Golden State Warriors: Are They Under More Pressure, or is LeBron James?
By Kelsey Ross
The NBA Finals stage is set. The Golden State Warriors will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, a rematch of last year, but who has more pressure to come out on top: LeBron James or the Warriors?
Yes, there is more pressure on James than the Cleveland Cavaliers as a whole. As arguably the best to ever play the game, he finds himself under a microscope every time he steps on the court. Every single thing he does is scrutinized and dissected to a degree that most athletes will never know. He is the King. However, if Stephen Curry and the Warriors beat him again, Steph may take the crown.
James has been to six NBA finals in a row. That is an accomplishment he shares with legend Bill Russell, when he did it some 50 years ago with the Celtics. However, that is a stat that few will remember. Instead, people will recall what his record in the finals is: 2-4. If he fails to bring home the title to Cleveland, it will not be that the Cavaliers lost, but that LeBron failed.
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After all, LeBron came back to Cleveland to do what he couldn’t accomplish there before, to bring the people of Ohio what they wanted: their first franchise title. Anything less than that will be a disappointment.
The Warriors are under a historic microscope. They won 73 regular season games, beating the record set by the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls. They have Curry, the first unanimous MVP ever. The Splash Brothers are draining more three’s than any duo in history. The Warriors came back to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, after trailing three games to one in the series.
The records this team has demolished is astonishing. However, with all these accomplishments, if Golden State doesn’t win the title will they be remembered?
For that answer let’s remember the 2007 New England Patriots, or can you recall that team at all? They went undefeated in the regular season, the only team to do so once the 16-game regular season took effect. An incredible season stopped short with a heartbreaking loss in the Super Bowl. Now this team is all but forgotten.
If the Warriors fail to win it all, they will be thrown in the same pile as that Patriots team. The records, the players, all of the accomplishments will still be there but will never shine as bright. Instead, a shadow will be cast over the 2015-2016 season, and fans will talk about what could have been the greatest team ever.
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If LeBron doesn’t win the title it is another blemish on an otherwise illustrious career. He will still go down as one of the greatest, even with a less than stellar finals record. Critics will express how he wasn’t able to finish the job, while others will explain he was the reason many of those teams were even in the finals. And this doesn’t mark the end of James; he still has more years left, which means more opportunities to grab another title.
For that reason, there is more pressure for Golden State to come away with this NBA championship. Either way, history is on the line. Whether it’s bringing a title to a franchise that has never had one or the cherry on top of a historic season, the stakes are incredibly high.