OAKLAND – Having seen his team recover from a 3-1 deficit to win the Western Conference Finals, Warriors CEO Joe Lacob is eager to get on with the series he has longed for since late last summer.
The Cavaliers, healthy and rolling, are coming to Oracle Arena for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
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“I can’t wait. I’m so excited. And it’s exactly the matchup that I, frankly, was dreaming of this year,” Lacob told CSNBayArea.com Monday night, after a 96-88 victory over Oklahoma City in Game 7 at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors last season defeated Cleveland in six games to win the championship. Insofar as the Cavaliers were without Kyrie Irving for the last five games and without Kevin Love for the entire series, there was considerable debate as to whether the Warriors caught a break.
Some coaches and former players implied that the Warriors were lucky to have played a short-handed Cavaliers team, with LeBron James as the only available star.
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Going into the rematch, both teams are fairly healthy. Cleveland sailed through the Eastern Conference playoffs, sweeping the first two series and eliminating Toronto in six games in the conference finals.
“I think I can speak for most of the team,” Lacob said. “We’re pretty excited to go play them again because of everything that was said after we won last year, that they weren’t full strength.
“And, apparently, LeBron wants us too. So it should be interesting.”
