WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — As the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors head into Oracle Arena for Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals, LeBron James will find himself in the most hostile environment he has ever witnessed.
Please note: “environment” means a combination of the crowd and opponent faced.
For example, the environment on December 10, 2010 — when James’ then-new team, the Miami Heat, traveled to his shunned Cleveland for the first time — consisted of an angry Quicken Loans Arena crowd but on the court featured a rather weak eventual 19-win squad.
So while the threat of verbal assault from the stands remained high for LeBron on that night in “The Land”, the threat of competition on the floor was at a bare minimum.
The Cavs’ starting five that night was Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Joey Graham, J.J. Hickson and, ironically, Anderson Varejao.
Tonight, with his act of disrespect towards Draymond Green which through a chain of events ultimately led to Green’s suspension from Game 5, James faces not only an angry 20,000 Warriors fans, but also a team — an all-time great team — eager for payback.
Remember, it was Green who felt the full brunt of boos in Game 4, two nights after kicking Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams in the groin.
During pregame warmups that night, the jumbotron operator put Green up on the big screen for all to see, and a chorus of loud boos engulfed the building. That also happened during the game, every time he touched the ball.
Draymond would post one of the worst performances of his career, scoring just 6 points on 1-for-7 shooting, to along with 11 rebounds, but just 2 assists.
With James’ role in getting Green suspended, baiting the NBA into http://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/jenkins/article/Draymond-NBA-enforcement-at-its-worst-8103839.php?t=c49842c447d00da74e&cmpid=twitter-premium making it a league issue by not only talking about it during the post-game press conference, but also trying to bring character issues into play by violating the game’s unwritten “man-code”, you can expect Warriors fans to cross the line as well, like a woman did last year, in an isolated incident:
This women predicted the future holy sht!! https://t.co/XRC2JqkkXF
— Ryan Atienza (@YeBoyRyan) June 12, 2016
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A transportation worker based in Oakland has also apparently crossed the line, updating a road sign for an otherwise PG-13 traffic-commuting audience:
4pm in Oakland pic.twitter.com/2u6hnHxuq6
— Jae Azizi (@JaeAzizi) June 13, 2016
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In fact, James has already been booed even before stepping foot inside the arena, as this video captured his walk to the team bus:
Just seen the cry baby LeBron James coming out the hotel. What's better than the bay if you can't win the ring. pic.twitter.com/E0Z7C0nFrU
— THE RECIPE (@KRECIPE) June 13, 2016
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Can the crowd affect a superstar player such as James?
When Stephen Curry struggled in Game 3 of these NBA Finals in Cleveland, Green told reporters, “Contrary to popular belief, no one in this league is superhuman.”
Aside from the boos, the verbal attacks, and the loudness from the crowd, all of which can take a toll on an average human being over the course of three hours of elapsed time, LeBron will have to weigh shutting up the crowd with “hero-ball” play alongside deferring to bench players, who often seem to have a more difficult time hitting shots in unfriendly away environments.
Recall OKC’s Andre Roberson‘s reluctance to shoot a wide-open shot in Game 7 of the last round.
Shaun Livingston said today at morning shootaround, “It’s going to be loud.”
It’s going to be loud alright. Perhaps louder than the #WeBelieve run. We’ll see how soon a referee’s whistle gets drowned out tonight by #Roaracle.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via NBAE/Getty)
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