Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / Bloomberg's Soshnick Previews NBA Championship Game 7 (Audio)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Play. But there's gonna be a lot of soda drinking,
- 0:01Speaker 1: even some beer drinking in Oakland this Sunday night, in fact,
- 0:05Speaker 1: in homes across the country, as the Cleveland Cavaliers, led
- 0:10Speaker 1: by some amazing playing last night by Lebron James, come
- 0:13Speaker 1: back from a three game deficit to move on to
- 0:16Speaker 1: Game seven against the Oakland the Golden State Warriors this
- 0:20Speaker 1: Sunday night. Quite a game, quite a showdown. And Scott
- 0:24Speaker 1: Sashnik is here, our sports reporter at large, to put
- 0:27Speaker 1: this in contacts for US. I guess Scott's starting with
- 0:30Speaker 1: what this means for the Cavaliers franchise if they pull
- 0:34Speaker 1: this off. Quite apart from the drama, for anybody who's
- 0:37Speaker 1: been watching these games, this has been amazing. Well, this
- 0:40Speaker 1: goes back to when Lebron left Cleveland. He left because
- 0:43Speaker 1: he didn't feel he could win there, so he went
- 0:46Speaker 1: to Miami. He got his two titles, then he said
- 0:48Speaker 1: he wanted to go back home to fulfill that destiny
- 0:51Speaker 1: and win a championship for the city that has been struggling.
- 0:55Speaker 1: Didn't look good down three one. Stuff was playing well,
- 0:57Speaker 1: the Warriors were playing well. Yeah, everybody's play. It didn't
- 1:00Speaker 1: look so good for the for the Calves. Here they
- 1:02Speaker 1: are though they've done what they had to do three three,
- 1:05Speaker 1: And if you're Lebron James, you have to let your
- 1:07Speaker 1: chances in a one one game lottery? Sure? Why not?
- 1:11Speaker 1: All right, Scott, They're gonna be playing Sunday, as Kathleen
- 1:14Speaker 1: mentioned at the Oracle Arena. And what's your call on
- 1:19Speaker 1: this game? Are the Cavaliers gonna take it? Or will
- 1:22Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors send Steph Curry take it? Why
- 1:25Speaker 1: do you put me in these positions because that's what
- 1:28Speaker 1: you get paid for it. Well, to think of a
- 1:31Speaker 1: team that hadn't lost many games at all this year,
- 1:33Speaker 1: record breaking season for the Warriors. They did lose Andrew Bogat.
- 1:38Speaker 1: Let's not minimize they're not at full strength. But back
- 1:41Speaker 1: on the home floor, comfort, sleep in your own bed,
- 1:46Speaker 1: all the things that a home crowd gives. It'd be
- 1:49Speaker 1: hard for me to fathom that team losing three games
- 1:53Speaker 1: in a row, even though they don't look they looked
- 1:57Speaker 1: a little wobbly in the last two. If they're we're
- 2:00Speaker 1: gonna regain their footing there you go back on your
- 2:02Speaker 1: home floor. You've got to give a slight edge to
- 2:05Speaker 1: the calf to the to the Warriors, simply because they're
- 2:09Speaker 1: back in those familiar territories, so give them a slight edge.
- 2:12Speaker 1: But again, Lebron on fire the last couple of games,
- 2:15Speaker 1: and Draymond Green was out the game before last. But
- 2:17Speaker 1: even with even with Draymond Green back, and I know
- 2:21Speaker 1: he was on his home court. Yeah, it's I mean,
- 2:24Speaker 1: this is what you were set up for going into
- 2:27Speaker 1: this playoffs. Everybody wanted to see the record setting team
- 2:31Speaker 1: against arguably the best player in the league in Lebron
- 2:34Speaker 1: or is it staff Lebron? Has he helped craft this
- 2:39Speaker 1: team he wanted? Kevin Love, you want to carry Irving?
- 2:42Speaker 1: This is the team he wanted. He no matter what
- 2:45Speaker 1: he says, he helped to pick these players he could
- 2:48Speaker 1: never have foreseen as nobody in the NBA did. Not
- 2:52Speaker 1: only the Warriors, but the rise of Steph Curry. Everything
- 2:55Speaker 1: has become about Steph. All those Lebron jerseys you saw
- 2:58Speaker 1: a few years ago New York City. You walk around,
- 3:01Speaker 1: maybe I'll see a Porzingis or Karmelo Anthony. Maybe all
- 3:06Speaker 1: I see is Steph Curry. All the kids know is
- 3:08Speaker 1: Warriors and Steph and the kids are He's changed the game,
- 3:11Speaker 1: They're taking three point shots from twenty five ft away.
- 3:14Speaker 1: Revolutionized the game. He's selling more jersey than anybody else.
- 3:18Speaker 1: He's a great billboard for the league. He's gonna be
- 3:20Speaker 1: a great international spokesman as Lebron was. Now we see
- 3:24Speaker 1: if you can add back to back champion to it,
- 3:26Speaker 1: because Lebron needs that. In Cleveland, can I get your
- 3:30Speaker 1: assessment of the first quarter, because the Cavaliers right, I
- 3:33Speaker 1: mean they right, I mean what happened Golden State scoring
- 3:39Speaker 1: in the first quarter, I believe was the fewest quarter
- 3:44Speaker 1: first quarter points that the team has scored in a
- 3:46Speaker 1: finals game in the shot clock era. You know, this
- 3:49Speaker 1: is gonna sound really simplistic and maybe even a bit dumb,
- 3:55Speaker 1: but I'm gonna do it anyway more than any other team.
- 3:59Speaker 1: You know what it boils down to for the Warriors,
- 4:02Speaker 1: and of course it's the basis upon which the entire
- 4:04Speaker 1: game is laid. They need to make their shots. You
- 4:08Speaker 1: can't guard the shots. You can make them try and
- 4:11Speaker 1: you've seen a little holding and it's been a little
- 4:13Speaker 1: more difficult for stuff to get open around those screens.
- 4:16Speaker 1: But these guys throughout the season, they've won because Clay
- 4:20Speaker 1: Thompson and Steph Curry, even with a seven footer in
- 4:23Speaker 1: their face from thirty two ft away, make the shots.
- 4:27Speaker 1: So if they have one of those games where those
- 4:30Speaker 1: two guys make their shots, which more often than not
- 4:35Speaker 1: they do, they're going to win. If Cleveland wins, you know,
- 4:39Speaker 1: you just had a scoop on a steak in the calves.
- 4:43Speaker 1: What does it mean for the value of their franchise?
- 4:46Speaker 1: What does it mean for the city of Cleveland, Well,
- 4:48Speaker 1: they can what does it mean they can stop talking
- 4:51Speaker 1: about Ernest Binder and whoa is us? The fumble, all
- 4:54Speaker 1: the bad things that happened. Line man, come on the money.
- 4:57Speaker 1: I don't think means anything for the valuation of the
- 4:59Speaker 1: franchise because as all of the pillars that drive valuation
- 5:02Speaker 1: your national revenues, you'll this this is a marquee team
- 5:05Speaker 1: with arguably again the best player in the world. They're
- 5:07Speaker 1: high profile. They make tons of national TV appearances the
- 5:09Speaker 1: most you can. They have an international following, they have
- 5:11Speaker 1: superstar players, they sell out, Their marketing is great, their
- 5:14Speaker 1: sponsorship is great. Because of all those things. Can they
- 5:18Speaker 1: get a little halo bump off a championship sort of
- 5:21Speaker 1: a little five T kicker on their sponsors or tickets. Sure, yeah,
- 5:26Speaker 1: he could probably ring a few extra pennies out out
- 5:29Speaker 1: of his customers. But when you're talking about billion and
- 5:32Speaker 1: a half two billion dollar franchises, you're talking pennies on
- 5:34Speaker 1: the dollar. All right, we're gonna be looking, of course,
- 5:37Speaker 1: on Sunday Game seven Sunday Oracle Arena, eight pm Eastern
- 5:42Speaker 1: Time on ABC. Thank you very much to Scott Sashnik,
- 5:45Speaker 1: Bloomberg Sports reporter at large. You're listening to taking Stock
- 5:50Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio.