One Thousand One Hundred and Eighty-Two: The Finals Are About Historical Status

The Grizzlies finally defeated the Warriors, and the showdown between the two teams with the best regular season records this season finally came to fruition.

Of course, Oakland fans won't like this result. They were extremely disappointed as they watched Link win the Western Conference Championship trophy at their home court.

Last season, Durant suddenly announced that he would opt out of his contract and join the Warriors. The Warriors won an incredible 74 games in the regular season, and finally eliminated the Grizzlies in the playoffs and successfully won the championship.

For Warriors fans, last season was too dreamy, too dreamy to be unrealistic, and too smooth to be unbelievable.

And now, this dream has finally awakened.

Durant's arrival did not allow the Warriors to completely dominate the league. The use of small ball tactics did not allow the Warriors to reach the top.

Durant lost to Link, and the Warriors' small lineup lost to the Grizzlies' traditional twin-tower lineup.

After waking up from the dream, they were greeted only by cruel reality.

No matter who this year's championship is, it has nothing to do with the Golden State Warriors.

They have become the biggest losers of the season and have nowhere to hide.

The Grizzlies won the Western Conference Finals, which is said to be the most valuable in history, and took away all the honors.

The Warriors, with the strongest paper lineup in the league, lost to the opponent they least deserved to lose.

While Warriors fans were still worried about being humiliated by Link, Link had already turned his attention to the East.

For him, the Golden State Warriors are a thing of the past. He has won the final battle and there is no need to continue to argue with the Warriors.

Next, Link needs to pay attention to another opponent!

Before the Grizzlies, the Cleveland Cavaliers had easily defeated the Celtics without Thomas with a total score of 4-1.

It's just that the news of James' promotion did not cause much waves and attention.

Although the Cavaliers only lost one game from the first round to the finals, with an excellent record of 12 wins and 1 loss, one less loss than the Grizzlies.

But due to the strength gap between the Eastern and Western teams, the Cavaliers' results did not receive much praise.

At that time, the eyes of the whole world were on the game between the Grizzlies and the Warriors.

It wasn't until Link said "It's our time now, LeBron" that everyone's attention finally shifted to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

At this time, people suddenly discovered that this was LeBron James's seventh consecutive year leading his team to the Finals since 2011!

Leading the team to the Finals for seven consecutive years means that James has won the Eastern Conference championship for seven consecutive years.

Having won the championship in the Eastern Conference for nearly ten years, he is definitely the most terrifying Eastern Conference king in NBA history.

The last time someone was able to reach the Finals for seven consecutive years was back when Bill Russell, the ancient mythical beast, was playing.

It stands to reason that reaching the Finals for seven consecutive years should be a major honor in James' career.

But now, this record makes James quite embarrassed.

In the previous six trips to the finals, he only won one championship! James' winning rate in the finals is so low that the fact that he has reached the finals for seven consecutive years does not seem so valuable. Instead, it has become a topic of ridicule.

In the NBA, simply dominating a division doesn't work. You have to win the championship and defeat all your opponents to gain people's respect.

No one cares who the division champion is in a certain year; everyone only cares about the championship.

Three of James' five finals losses in the past were caused by Link!

It was he who watched Link rise from an unknown undrafted player.

A dynasty was established and everyone was treated as a backdrop.

To this day, James is still brooding about this.

In the beginning, he wanted to be the greatest player of his era. But obviously, this is no longer possible.

He is already 32 and a half years old, and he doesn't have much time to compete with Link.

But even so, James doesn't want to be completely reduced to Link's foil, and he doesn't want to become the Karl Malone of Link's era.

Therefore, even if you cannot become the greatest player of this era, you must at least be one of the greatest!

And just one championship is obviously not convincing.

James has served as a foil to witness Link's legend of three consecutive championships. This time, he will not let the opportunity to win slip away from him again!

After the Western Conference Finals, the world's attention followed Link to the Finals.

James is still considered one of the strongest players in the league, but most people feel that the Cavaliers have little hope of winning a championship.

"The Cleveland Cavaliers still played a devastating offense in the East, but I still don't think they can compete with the Grizzlies."

"The Grizzlies are too mature and they have advantages in every aspect. If even the Warriors can't stop the Grizzlies, the Cavaliers won't have much of a chance."

"LeBron is a hero, but a tragic hero. Everyone knows how much he desires the championship, but the championship cannot be won by desire alone."

It’s been a long time since the NBA Finals has seen such one-sided criticism. Even if the Cavaliers played three rounds in the Eastern Conference and only lost one game, even if James is strong enough to reach the Finals for seven consecutive years, everyone still doesn’t think highly of them. .

As if the finals were just a formality, the moment the Grizzlies defeated the Warriors, it was equivalent to winning the O'Brien Trophy.

But Link doesn't think so. He knows very well that this year's James will burst out with more power than before!

First of all, in terms of data, the Grizzlies have ranked second in the league in offensive efficiency and true shooting percentage so far in this year's playoffs.

And the one ranking first in the league in these two items happens to be the Cleveland Cavaliers! They are definitely not an opponent that can be underestimated.

Secondly, after three rounds of games this year, James' total playoff points have surpassed the "god" Michael Jordan and ranked first in the league!

Therefore, this year's finals is also a battle that determines James' historical status.

If you hold the record for the highest total points in the playoffs but lose the championship, this record will soon be forgotten.

But if he wins the record and wins, James will definitely become the most high-profile star in the league again.

These reasons are enough to ensure James' belief that he will win.

Any team with LeBron James is definitely not easy to deal with. During this year's regular season, both sides also defeated each other once, and the Grizzlies failed to sweep the Cavaliers.

So after the Western Conference Finals, Link and his teammates didn't rest for a day and started preparing for the finals non-stop.

For James, it was just a battle that established his place in history. For Link, why not?

Only by winning this championship can Link have the capital to talk about surpassing Jordan.

Therefore, Link told everyone on the first day of training: "If anyone believes the media's nonsense, then he is the number one idiot in the world. The Cleveland Cavaliers are definitely not as bad as they say, they are no worse than the Warriors A powerful opponent.”

In addition to verbally reminding his teammates, Link also set an example during training and played a leading role.

Link knows very well that pride and arrogance will not help the finals at all! The Dallas Mavericks, who were also not optimistic back then, overturned the Heat, who had a stronger lineup on paper.

There is also the possibility of an upset in the finals.

He reminds his teammates all the time that before winning the championship, they cannot relax under any circumstances.

Finally, on May 31, 2017, the day before the NBA Finals, all members of the Cleveland Cavaliers arrived in Memphis!

Despite taking a year off last year, James remains impressed with Memphis. In the past five finals, James has been the enemy of Memphis in three years.

The entire Cavaliers team is very serious. They all know that they must not lose again this time!

It has been two seasons since James returned to the Cavaliers, and they failed to win the O'Brien Trophy in both seasons.

As the saying goes, there are only three things that can happen. If the Cavaliers lose the Finals for the third consecutive year, God knows what changes will happen to this team.

God knows if James will make the decision 3.0.

Therefore, for the Cavaliers, this year's finals have a bit more of a last-ditch flavor.

But even so, few people still took the knight seriously. Before the game, experts predicted that the Grizzlies had a winning rate of 93%!

But the next day, on the night of Children's Day, June 1, in the first showdown of the Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers shocked everyone.

Their determination exceeded everyone's expectations.