With plenty of time to prepare for the Golden State Warriors and Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 1, LeBron James was not thinking about that on Thursday night.Fresh off topping the Boston Celtics 135-102 to clinch the Eastern Conference championship in five games, LeBron was not ready to talk about a third straight meeting against the Warriors for the big prize.Besides, flanked by his teammates on the post-game podium while fielding questions from the media, he was having too much fun to ponder a "stressful" endeavor like taking on the Warriors."I'm gonna be honest, I'm not really (thinking about Golden State)," LeBron said. "I'm not in the right mind to even talk about Golden State. It's too stressful and I'm not stressed right now, I'm very happy about our accomplishment."I have no discussion... Golden State, they have been the best team in our league the last three years, and then they added an MVP. That's all I can give you right now because I'm happy and I don't want to be stressed. They cause a lot of stress and I will get to that point when we start to prepare for them."Check out the video here of LeBron's response:
LeBron - and everyone else for that matter - have good reason to be stressed out by the Warriors, who swept through the Western Conference playoffs with a perfect 12-0 record.
Since James returned to the Cavaliers three summers ago, the Cavaliers are 8-11 against Stephen Curry and the Warriors, including a 6-7 mark in NBA Finals games against the Bay Area team.
As LeBron noted in the clip, they added Kevin Durant after the two tough Finals meetings between the teams.
Cleveland and Golden State met this season on Christmas Day with the Cavaliers earning a 109-108 victory on their home floor. In that one, LeBron had 31 points and 13 rebounds, while Durant countered with 36 points and 15 rebounds. Klay Thompson added 24 points in the loss.
The teams met again in Oakland, California, on January 16 and this was a forgettable night for James and the Cavaliers. James scored just 20 points as his team was clobbered 126-91 behind 26 points from Thompson, 21 points from Durant and 20 more from Curry.
So there's definitely reason to be stressed out about playing the Warriors.
Although after squandering a 3-1 lead in last season's NBA Finals against the Cavaliers, eventually falling in seven games, maybe the Warriors should be stressed out about running into LeBron again in June.