Warriors vs. Cavaliers - Game 7: What Steph Curry and LeBron James Will Focus on to Impose Their Will Over the Other
Steph Curry and LeBron James would easily trade their combined six league MVPs for one more victory over the other come their Sunday night, winner take-all NBA Finals Game 7 showdown
That's the high-stakes magnitude of the situation, which finds the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers pitted against one another for a defining 48 minutes (8 p.m. ET) at Oracle Arena.
The Pressure's on
Leading up to the big moment, Curry and James have both sought to alleviate some of the pressure perhaps felt by their teammates by placing more of it on their own shoulders.
"I need to play my best game of the year, if not my career," said Curry. "Because of what the stakes are -- that doesn't mean score 50 points, though. That means control the tempo of the game. I need to be aggressive, where I need to push the envelope."
More than anything, Curry will need to reestablish a sense of confidence in a team that seemed to have it in spades this season by virtue of their record-setting 73 win regular season.
But the postseason is a different animal, and after losing just nine games all year the Warriors have already dropped eight in the playoffs. None of that will matter in the annals of history if Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green can stave off lose No. 9.
Tensions are so high, after fouling out and being ejected in Game 6, the mild mannered Curry and the equally composed coach Steve Kerr were both hit with $25,000 fines for overly expressing their less than favorable views about the way the game was officiated.
But come Sunday, not even an Ayesha Curry tweet will be able to get the two-time league MVP off his beam.
"There's nothing really that's going to distract me from what's happening on the court," he said. "I get asked about it and it's between me and Ayesha, the conversations about what happened. That's going to be handled. That doesn't take any spotlight off of what my job is on the floor and what these next 48 minutes are going to be like in Game 7.
James knows all about what Curry's feeling.
"The word everyone likes to use in sports is 'pressure,'" he said. "I don't really get involved in it. But I guess in layman's terms, pressure (comes with this situation). I think it's an opportunity to do something special, and I'm fortunate to be in a position where I can be a part of something that was very special."
James Leads Comeback
After falling behind 3-1 in the series, James has rallied the Cavs to back to back double-digit wins and now has the team on the brink of ending a 52-year championship drought in the city of Cleveland.
The King's back to back 41-point explosions have placed him in rare company in terms of the way he has dominated a finals' series, but for any of it to truly mean anything he will need help in Game 7.
Kyrie Irving needs to be no less than what he's been for much of the first six games and J.R. Smith and Kevin Love have to be zeroed in. Either way, James plans on being in the building.
"For an opportunity for Sunday, I mean anybody that's ever played the game of basketball or done anything at any level, to be able to have an opportunity to have one game for it all? I mean, you take it," he said.
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