ESPN FIRST TAKE (6/17/2016) CAVS DEFEAT WARRIORS 115-101, FORCE GAME 7

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It's Friday good day and we have .
A game seven gentlemen skip bayless Molly karam here in Bristol Connecticut welcome its first take Steven A is in Cleveland how we doing guys I'm wonderful wonderful what's up y'all love fired up Steven a game day baby let's go baby fire service do I feel they're so good.
Let's talk about please Wow oh yes.
Game seven I water weight skip I am hard now.
I tired now yeah aight aight let's go you realize that you don't get to sleep in your bed and lays on three more nights sleep monday.
Alright Game seven you see it you'll sleep when you're dead all right yeah whoa ya know first they go gonna be good let's get into it so the King carry the cab to a game six win last night's going 41 points for the second straight game including 18 straight points between the third and fourth quarters when the game was still in doubt stephen a.
Obviously you were there at the game in person what happened last night.
Molly skip bayless what happened is that a four-time league MVP here we go and a two-time NBA champion we showed up and said I'm not ready for this to end I'm not going to allow the reigning defending NBA champions to celebrate for the second consecutive year.
Inside the cue the Quicken Loans Arena these fans the people that came out here skip bayless these people did not sit down before half-time.
They didn't even sit down it was absolute pandemonium up in the queue last night.
The cleveland cavaliers fans showed up it was heights city it was big time and the man LeBron James showed up after that pathetic horrible performance as long as they don't give a damn about his number is a game for sports up to turn.
He didn't show up it gained four he showed up last night fresh off of a 41-point performance it gave five at the Oracle he returned to the cue and did the same thing against the reigning defending champions dropped 41 points had 11 assists 8 rebounds with nothing short of spectacular a man amongst boys inside outside it didn't matter hit three of the six three points for the second consecutive game hit fifty percent of his three.
Not to mention the fact that he set up there all right and we're still going to the whole grabbing rebounds being a man among boys and then to accentuate the moment to accentuate the NBA finals in my opinion.
What did he do he blocks steph curry shot and then turns around with the swag talking smack to the reigning two-time league MVP which is something lebron never does.
Never does the only time I ever saw him come close to doing that which when he dumped on Paul Pierce Paul Pierce fell down and that game six and he's the Conference Finals back at 2012 when he dropped.
45 and 50 i think of 2011 22 lat 2012 he dropped 45 and 15 and look at that poor peers and this walked by him like he was just insignificant.
That's the only time I've seen LeBron do something like that last night he was chirping he was talking to steph curry and skip the reason why i'm so excited.
This is not because of just LeBron James performance I saw him talking jump in a way that I never have.
And then I saw steph curry after the injection with that people did not pick up on where he's walking off the court and he points in the direction of LeBron James to sit up there and say I'm coming.
All right this is what it's about right here we're talking about a game seven because LeBron James showed up not just a game five.
But it gave six yes he had some help from Kyrie yes other like Tristan Thompson was an absolute beast that deserves credit 15 points16 without playing like a man amongst boys himself but in the end it comes down it is down 3-1 on the brink of elimination the Cleveland Cavaliers are now on the break of history on the verge 48 minutes remove from becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit and capture and NBA crap this is what gave sevens are all about skip this is so beautiful to see and I'm just loving every moment of it back cause body officials right away.
Steve Kerr was absolutely right three bogus calls against step curry no daddy pig Tyrese pocket that wasn't a last father he got called for that made him lose it ok.
And it was a foul before that shouldn't have been called as well but in the end the NBA gets what it wants the NBA fans get what it wants.
We certainly get what we want and it's two NV peas going up against one another and I couldn't be more hyped about it I love this this is why cover the NBA for the last 20 years for moments like this skip moments like this i agree with that but I must tell you my friend.
I i saw a very different game than you sought now I was one night I was just watching my television and you know where it might have been broken maybe I i was on the right channel yes maybe some other weird game on and I'm seeing something that just didn't make any sense to me but I don't even know if you have remote controls so you're probably right go ahead I got like 12 remote controls and that's a whole nother mean I got you okay first of all big picture takeaway for me last night was the Golden State Warriors who won a record 73 games during the regular season.
Did not show up for reasons I can't explain for game six of the NBA finals.
Maybe there's still a little too cool for school maybe they can't stand prosperity.
Maybe they need to be challenged and pushed to the brink before they respond which would be game seven back home in oracle maybe they had that in their hip pocket last night but I pic golden state to win that game I was dead wrong about that but I must tell you I was shocked by how the golden state warriors who have made claims that they were better than MJ's bulls and magics Showtime lakers that team did not show up mentally or physically or emotionally from the tip-off.
And meanwhile as you well know because you were in the midst of the chaos the Cleveland Cavaliers were crazy ready for that game there crowd was crazy ready i give their crowd is a six-man last night a lot of credit to your point about they stood.
Listen they literally screamed that team up off its feet up above the rim right from tip-off steven a that game was over in about six minutes when LeBron got free got a nice little sweet feed from Kyrie for a wide open dunk 619 left its 13 22 I just SAT back and said this is over man let's get let's get all i wanted to cancel the rest of that game let's just blow it off and get on with it.
Let's go to game 7 and see what transpires last night the cleveland cavaliers turned into the Cleveland Browns because they played football basketball and I got it no issue with it because the refs let them get away with as Steve Kerr said after the game and his I'd already tweeted during the game a lot of grabbing and holding and conversely as you pointed out a lot of ticky tack fouls at least three of them were called on the back-to-back MVP the first unanimous MVP.
I thought the refs paid zero respect to steph curry last night we'll talk about all of his meltdown later but to me they they let Cleveland play they did not let stuff like and that was the bottom line - what was it as quick a blowout as you will ever see in a game of that magnitude.
Now let's get to my man LeBron James you realize stephen a smith that he should have scored 41 last night.
You realize that the same injury gods who robbed LeBron up his help last year took away Kevin Love took away kyrene overtime of Game one of the finals those same injury God's just took away.
Golden state's best rim protector and Andrew Bogut gone for the rest of the series and last night in the 1st quarter they took away by far the best Golden State defender of LeBron James.
Andre Iguodala should not have been playing in that game after the first quarter.
He is back seized up I don't know if he's hurt or if it just as a spasm.
But clearly he could not move laterally and he could not jump after the first quarter he got stood up he stayed out he told steve kerr let me try and he was a shell of himself and I remind you the Iguodala i saw in the first five games allowed LeBron James to drive the basketball.
Only six times in five games think about that and in the three losses.
LeBron James managed only seven shots against his primary defender.
Andre Iguodala he went 2 for 7 against Andre Iguodala in the so remember that we talked about yesterday.
I think he could all is done up a sensational job on LeBron until game five when LeBron started shooting.
Long-distance jumpers and started making them but last night.
All the sudden LeBron woke up and listen to this man could smell blood.
He started playing bowling ball we've seen him do it before he was a man among boys and he knew it.
There's no Bogut there's there's next to no Iguodala and he's just doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it no I've told you this before he is a great front runner he will pour it on and in the fourth quarter he scored 17 and don't tell me it was a game they got within seven at one point but I never thought that not one second that I think they would say we're going to come back and win that game.
He was very good because he should have been very good against what was left of the Golden State Warriors last night well allow me to interject number one for you to sit up there.
I'm gonna call you out on national television and call you and call you an absolute lie if you're going to sit there and say you didn't think it was a game when I go to a warriors pulled within 7 is well and they gonna wait a minute wait a little.
Listen its width is wet with Barboza yes where I didn't know sorry well as well as they can shoot and as explosive as they could be.
And as much as you talk about them all year long.
Even within moments when they're awful because of their marksmanship which you come out of nowhere at any given moment when they pulled within seven you're trying to tell me that just SAT up there and you didn't think they had a chance i did not i know i just told you that I just told you that lie not an absolute like you know better than that.
You know better than that because we're watching the more year and you know that what they can get hot at any given moment you know that so Golden State put even when they're down 17 they can erase it in the blink of an eye.
Because of their offensive prowess which at any given moment can explode on you that's number one number two I don't want to hear this stuff about calls that you complaining about the no calls with LeBron don't get calls all the time you don't give him a pass number three when eagle dollar had his back together by the way you have to.
Leave the gate he went to the back to that back to the lighting things coming better that's right yeah I don't know if he should come back none of us do guys that thank you like her.
The locker room is right across from the ABC green room which is where in ESP agreement which is where we all were at that particular juncture and rape and armed eagle dollar was coming out.
I was shocked he was coming out because I didn't think he had any business coming back into the game but i would remind you this.
Skip bayless go get wasn't hurt our it you know in a first in the first two and a half quarters of Game five when LeBron was dropping digits on them ok so who was gone in Game five.
Draymond was gone so that's not brawn got two huge breaks and the last to get it.
Healy he's obviously he's an all-time great player he should take advantage of those bright then what was going on in the second half too many five my point to you is this.
He did what you said he should have done this ain't the time to hate on that he cannot beat that has been said about it he should have done so now here we are with staff and with LeBron.
The bottom line is this klay Thompson and Steph Curry with two individuals and it was the quietest 30 points I've ever seen.
Steph Curry put up that's point number one in regards to the worries.
Number two draymond in the lineup last night got nothing but love for dream on where were you 40 minutes 3 of 7 shooting eight points 10 rebounds good enough.
Six it I expected better from dream on ok - what - just one night I I can't even remember dream on playing last night seriously yeah I just bet i dont have to reenter the game unlike what was he out if you remember if you remember I told you yesterday right near show you said a number one concern about dream i give it as a no matter all his bluster.
Yeah at the end of the day he was going to be worried about not doing something that was going to get himself ejector remember all it would have taken is a technical and he would have been able to play for Game seven that was his concern no matter what he said that was concerned he couldn't go out there and play the way I expect him to play in Game seven.
But skit basketball-wise it doesn't matter what they can she's off you can't take away from what we've seen from LeBron James the last two games i don't really but the week of elimination ok but pretty limited.
What he what he should do in these circumstances they don't have anybody you can stop him that there's a new sheriff in town who could stop and Brian again I disagree with that i can just show you the numbers Iguodala was doing a good job i'm not saying he was a LeBron stopper but he was doing a job especially in the three lines as work harder hey he makes him work harder than almost anybody else would I i don't think anybody in basketball but obviously it skipped with it it watching last night they got to a point.
First of all tyronn lue did an exceptional job of calling screens and pics along with LeBron that ultimately put Steph Curry on LeBron James on too many occasions when LeBron was able to face up against Steph Curry and ultimately back him up same thing happened when I play as well Harrison Barnes that listen I called the police department in Cleveland and auckland by the way I put out an API after to put out an APB for Harrison Barnes because we can't find the man okay.
- 414 and game five over eight Steve Kerr just finally had enough terrorism ..
Listen the Golden State words you want to know why they're struggling because they're playing for five basketball on the offensive end of the floor because literally the Cleveland Cavaliers are sitting back daring Harrison Barnes to shoot his shot has just left them got nothing but love for Harrison Barnes got a lot of I he's got a lot of promise but to be in a situation where he's literally looking for his money I'm here to speculate and the operative word is speculate I'm speculating that that Harrison Barnes has cost himself anywhere from 15 to 25 million dollars based on his performance over the last two games virtual no-show - 4:20 shooting from the field.
Your Honor the court your smaller Cleveland as opposed to their will.
They're being physical with you get on bodies at you JR smith oman shopping even Kevin Love is out there banging.
If nothing else.
It does throw bodies at you with LeBron being.
Oh you know bigger than everybody else practically to begin with and then on top of it all.
You've got to play four on five basketball I mean Harrison Barnes right there is getting stripped taken.
Kyrie Irving to the whole did he shoot a wide open three there's nobody within 10 feet of him he can't buy a basket right now.
That's what's going on would go to state that is what they have to fix because cleveland that's coming man and you cannot take away from the broad LeBron just got to a point where in the 4th quarter.
Skip is turning away from the basket he's walking away and he's dribbling a ball with a little bit of swag.
He's feeling him site right now I groupers flowing.
Yeah everything's going his way go to States go have to figure something out.
Well I've decided they'd better get one guy reasonably healthy and that's Andre good dollar it's over man they got no shot he was toying with the golden state warriors in the fourth quarter and I love to watch it when he gets in that that that killer mode because he's front-running and i don't mean that in a negative way I mean in a positive way.
It is pouring it on he's stepping on your throat because he smells your blood.
He's great at that but he knows he's got a supreme advantage over you because you have nobody who can keep him from the rim and as long as you're worried about the rim with LeBron James which usually you are with Iguodala.
You got big problems so he dominated them in the fourth quarter in a way that good teams should never be dominated unless they've lost that much advantage look yeah but good teams sometimes get dominated by a great great player.
You know when you think about LeBron and the numbers that he's put up.
You know this is his 17th elimination game he now approved to nine and eight after the last two games that he's played which were elimination games he averaged is better than 34 and those games he gets the numbers but last night wasn't about the numbers.
It was about him posing as well because nobody else for Cleveland was spectacular outside of of tristan thompson , who was just just a fantastic game on a part of Tristan Thompson there's no other way to put it but in the.
In Golden State's got to step up and I and I'm not putting it just on Steph and klay you can't have a guy like on up like Harrison Barnes on the floor being a liability and your boy Festus Ezeli.
I mean this Vanderbilt dude ok I like Festus Ezeli but my god the memory space and marreese Speights and I go back to his days in Philadelphia skip we go back a long ways they literally should be looking in the mirror and asking themselves I must really be awful because how in God's name is Anderson Varejao getting minutes ahead of me.
The only thing relevant about the ultimate nice guy which is Anderson Varejao is his hairdo there's nothing relevant about him out from a basketball standpoint.
Other than his ability to flop he put a lot ad BOTS to chain as you highlighted you to win an Academy Award with his flop it but there's no other purpose that he serves if you're Festus Ezeli Oh Murray State one of whom should be started by the way because you need that in the lining in it.
He's gonna have to start he's going to have to start how do you sit up there on the basketball court doing absolutely positively nothing while Anderson Varejao is getting more minutes to you it's embarrassing it's just embarrassing all right i'm gonna say one final thing about lebron james in the big picture I try to keep it and put it in a projective perspective and people say you're hating but again i emphasize my point he should have been doing in both games five and six when he did finally do after he stunk it up as you said in game 4 and disappeared.
I get amused at the what what I think is the overreaction to LeBron having a great game because everyone leaves back to to adoration glorification even deification of LeBron James what I'm saying.
What what what what did you expect when gold state can't stop him.
My response okay go ahead boss that my response to that would be I think deification is a little bit extreme don't know the other the other adjectives you use are appropriate but let's also be clear about something here skip you're talking about what he's supposed to do whether he's short-handed gods and injured guys are not performing.
You got Kevin Love attempted three shots he scored seven points.
People are giving him a standing ovation for cry like that sounds bad it's gotten.
For Kevin Love but LeBron goes out there and handles his business when he's when he messes up we're all over him but when he performs we want to be objective now.
Give the man the love that he deserves if we if step if steph curry short-handed now what we gonna ask him.
I'm asking of him the same thing that i would ask of LeBron James or any League MVP.
Show me you two league MVP find away.
I have no doubt that stuff country can the question is will he be short-handed.
He's got areas but he still they listen listen Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala had very little to do with steph curry is shooting fifty percent from the forty-five percent from three-point range ninety percent for the free throw line averaging 30 and being universally acknowledged as the greatest shooter.
We have everything the fact of the matter is average performances or choir performances should not come on associated with a two-time league MVP great i believe in him and I believed he would step up.
But the point is hold him to the same started but that you would hold the bridge.
This is a quiet 30 last night he got his regular-season MVP average you got 30 points I don't squat.
I'm not okay but you always ask if you're pretty tight it was pretty good last night was it i mean i didn't say it wasn't good i said it was quiet in other words what he was after clearly got a 31 - 11 after a quarter yeah it's gonna be quiet after that objects it that's my point my point is it's not just about scoring is when you school are you capable of stopping the bleeding.
Michael Jordan you sit up there and talk talk to somebody like a doug collins who coach Michael Jordan you just give you lessons or Jordan Jordan will be out look coach all right just give me the ball you notice because you covered Jordan.
Look we're struggling right now just give me the ball let me start this.
Either right here before it gets out the 31 and 11 let me stop this bit.
Well let me go out here because these guys seem a bit jittery in a pregame warmups.
Let me go out here and just dropped 20 in the first quarter and then after that you can run the office that kind of stuff Steph Curry not to compare him to join out to compare LeBron enjoy it but Steph Curry has to be called the part to do things that we would at least hold LeBron James accountable to its only fair.
And I'm about being fair okay final point to to your point about LeBron in and how how that crowd loved him in fed off him as he fed off the crowd this also intrigued me at the end of the game I saw LeBron James who allowed himself to celebrate that when in ways i've never seen him celebrate at this stage of a series i saw him is he walked off the floor with his teammates they celebrated as he walked up toward the tunnel he accepted hugs and handshakes from people he knew in the courtside seats.
It looked like he thought or is it the body language was i just won my third ring and then again maybe that's his mindset right now that we got them we got them on the run but I was a little surprised by it because I thought he'd be more all business like we got one more games we have business to take care of here.
I I didn't mind it at all because think about the mission statement.
It's about bringing the championship back to the city of cleveland in the northeast ohio area and any professional sports for the first time since nineteen sixty-four it's about the fact that.
Win lose or draw this was Cleveland's last home game so if there was if there was a potential Game seven in Cleveland.
Instead of in oakland you would have a point but considering the fact that no matter what happens even if he wins the people all the people that were there last night aren't going to be in oakland.
You know I had no problem and nor was I surprised by his celebratory removed in the way that he was because that's the last time you're going to see these folks before the season ends ok out of what.
But I i'm pretty sure he doesn't want a moral victory in Game six is about to a really big three and seven.
I'm not saying more victory he could very well believe in a there is absolutely no reason for cleveland to believe that they're going to lose Game seven the way that they've had been with you the priest my greetings to games.
He probably thinks they're going to win game seven but your point is no matter what those folks weren't going to be there I have no problem with him being celebratory because there's no more games in Cleveland no matter what.


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