LeBron: 'Resilient' Cavs were desperate to avoid sweep
LeBron James believes the Cleveland Cavaliers' "championship DNA" helped them stay alive against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
The defending champions came into Friday's meeting at the Quicken Loans Arena 3-0 down in the best-of-seven series with the Warriors standing on the brink of history, seeking to become the first side to go 16-0 in the playoffs.
But the Cavs put in a remarkable performance in their 137-116 victory, racking up NBA Finals records for points scored in the first and second quarters (49 and 86), while their 24 three-pointers was also a new best.
LeBron contributed 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists en route to passing Michael Jordan in going third on the all-time NBA Finals scoring list, while Kyrie Irving landed 40 of his own.
The Cavs memorably came back from 3-1 down against the same opponents to clinch the championship last year, and LeBron concedes he is tired of having to the climb the proverbial mountain.
"We got some resilient guys. We have championship DNA."
— NBA (@NBA) June 10, 2017
- LeBron James after 31p, 11a, 10r in Game 4. #NBAFinals #DefendTheLand pic.twitter.com/nULZ9yH6OJ
"I don't like it," he said. "It causes too much stress, man. I'm stressed out. Keep doing this every year.
"But listen, at the end of the day we just got some resilient guys. The Warriors have championship DNA, and we do as well. We're battle tested, they're battle tested.
"And getting swept is something that you never want to have happen. Especially this point. You get all the way to the Finals, you hate to get swept, lose two games on your home floor.
"So I think a lot of guys had that in their mind today, and they came out and played like it.
"They [still] got us where they want us. Listen, at the end of the day, we want to just try to put ourselves in position to play another game, and we did that tonight and hopefully we can do it Monday night where we can come back here.
"So our mindset is try to go up there and get one. Which is probably one of the toughest environments we have in this league, along with our building. And so we look forward to the challenge and the matchup."