Here we go again.
And again.
And
Kevin Hayes Jersey , well, again.
Round 4 – as many predicted, and others probably lamented – is happening. Cleveland and Golden State will meet for the fourth straight year in the NBA
Finals, the Warriors looking for a third championship in that span and LeBron
James and the Cavaliers trying to wrestle the crown away just as they did in the
2016 series.
On one side, the best team of this era.
On the other, the best player of this era and maybe any era.
Game 1 will be hosted by the Warriors at Oracle Arena on Thursday night.
”You’ve got to appreciate the moment,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. ”Somebody asked, `Four years in a row getting to the finals, do you appreciate
it?’ Yes.”
Both teams are entering this title matchup with injury concerns. Cleveland’s Kevin Love is in the concussion protocol and will need to complete a series of
tests before he’s cleared to return, and Golden State’s Andre Iguodala – a
former NBA Finals MVP – wasn’t able to finish the Warriors-Rockets series
because of a bone bruise in his leg.
The Warriors hoped Iguodala would return to the Houston series, but his progress stalled.
”That’s just not an easy injury to predict in terms of recovery,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
There wasn’t a lot of similarity in Cleveland’s and Golden State’s seasons, but their last few days have been mirror images of one another – both teams had
to win Game 6s at home to fend off elimination, then had to go on the road and
prevail in Game 7s to win their respective conference finals.
”One of the most challenging seasons I’ve had,” said James, who may be playing the best basketball of his life right now at the end of his 15th
season.
Here’s some of what the Cavaliers have dealt with since Golden State-Cleveland III ended last June: Kyrie Irving got traded for Isaiah Thomas
over the summer, coach Tyronn Lue had to miss time to deal with health issues,
Love missed two months, they lost 11 games by 16 or more points, revamped their
roster in February and spent much of the season unable to guard anybody.
They’re in the finals again anyway, led by someone who will play in the last series of the season for an absurd eighth consecutive year.
”It’s been a roller coaster
Womens Jared McCann Jersey ,” said James, who is seeking a fourth ring in his ninth finals appearance overall. ”It’s been good, it’s been bad. It’s been
roses. There have been thorns in the roses. There’s been everything that you can
ask for.”
This wasn’t all peaches for Golden State, either. The Warriors didn’t get the No. 1 seed out West, lost Curry to a knee injury late in the regular season,
lost 10 of their final 17 games and got pushed to the brink.
”I’m glad we’re going back,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said.
The Warriors swept the two regular-season meetings with the Cavaliers, winning by seven at home on Christmas Day (without Curry) and prevailing by 10
in Cleveland about three weeks later.
Film-wise, those two games are meaningless now. Of Cleveland’s five leading scorers against Golden State this season, three no longer play for the
Cavaliers. James and Love combined to score 100 points in the two games, but
Dwyane Wade, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas were all shipped elsewhere by the
Cavs in a series of trade-deadline moves.
”We obviously know what LeBron’s capable of,” Curry said shortly after the Warriors’ Game 7 win at Houston ended. ”It’s a new team over there, so the other
guys, we’ve got to lock in on their tendencies. But we’ll worry about that when
we get home.”
If the Cavaliers win this championship, it might be time to declare the regular season irrelevant.
Cleveland was only 50-32 this season. Should James and his mates get it done, that would be the second-worst, regular-season record for an eventual champion
in the last 40 seasons. Houston went 47-35 on the way to the 1995 title; to find
another champion who was worse, go back to Washington in 1978 when the Bullets
were a mere 44-38.
”Everybody doubted us,” Cavaliers forward Jeff Green said. ”Everybody had their opinions on what our team was, what we would do
William Nylander Jersey , what we can’t do, from the start. … And now, I mean, we’re where we want to be. We’re where we set out to be and where we knew
we could be at this point.”
Same goes for the Warriors. This season was no cakewalk for them, either.
”We’ve been through a lot with this team,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. ”Believe it or not, it’s not all success with the Warriors. We got our bumps
throughout the season. But to get to this point again, we earned it.”
And now it’s time for one of these teams to earn a title.
Again.
—
The Minnesota Vikings have secured yet another core player with a long-term contract, signing wide receiver Stefon Diggs to a five-year extension and moving
the star of the ”Minneapolis Miracle” pass into the NFL’s top 10 highest-paid
players at his position.
Diggs has yet to post a 1,000-yard or 100-catch season, but his ability was on full display when he turned a sideline catch into a 61-yard touchdown as time
ran out to lift the Vikings to victory over New Orleans in last season’s
playoffs. He formed a prolific tandem with Adam Thielen last year, helping Case
Keenum stabilize the passing game after Sam Bradford was injured, and over his
first three seasons has been one of the biggest steals of the 2015 draft.
”I love it here. I truly do, and I’m just happy I’ll be here for a while now,” Diggs said after practice Tuesday. ”That’s why I want to play for them for
selecting me in the fifth round. It was a bumpy road that day, and I just
remember getting a call, and they gave me a chance. They believed in me, and
they won, and going forward they pushed me to be where I am now.”
Now the Vikings have a new quarterback in Kirk Cousins, who was elated by the news that Diggs is under contract through 2023.
”What I most like is he loves football and loves to come and work, because as a quarterback it can be miserable if you’re out here with someone who is here to
just get a paycheck and leave
Sven Baertschi Jersey ,” Cousins said. ”He wants to work.”
The Vikings offense was at the new practice facility on Monday night past 9 p.m. working on playbook installation.
”I’ve been a part of some locker rooms where by 9 o’clock, some of your guys are sleeping in the back row, not taking notes, not paying attention. They’re
basically checked out, texting or whatever,” Cousins said. ”That’s not him.
That’s not these guys.”
The new deal is valued at $72 million plus an additional $9 million in possible incentives, according to a person with knowledge of the contract who
spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the details. Diggs, who will play the final season of his rookie
deal for the original base salary of slightly more than $1.9 million, received a
$15 million signing bonus.
”He’s been a good person off the field. He’s been a good person on the field as far as that,” head coach Mike Zimmer said. ”When he messes up, he knows. One
time I had him in my office, and I asked him … a question, and he said, `Now,
coach, you know you knew the answer when you asked the question.’ He’s a smart
guy.”
Since Cousins signed his fully guaranteed $84 million contract in March, the Vikings have signed linebacker Eric Kendricks, defensive end Danielle Hunter and
now Diggs to multi-year deals. The Vikings now have Cousins, Diggs, Thielen,
running back Dalvin Cook
Authentic Drew Brees Jersey , left tackle Riley Reiff, right guard Mike Remmers and center Pat Elflein all under team control through at least the 2020
season. On defense, the same goes for Hunter, Kendricks, defensive end Everson
Griffen, defensive tackle Linval Joseph, cornerback Xavier Rhodes and safety
Harrison Smith. That’s a lot of star power to squeeze under the salary cap, with
linebacker Anthony Barr the only prominent player with an expiring contract this
year.
”Continuity, to me, is very important, and it’s not a luxury we have in the NFL these days,” Cousins said. ”There is a lot of change year in and year out,
so I’ve come to expect that and understand you can’t use that as an excuse.”
Diggs has come a long way since his father, Aron Diggs, died of heart failure in 2008. He told his son in his final months to make sure to look after his
mother and two brothers, and for Diggs this new deal was the consummation of
that directive.
”I’m happy that I can look at my mom and smile and tell her that everything is going to be OK,” Diggs said. ”I’m just very thankful for everybody
involved.”
—
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