By JASON LLOYD
By JASON LLOYD
Tribune News Service
OAKLAND, Calif. — Maybe he doesn’t want his younger teammates to be rattled, maybe he really believes it. Regardless, LeBron James flew back to Cleveland early Monday morning believing the Cavs will return to Oracle Arena this week for a defining Game 7 in what has already been a brilliant NBA Finals series.
“I’m confident because I’m the best player in the world,” James said brashly. “We’re going home for Game 6 and we have enough to win it.”
Whether they pull it off remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely James will consider this his most daunting moment. Remember, of course, how the Heat entered a similar Game 6 at home trailing the San Antonio Spurs 3-2 in 2013. With series defeat imminent, Ray Allen’s miracle 3-pointer from the corner extended the game to overtime. The Heat ultimately won the series in a thrilling Game 7 at home, but that was under the old 2-3-2 format. In order for the Cavs to pull this off, they’ll have to win it at Oracle Arena.
Before they worry about that, however, they have to get there.
Guys like James, Mike Miller and James Jones witnessed Allen’s incredible feat. They know the series isn’t over. Now they have to convince other guys like J.R. Smith, who went scoreless in the second half of Game 5 and missed his final six 3-point attempts after a hot start.
“They still have to get four wins. We’ve been here before,” Miller said. “We get to go back home to our crowd and it should be great. The most important thing is to get through Game 6.”
For as great as that Heat-Spurs series was, it still wasn’t James’ greatest personal achievement — at least in his own mind. He said recently his biggest challenge was going back to Boston in 2012 with the Heat trailing 3-2. James scored 45 points in another brilliant Game 6 performance and the Heat forced a Game 7, which they also won en route to James’ first championship.
James had bad history with TD Garden. He has no such ill feelings toward the Warriors or Oracle Arena, where the Cavs have already won once in this series.
“We protect home we come here,” James said. “We’ll worry about Tuesday first. But if we protect home like we’re capable of doing, we force a Game 7.”
Cavs coach David Blatt will face a dilemma with his lineup entering a crucial Game 6. Blatt conceded to the Warriors’ small-ball ways less than five minutes into Game 5, benching Timofey Mozgov for the bulk of the night. He appeared to perhaps second-guess himself after a barrage of questions about the move from the foreign press.
“Did I make a mistake?” Blatt ultimately offered. “Listen, when you’re coaching a game, you’ve got to make decisions. I felt that the best chance for us to stay in the game and to have a chance to win was to play it the way we played it.
“Timo will be back and he will not lose his way or lose his head just because he didn’t play a lot [Sunday]. He’ll be back playing like he always can.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr liked forcing the Cavs into small ball and believes it benefits his team, particularly reigning Most Valuable Player Steph Curry.
Curry is averaging 26.2 points despite a tough start to this series and he has made 13 of his past 22 3-point attempts dating back to the fourth quarter of Game 3.
“The reality is this is a small series and it works well for us,” Kerr said. “We’re comfortable with this style.”
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