Page 22 - ARUBA TODAY

A22 SPORTS
Friday 16 June 2017
No longer NBA champions, Cavaliers are now chasing Warriors

By TOM WITHERS sive commitment proved
AP Sports Writer costly. Both areas must
CLEVELAND (AP) — Once be fixed.Korver, Channing
he congratulated Kevin Frye, Richard Jefferson
Durant and Stephen Curry, and Deron Williams con-
LeBron James left the floor tributed during the regular
following Game 5 and season and earlier rounds
found Kyrie Irving waiting against Indiana, Toronto
for him. and Boston, but with the
Cleveland’s two stars em- exception of Jefferson,
braced, and as they head- the seasoned vets were
ed toward the locker room overmatched against the
and Queen’s “We Are the younger, quicker Warriors.
Champions” played in- Cleveland needs an infu-
side thundering Oakland’s sion of young blood to fix a
Oracle Arena, James de- second unit that struggled
livered a message to his from the opener.
teammate and the world. Then there’s Love, who
“We’ll be back,” he said. went just 2 of 8 in Game 5
“We’ll be back.” and had 1-of-9 and 4-of-
They were fabulous and 13 shooting performances
flawed defending NBA Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, left, dunks in front of Golden State Warriors forward earlier in the Finals. The
champs, their deficiencies Kevin Durant (35) during the second half of Game 5 of basketball’s NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif., All-Star forward has been
in depth and defense ex- Monday, June 12, 2017. The Warriors won 129-120 to win the NBA championship. the subject of trade rum-
posed by a superior team going to be around for a Griffin, whose contract ex- this week. Griffin has been blings in the past and his
in the Finals. while. Pretty much all their pires on June 30. linked to past openings in name is certain to surface
One year after their historic guys are in their 20s. Pretty Aided by having James to Orlando, Atlanta and Mil- this summer as contending
comeback, James and the much all their big-name build around and owner waukee, but his preference teams look for that missing
Cavaliers couldn’t catch guys are in their 20s, and Dan Gilbert’s willingness is to stay with Cleveland as piece to close the gap on
the Golden State Warriors. they don’t show any signs to spend, Griffin has as- he and his wife, Meredith, Golden State.For James,
Unable to defend their of slowing down. ... From sembled and overseen a have immersed themselves second place is no conso-
title despite the league’s my eyes, they’re built to last roster that has made three in the community. lation, not when success
highest payroll, rampag- a few years.” straight Finals and is po- Once the front office situ- is measured by champi-
ing through the Eastern The Cavaliers aren’t con- sitioned to stay atop the ation is settled, the next onship rings. There was no
Conference playoffs and structed for the same lon- East. priorities are addressing shame in falling for the sec-
James’ brilliance against gevity. Griffin has been with the Cleveland’s weaknesses: ond time in three years to
the free-wheeling Warriors James is under contract club since 2010, taking over defense, an aging bench the Warriors, a 73-win team
for five games, the Cavs for one more season, and as GM when Chris Grant and backup point guard. that needed Durant to de-
are no longer the team to there’s no guarantee the was fired in 2014. He’s the The Cavaliers couldn’t stop throne James.
beat. They’re still champi- three-time champion and one who persuaded Irving the Warriors during critical His new challenge is to get
onship caliber, but a step five-time Finals loser will to sign a long-term deal stretches in the Finals, and back on top.
or two behind a glittering sign a long-term deal in with Cleveland before it there were warning signs “Teams and franchises are
Golden State team that 2018 with Cleveland de- was known that James was long before Durant got free going to be trying to fig-
went 81-18 in Durant’s first spite his deep devotion to coming back and Griffin for dunks, Curry drained ure out ways that they can
season and built for the Northeast Ohio. Last week, pulled off the trade for Kev- wide-open 3-pointers or put personnel together,
long haul. James said he didn’t know in Love. He acquired vet- Golden State averaged the right group of guys to-
At 32, and playing as well how many years he has left. erans J.R. Smith and Iman 121.6 points. gether to be able to hope-
as ever in 14 seasons, It’s possible that his outside Shumpert in 2015, fired Cleveland’s defense was fully compete against this
James has a possible dy- business interests, which in- coach David Blatt and pro- suspect all season, rank- team,” he said. “They’re
nasty blocking his path. clude a desire to one day moted Tyronn Lue midway ing among the worst in assembled as good as
“I need to sit down and own an NBA team, could through the ‘16 season and statistical efficiency. The you can assemble, and I
figure this thing out,” said push him into retirement. added Kyle Korver, Deron Cavs often outscored their played against some re-
James, who averaged 33.6 That’s down the road. A Williams and Andrew Bogut mistakes, but the lack of a ally, really good teams
points, 12 rebounds and 10 more pressing concern for this year. rim protector (Bogut was that was assembled per-
assists in his seventh con- the team is the status of Gilbert and Griffin are ex- injured in his first minute fectly, and they’re right up
secutive Finals. “They’re general manager David pected to meet again on the floor) and a defen- there.”q
Janowicz beats Dimitrov,

Berdych progresses in Stuttgart

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) vanced to the quarterfinals ther Benoit Paire or Peter
— Jerzy Janowicz ad- of the Stuttgart Open by Gojowczyk.
beating second-seeded Third-seeded Tomas
Jerzey Janowicz of Poland Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (4), 6-3 Berdych also advanced,
returns the ball to Grigor Dimi- Thursday. beating Bernard Tomic 7-6
trov of Bulgaria during their Despite 16 aces, Dimitrov (4), 6-2. Berdych will next
match at the Mercedes Cup face Feliciano Lopez in the
tennis tournament in Stuttgart, failed to convert any of his
Germany, Thursday, June 15, three break-point chanc- quarterfinals. Lopez de-
2017. es. feated Jeremy Chardy 6-3,
Associated Press Janowicz will next play ei- 3-6, 6-2.q