LeBron James and Kevin Durant during 2018 NBA Finals – Game Four ×
LeBron James’ recently started podcast, Mind the Game, alongside JJ Redick, has already thrown a range of amusing anecdotes from the 39-year-old’s storied career. James, who is hoping to launch a title challenge with the LA Lakers this season, has been on multiple talented teams in the past.
This includes his teaming up with Kyrie Irving at the Cleveland Cavaliers, which resulted in four back-to-back Finals NBA Finals showdowns against the Golden State Warriors. In 2016, defending champions Warriors added Kevin Durant to an already incredible roster, which most notably featured Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.
The 2017 NBA Finals resulted in a 4-1 series victory for the Warriors, as the Dub Nation started out in grand fashion with a convincing 129-120 victory in Game 1. Kevin Durant, who finished with 39 points on the night, notably caught LeBron off-guard in the first quarter and ended up getting dunked on after being lured into pressing by Draymond Green.
Episode 2 of James’ podcast saw him explain how the incident went down:
“When everything went haywire when it was f***ing Kevin Durant over there and another shooter. It was like impossible to guard because you couldn’t help from the weak side because now Draymond, such a great IQ player, if you help, if you tag from the guy on the weeks, he throws it all the way across court.
“You can actually see there’s a play that you can watch on YouTube probably where they were taking the ball out on SOB …, guys side out of bounds and I was getting ready I was two ring on the strong side because they were about to get me some split action.”
James, now caught off position, made one final attempt to close down Kevin Durant. However, the ever-so-skillful Durant managed to get past and slammed the ball home:
“Steph takes the ball out and throws it all the way to the weak side corner by their bench and I try to close out the KD because I’m looking, trying to shrink the floor. He throws it from the sideline, out bound all the way across. I close out, slip, falls on the ground, KD dunks the ball.”
LeBron James has only respect for the Golden State Warriors
Perhaps the most obvious and entertaining NBA rivalries in recent years have involved the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James, who left Cleveland initially in 2010, long thought he had unfinished business with the franchise.
According to the Washington Post, James claimed he simply could not ignore the allure of winning a ring in Cleveland. On the eve of his return to Cleveland, James said:
“I’m a guy who believes in unfinished business. I understood what these people were going through, the people here not only in Cleveland but in Northeast Ohio and all over the world who love and bleed wine and gold.”
LeBron James eventually managed to achieve his dream in 2016. The Warriors, however, boasting of multiple generational players, including Stephen Curry and KD, always had the upper hand, and won three titles during that phase.
