“Follow my lead and do your (expletive) job.”
These were the words LeBron James told his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates before taking the court for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. After getting embarrassed for two straight contests against the Golden State Warriors, James was incensed by a perceived lack of effort and emotion from his fellow Cavs. He reportedly wasn’t ok with how a few of his teammates didn’t understand the importance of what was happening around them.
As a result, Cleveland stormed the Warriors and convincingly took Game 3. It seemed as though momentum was tipping a bit, as if the Cavs might still have life in them after being humiliated and called out for a lack of heart the game before. All Cleveland needed to do was win Game 4 on home court and suddenly it would be a best of three series. One would think the Cavs merely had to follow their leader once more to accomplish that.
Well, they certainly did follow in the footsteps of James. And this is why they head back to Oakland down 3-1 in the series.
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