Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue surely isn’t prepared to throw in the towel after his team was blown out in the first two games of the NBA Finals against the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Attempting to sound upbeat following Cleveland’s 33-point meltdown in Oakland on Sunday, Lue had a somewhat interesting remark about his mentality heading into Game 3.
“You’ve got to kill me,” Lue said, via Yahoo’s The Vertical. “I’m never going to commit suicide. I’m still confident. I’m going to be positive, because that’s how I feel. It isn’t fake. I feel our team is good enough to beat this team.”
Outside of that unfortunate comparison, Lue might very well feel confident that his Cavaliers team can beat the Warriors.
Though, that’s now going to have to happen four times in five games if Cleveland is going to pull off what would be considered one of the greatest upsets in Finals history.
Cleveland has lost the first two games by a combined 48 points, which represents an NBA Finals record.
Equally as important, the team has looked completely overmatched against a Warriors squad that’s looking to make history following a record-breaking 73-win regular season.
“I don’t think we are discouraged,” Lue continued. “We just know we have to play better. We’ve got to get to the level they’re playing right now, but I don’t feel we’re discouraged.”
In terms of the overall series, Golden State held court with two wins at home. In reality, those two wins could have come by a combined two points, and the situation wouldn’t be any different on the scoreboard.
That’s one area Lue can preach to his team heading into Game 3 in Cleveland on Wednesday where the Cavaliers are undefeated in the playoffs.
Though, there’s a lot more to look at here as it relates to the lack of competition between these two teams.
Including the three consecutive wins to close out the Finals last season, Golden State has won seven straight by a total of 130 points against Cleveland, three of those coming by a combined 63 points on the Cavaliers’ home court.