NBA basketball is that sport where 30 teams compete for 6 months and then in the final there are Cleveland and Golden State. This has been the most recurring joke on social media for a few days, that is, since the conference finals (both finished in game 7) established that this year too the grand final for the NBA title will be between the Golden State Warriors led by Kevin Durant and I revived Steph Curry and the Cleveland Cavaliers of the stainless and never as fit as in this period LeBron James.
For James this is the eighth consecutive participation in the Finals (between Miami and Cleveland): a record he shares with only five other players in the entire history of the NBA, and none of these is contemporary. Not even His Majesty Michael Jordan is among these, so to speak. And very few, probably none, had succeeded with such a weak team around them as this year's Cavs, overturned by the market both at the beginning and in the middle of the season and never entirely convincing, so much so that they ended the regular season only in fourth place. But never as in these playoffs have wine&gold been taken by the hand by their leader, the "chosen one" from Akron, who brought Ohio the first title in history two years ago (in another unforgettable final against Golden State, won in race 7 in Oakland) and that we want to try again.
Needless to say also the fourth final in a row with the same two teams is an all-time record: but it was already the third consecutive twelve months ago, the one won without discussion by the Warriors, with Kevin Durant Mvp hands down. At most in the NBA, where unlike in European football there is always a tendency to balance the competition through tools such as the salary cap and the draft, it had reached two finals in a row with the same protagonist franchises: it happened at the time of the Lakers- Celtics, for example. This year seemed like the right time to break this hegemony, and in fact the finalists had to work harder than in the past to overcome the resistance of Houston and Boston, who arrived one step away from a final that would not have been a scandal at all.
The first game is played on the Italian night in Oakland, at the home of the Warriors who will also play game 2 and the eventual success of game 7 within the friendly walls. having a better regular season record than the Cavaliers, as has regularly happened for four years now. In fact, Cleveland has always played, and even more so this time, the final as an underdog: with an unfavorable home court factor (but it was overturned in these playoffs against both Toronto and Boston) and with an objectively less competitive team on paper. But for the eighth consecutive year, there will be the LBJ factor.
