Cleveland – Cavaliers star LeBron James has a simple and to-the-point answer for anyone who asks him about scoring a ticket to the first NBA Finals game to be played in this city.
“No.”
Fans wishing to be a part of Cleveland history for Game 3 of the NBA Finals and still lacking tickets will have to pay, big-time. For example, was advertising a courtside center- court seat for $4,473 on Monday and an 18-seat corner loge that could be rented for a cool $67,091.
Cleveland might be down and all but out of the series after lopsided losses in San Antonio, but excitement is running high with the Cavaliers in the Finals for the first time since the franchise was born in 1970. The city is trying to land its first professional sports championship since the Browns won the NFL championship in 1964.
“It’s definitely going to be a great experience for all Cleveland fans and Northeast Ohio, the whole state of Ohio,” said James, a native of nearby Akron. “It’s going to be something our city hasn’t experienced in a long, long time. It’s going to be electrifying.”
Said former Cavaliers star Austin Carr: “It’s like the whole town is galvanized. All sections of the town are behind the Cavs now.”
The big question is whether the Cavaliers will live up to their playoff motto and “Rise Up” in front of the hometown fans.
The Spurs, leading 2-0, have won by an average of 10 points and even that’s misleading. San Antonio had a 29-point lead in Game 2 before Cleveland rallied to make the score look respectable. Only three teams have come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the NBA Finals: Boston in 1969, Portland in 1977 and Miami last year.
Cleveland has been strong at home, however, with a 7-1 record during the postseason. Both teams took Monday off to rest and travel.
“They protected home court and we’ll have an opportunity to do the same,” said Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes.
San Antonio does not figure to be intimidated in Cleveland. The Spurs are 5-2 on the road in the postseason against the likes of Utah, Phoenix and Denver.
“It’ll be a huge challenge,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They’ve played well there, and I think they’ll feel a lot looser, a lot more aggressive in a lot of ways. It will be a tremendous challenge for us.”
Said Spurs guard Tony Parker: “They’ve never been in the Finals, so it’s going to be very loud, a little bit like Utah. Cleveland is the type of team that plays better at home. They’ve got a lot of players who play better at home. They’re going to play with a lot more confidence and they’re going to shoot the ball better. So we have to match that.”
Cleveland was down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals to Detroit before winning the series in six games. But that was Detroit, and this is San Antonio, which has shown no weaknesses.
“We’ve got to be careful just because we are going to go home and it’s going to happen for us just like it always has,” said Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas. It’s not going to be that way. We’re going to have to make adjustments and more than anything (get) hustle points. It always seemed like they had us on our heels getting loose balls, executing better. They were just quicker.”
Home-court advantage
How the Cavaliers have fared at home in the playoffs this year:
FIRST ROUND
vs. Washington W, 97-82
vs. Washington W, 109-102
Series: Cleveland won 4-0
EAST SEMIFINALS
vs. New Jersey W, 81-77
vs. New Jersey W, 102-92
vs. New Jersey L, 83-72
Series: Cleveland won 4-2
EAST FINALS
vs. Detroit W, 88-82
vs. Detroit W, 91-87
vs. Detroit W, 98-82
Series: Cleveland won 4-2
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-954-1098 or mspears@denverpost.com.
