"I just had a hard talk with them, that's all," Blatt said to cleveland.com. "That was a tough loss against Portland. And honestly in the grand scheme of things, I understand where it came from. It was a huge emotional letdown after the game before [in Oakland].
This is key, it seems to me. Cleveland played the Oakland, California-based "Warriors" on Christmas Day and lost, then went to Portland and got blown out by a dreadful team. Blatt calls the "Warriors" loss a "huge emotional letdown." If you believed what Cleveland's players said publicly before and immediately after that game it was not an emotional game, it was just one of eighty-two equally important games and championships are not won in December.
The truth is that Stephen Curry and the "Warriors" have put doubt into LeBron James' soul. It bothered James that he did not win the most valuable player award last year, nor win the Finals' MVP award, after all he had done to get Cleveland within two games of a championship. It bothers him that Stephen Curry did win the mvp awards when James was the best player in the world and a championship. It bothers him that the "Warriors" are 29-1, that,
And this bothers James:
And yet there is no real relationship between James and Curry, even though they were both born in Akron, four years apart. There was a time or two where James offered Curry advice as a younger player, but those days are gone.
"We don't talk but we've got a lot of respect for one another," James said.
Stephen Curry has mostly, but not totally, been getting the better of LeBron James lately-cleveland.com, December 26.
And this bothers James:
And yet there is no real relationship between James and Curry, even though they were both born in Akron, four years apart. There was a time or two where James offered Curry advice as a younger player, but those days are gone.
"We don't talk but we've got a lot of respect for one another," James said.
James has bff relationships with star peers Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony.
You are not supposed to win a championship the way the "Warriors" won last year's, not in your first attempt, not with a team anchored by a slightly built shooting guard, not a team that plays "joyful" basketball. Winning a championship is supposed to be hard, that is what LeBron James learned from Pat Riley; playing for a championship is supposed to test your soul. Not put doubt into it.
You are not supposed to win a championship the way the "Warriors" won last year's, not in your first attempt, not with a team anchored by a slightly built shooting guard, not a team that plays "joyful" basketball. Winning a championship is supposed to be hard, that is what LeBron James learned from Pat Riley; playing for a championship is supposed to test your soul. Not put doubt into it.
LeBron James doubts.
