this is because we have LeBron. I can't think of another player you can say that about.

MW: Agreed. Sam, my 26-year-old, just texted me. He's cautiously optimistic.

SG: Millennials. 

Game 1: All Is Lost (Including Kyrie)

That wasn’t just a loss last night in Oakland[1]. It was the Overtime from Hell at Oracle.

And you know it in your bones[2].

            In a city that’s not Cleveland, for a fan base that’s not us, one might appraise the Cavaliers’ 108-100 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and move on, seeking some comforting perspective.

It’s still only Game 1, after all. The best anyone could have hoped or was to get a split in those first two away games. Which is still possible![3]

Hey, the last time things looked this grim was less than a month ago, when Derrick Rose hit an accidental bank-shot three-pointer buzzer-beater and the Bulls went up 2-1 on the Cavs and the season looked downright over. But was it? No! Everything worked out great! Not only wasn’t it over, the Cavs never lost again to the Bulls, winning three straight and breaking their spirit, or to the Atlanta Hawks in the next round either, winning four straight and breaking their spirit, too.

For two different and increasingly thrilling moments last night, that winning streak couldn’t have come any closer than it did to stretching to a full month. Couldn’t have more exhilaratingly teed Cleveland up for its first championship in 51 years[4].

With the score tied at 98, seconds left in the game, LeBron James drives to the hoop, shoots a contested jumper that seems utterly fits the improbable miracle of his Coming Home season.

And misses.

But wait!

Somehow, the ball finds its way into the corner, where a wide-open Iman Shumpert heaves a three that everybody watching is absolutely sure is good.

Somehow, it bounces out.

Somehow, before you can catch your breath, in an overtime that feels like it never should have been played, the Warriors are blowing Cleveland out and Kyrie Irving is suffering a season-ending[5] injury and the Cavs score zero, zip, nothing until LeBron glides in at the end of the game for an uncontested layup — one as pointless as, somehow, this whole series suddenly feels.   // Mark Winegardner

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[1] Whose football team gave us Red Right 88.

[2] Speaking of bones: R.I.P., Kyrie Irving’s kneecap. You were fun while you lasted.

[3] “Hahahahaha!” guffawed Cruel Fate.

[4] And counting.

[5] Career-threatening?

NBA Finals: Game 1

 


Pregame
This is how it starts: Cavs vs. Warriors. Game 1.
And we've recruited ESPN the Mag contributing writer and Crooked River Burning author Mark Winegardner to help us cover the 2015 NBA Finals — maybe our best chance in 51 years for that elusive title. But he's not #AllinCLE. Not yet anyway. 
MW: The Warriors team is almost impossible to root against. Kerr is one of my favorite people in all of sports. Curry is Dell's kid. Always rooted for Shaun Livingston after his brutal knee injury and fun stint with the Cavs. Draymond Green is a 2nd rounder turned blue collar star. Etc. You can't even use the SF/Silicon Valley privileged thing against them b/c they play in Oakland.
Steve Gleydura, editor: To hell with that. If we're ever going to win a championship in this town, we need every ounce of energy devoted to us. In theory I agree with all of that but this is THE FINALS. Don't mess with the chi. This is real — not some Mavs-Cavs bullcrap. Either you're All In or you're not. Sorry.
MW: Don't know how I'm supposed to take the All IN stuff. I mean, on the one hand, winning would surely be my happiest moment as a sports fan. On the other, I need to protect my heart. Plus the slogans make me uneasy (i.e. Cleveland's a Plum). Plus I'd rather have an excellent villain not a likable, entertaining team with strong ties to Cleveland. I realize that's one hand over here and three the-other-hands over there. It's a mutation created by 51 years without a title.
SG: Come on, it's been 51 years. Can we really be picky about our opponent? Let's not start getting greedy. I'm nervous as it is with Kyrie's knee. The first quarter will tell us a lot.

Less than 5 minutes to tipoff

MW: Finals drinking game. Take a shot every time they show Steph's family. Take 2 every time his mom does that ceiling point or chest thing or look concerned. Take 5 if his parents KOTL.

SG: Not sure I'm going to even make it to halftime.

After 1Q
MW: Cavs are smoking them on the boards.

#Cavs are 12-0 this postseason when winning rebound battle. Tonight, up 14-7 (4-1 off reb) - TT, Timo, 10 of CLE's 14 pic.twitter.com/0AYr9WYVpa

— Joe Gabriele (@CavsJoeG) June 5, 2015

Cavs time out with 5 minutes left. Score tied.
MW: Doesn't seem like they game planned for Maurice Speights at all.
SG: And yet, he was on the roster two years ago.
MW: Unlike most of the guys on the roster now.

Half time

MW: Hoodies during warm ups might be a thing now. #JRSwish

SPECIAL NBA FINALS EDITION OF JR SMITH UNLOCKED https://t.co/uwUSz9NlYY

— Complex Sports (@Complex_Sports) June 5, 2015

Start of the 2nd half:
MW: Thanks, Kyrie. Zoom Zoom

Time out. Midway through 3Q. Cavs lead 69-66.
MW: I like the Cavs calmness.
SG: At least they're calm. I'm sure not.

LeBron James (27pts) continuing to impose his will on this game. The @Cavs are up 3 late in the 3rd on ABC. #NBAFinals

— NBA (@NBA) June 5, 2015

End of 3Q
MW:  Myself=less calm. Tight chest.
MW: Cavs second unit not pulling its weight.

MW: Speights = a Florida Gator. SO there's one guy I can dislike.

6:29 in the 4Q. Cavs lead 86-82

I hope we win it all so I can go back and watch these games and actually enjoy it. #ALLinCLE

— Eric Knappenberger (@CavsWITNESS) June 5, 2015

SG: Fifth foul on Green.
SG: Ugh. Lots of shots — and Curry family cameos — in the last few minutes.

Under 3. 95-93 Warriors

I'd take 7 games of this.

— Jim Rome (@jimrome) June 5, 2015

SG: Not sure if I could handle that.

1:16 left. Tied at 96.
MW: Someone's been in the Finals before.

SG: Ugh.Almost, Shump. 5 more minutes?

Need to see LeBron going to the rack there. I'll pass on a step back 20-footer, even from LeBron.

— Complex Sports (@Complex_Sports) June 5, 2015

Overtime
MW: Shot selection in OT for the Cavs has been heinous.
MW: Oh, no. Kyrie's knee. ... and dagger.
MW: Miss a buzzer beater to a good team on the road and this is what happens next.

That did NOT look good. Kyrie struggled to limp past us on the way to the locker room.

— FrankWileyJr (@FrankWileyJr1) June 5, 2015

MW: As bad an overtime as you'll see.

Final: 108-100 Warriors

Postgame reaction:
MW: That games was Cleveland sports in a nutshell: Hey, something awesome might happen. WAIT NOPE YOU WILL GET NOTHING AND LIKE IT.
SG: My head hurts. If I was 10 again, I'd be on the steps of my basement sobbing.
MW: Don't use age as a crutch.
MW: Also, you may have just come up with the only positive side to having no basements in Florida.