TORONTO — LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers
may need a Herculean effort to upset the Golden State Warriors
in the NBA Finals but the game’s most prolific playoff scorer
said he has beaten similar teams before.James acknowledged that toppling a Warriors team boasting
two-time reigning league MVP Stephen Curry, four-times scoring
champion Kevin Durant, defensive specialist Draymond Green and
sweet-shooting Klay Thompson will be among the toughest tasks of
his career.But the three-times NBA champion was also quick to point out
that he has faced such a talent-laden squad on the NBA’s biggest
stage before — in 2013 against San Antonio while playing with
Miami — and came out on the winning side.”It’s probably up there,” James said after practice on
Sunday when asked if the upcoming Warriors clash represents the
toughest task he has ever faced on court.”Obviously, I mean, I’ve played against four Hall of Famers
as well too with Manu (Ginobili), Kawhi (Leonard), Tony (Parker)
and Timmy D (Tim Duncan) on the same team. And if you add Pop
(Gregg Popovich) in there, that’s five Hall of Famers.”James even brought up the Boston Celtics teams he battled in
the playoffs, both as a member of Cleveland and Miami, which
featured Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and
head coach Doc Rivers.Cleveland may be the reigning champions after having beaten
Golden State in last year’s Finals and are 12-1 this postseason
but are underdogs against a top-seeded Warriors team sporting an
unblemished playoff record.But James is always up for a challenge and should never be
ruled out. Last year he carried his team back from the brink as
the Cavs became the first team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in
the best-of-seven NBA Finals and win the title.After Golden State failed to repeat as champions following a
campaign in which they had a record 73 wins during the 82-game
regular season, they acquired Durant, by far the biggest prize
of the free agent market.James knows he will have his hands full when the series
opens on Thursday in Oakland but said he likes his team’s
chances of pulling off what Las Vegas would consider an upset.”Those guys are going to challenge me, they are going to
challenge our ballclub,” said James, who last week surpassed
Michael Jordan as the all-time playoff leading scorer.”This is a high powered team … it’s going to be very
challenging not only on me mentally but on our ballcub and on
our franchise.”
