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CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors will take the court against one another for the 18th time in the last 24 months, this time on Christmas Day (Dec. 26 in Manila).
The rivalry between the two best teams in the league is authentic and perhaps the NBA’s best since the Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers glory days of the 1980s.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue is well-versed in both of those historic rivalries. He played for the Lakers and coached for the Celtics. Lue said if the Cleveland and Golden State meet again next June, they will be on the level of those great franchises.
“It’s a lot of championships won in that era,” Lue said. “But if both teams stay together and both teams continue to keep winning, it could be like that. They have a great team over there on the other side and we have a great team also. When you talk basketball, you’re going to talk Golden State, Cleveland, San Antonio. And it’s a great place to be in.”
A Cavaliers-Warriors “three-quel” would make NBA history since no two teams have ever met for an NBA championship three years in a row. Not even the great Celtics-Lakers rivalry of the 1960s, when they met six times in eight years, could boast doing it three in a row.
Regardless of how many times they meet, the series hasn’t been fatigued. Cleveland-Golden State games are ratings gold for television executives and the addition of Kevin Durant will only fuel that. Much like the Magic-Bird days of the ’80s, this rivalry now features the game’s top three players in LeBron James, Steph Curry and Durant.
“We feel a little more comfortable going into this matchup with Kevin Durant on our team,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s been a great rivalry the last couple of years.” (AP)
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