The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors squared off in the past two NBA Finals, each winning a championship. The two teams are loaded with superstars and could very well play for a title again this summer, but don’t call it a rivalry.
At least not to LeBron James.
In an obvious attempt to keep his own team focused, LeBron said Friday that he does not consider the Warriors to be a rival of the Cavaliers.
“We don’t look at it as a rival,” James said, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “They’re a great team. They’ve been the best team the last couple years, last three years.”
Golden State was the best regular season game in NBA history last year, but they ultimately blew a 3-1 lead and lost in historic fashion to LeBron and the Cavs in the Finals. Since then, there has been an abundance of trash talk exchanged. James insists all of that means very little.
“It’s just the next game, it’s Golden State,” he added. “They’re a helluva team, like I said the best team in the league and they’ve been that way the last three years, four years, however long it’s been, I’m not quite sure. But, listen, you guys know, we don’t put all our eggs in one basket for one game.”
LeBron shared similar thoughts after practice on Sunday.
“I don’t think we have a rival in our game today,” he said, according to ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin. “We’ve had two great Finals appearances the last two years, but I had the same with San Antonio when I was in Miami. We weren’t rivals. And I think I played those guys more, so I wouldn’t look at it as rivals.”
Before the Cavs faced the Warriors on Christmas Day, even head coach Tyronn Lue admitted the two teams have the potential to establish a rivalry like the legendary one between the Celtics and Lakers. If they keep meeting in the Finals every year, that is bound to happen no matter how much LeBron wants to downplay it.
James sure does a lot to irritate the Warriors for someone who doesn’t consider the team a rival. It’s hard to look at any matchup between Cleveland and Golden State as “just the next game” when you have your guests at a party do stuff like this.
Games between the Cavs and Warriors already meant a little bit more the past two years. Now that Kevin Durant has signed with Golden State, the stakes are even higher. Don’t let LeBron fool you.
