OAKLAND, Calif.: LeBron James’ NBA record of winning at least one road game in 29 consecutive series could be considered a burden in this year’s NBA Finals, considering the Golden State Warriors are 27-5 at home in the playoffs the last three seasons, with three of those losses to James’ Cavaliers.
But for James’ teammates, it’s a confidence booster.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Cavs forward Kevin Love said Saturday before practice at the Warriors’ facility. “We have a number of guys with experience and a lot of playoff minutes, a lot of years logged in this league and been in a number of these situations before. ’Bron, I mean, he’s the head of that. Having a guy that has been here, done that before, has so much confidence in everything that we do and walks the walk allows us to be ourselves and be confident in approaching Game 2.”
The Warriors hold a 1-0 lead in the series going into Game 2 Sunday night at Oracle Arena.
Ironically, the Cavs coach the last time James failed to win at least once in a playoff series on the road was Mike Brown, the Warriors assistant who is handling bench duties while Steve Kerr battles complications from back surgery.
That happened in 2009, when the Cavs were eliminated 4-2 by the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals and dropped all three games in Orlando.
Brown agreed it was hard to believe James’ string goes back to Brown’s first stint in Cleveland.
“It just speaks volumes to who he is as a player,” Brown said. “He’s one of the greatest all time. When you have his ability, when you have his intelligence and feel and all that other stuff, you’re able to lead your team in difficult situations and tough environments. And he’s done that for many years. So you take your hat off to him.”
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue acknowledged the leadership required of James to keep that streak going.
“Anytime you want to win a championship, you have to win on the road,” Lue said. “With Golden State having home court the last three years, we know it’s going to be tough. You have to win on the road to be great.”
James, seeking his fourth career championship, doesn’t put much stock in how much success he’s had on the road, but realizes the challenge.
“Especially when you get to this level — you get to the Finals, you get to the Eastern Conference finals,” he said. “It’s very difficult to win on the road, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to do that in my career.”
There is another reason James and the Cavs may be optimistic.
Since 2010, the Game 1 Finals loser is 6-1 in the next game, according to ESPN Stats and Information, and in that span four Game 1 losers have gone on to win the championship.
James is 1-7 in Finals Game 1s, but in the previous six times he’s lost, his team has gone 5-1 in the next game. The lone loss came in the 2007 Finals with the Cavs (also under Brown) when James was 22.
Rihanna’s remark
During Game 1, pop star and James fan Rihanna reportedly yelled, “Brick,” at Kevin Durant while he was shooting a free throw from her courtside seat, although video suggests the taunt may have come from the woman next to her. Late in the game after Durant hit a 3-pointer, he stared directly at the singer while running downcourt.
That didn’t change anything for Rihanna in terms of her support for James. As she left Oracle Arena, she said, “The king is still the king.”
While the story and remarks have gone viral, Warriors’ two-time league MVP Stephen Curry said a person who sits close and is extremely noisy can have an impact.
“At times, yeah. There’s a lot of noteworthy people that show up, especially this time of year to the Finals games,” Curry said. “If you have a personal relationship or history with certain people — I saw Kevin Hart on the sidelines. He’s over there cracking jokes the whole game. Stuff like that, you can have fun with at times.
“You don’t want to obviously let it distract you. As players we do a pretty good job of being able to tune out noise and distractions and stuff on the fly when we need to be able to do what we do on the floor, but still enjoy the atmosphere of the stage that we’re on.”
When it was suggested Rihanna’s music might be banned from the Warriors locker room, Curry said, “I don’t think it was on there to begin with.”
Where’s Korver?
Making his first NBA Finals appearance in 14 seasons, Cavs shooting guard Kyle Korver was expected to provide 3-point firepower against the Warriors. But Korver went 0-for-3 from beyond the arc and was scoreless in 19 minutes, with four rebounds and one assist.
Asked how to get Korver more involved, James said: “It’s going to be in the flow. When it’s least expected, he’s going to knock down some shots. He actually had some great looks in Game 1, two of them in the first half where he had some wide-open ones and just wasn’t able to connect. One right before the halftime he had one at the top of the key, wasn’t able to connect.
“We always like to get him involved. He does a great job of spreading the floor for us. And when he’s going, the rest of our team does as well.”
Not far off
Richard Jefferson said if Korver had made his 3-point attempt with 2.9 seconds left in the second quarter and Andre Iguodala had missed his contested 3 instead of making it with 1.3 seconds left in the first quarter, the Cavs would have trailed by two points at the half instead of eight.
“It just lets you know that something as simple as one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA having an open look and a guy that you want to shoot contested jumpers knocking down shots, and that’s the difference between going in at halftime down by two or down by eight,” Jefferson said. “We look at that like, ‘Hey, look, we’re not far away from where we want to be. We just have to clean it up and pick up our intensity.’ ”
Will Kerr return?
There have been vibes that Kerr might return to the bench for Game 2. Brown has directed the Warriors to 11 consecutive playoff wins during Kerr’s leave of absence.
Warriors General Manager Bob Myers reiterated to Bay Area reporters Saturday that Kerr’s return is “on the table.” Kerr spent several minutes on the court talking with Brown and Myers during the Warriors’ portion of practice.
Brown doesn’t consider it a difficult situation.
“No, because in my mind with what Bob and Steve both told me, ‘You’re the coach until we tell you otherwise,’ ” Brown said. “It’s simple for me to plan that way. And then if there comes a time that I’m not, I would have been prepared to coach the game if I needed to, but it’s easy for me to take a step back.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.