It says Cleveland on the front of their jerseys, but Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith will also be representing New Jersey when the NBA Finals begin on Thursday in either Cleveland or Golden State.
Irving is a Montclair, N.J., native who starred at Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick’s before spending one season at Duke.
Smith hails from Lakewood, N.J., and won the Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year award while playing for coach Dan Hurley at St. Benedict’s Prep. He then went straight to the NBA from high school.
Now they get a second straight chance at their first NBA championship.
“Just thinking about everything that we dealt with this year, it feels good to get this win on the road and do it with guys like this,” Irving said after going for 30 points of 12-of-24 shooting, 9 rebounds and 4 assists as the Cavs wrapped up the Eastern Conference championship with a 113-87 win at Toronto. “It’s just so special.”
.@KyrieIrving gets emotional with @FSOAllieOop after the @cavs win the Eastern Conference Championshiphttps://t.co/mlrwmzNWy0
– FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) May 28, 2016
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The former St. Pat’s star now gets another shot at the Finals after suffering an injury to his left knee in overtime of the Cavaliers’ Game 1 loss to the Warriors last year that kept him out the rest of the series. Without both Irving and Kevin Love, a year ago, LeBron James carried the load and took the Warriors to six games.
Smith had to step up and become the No. 2 option behind James a year ago, and wasn’t up to the challenge. In the Finals, he averaged 11.5 points on 31 percent shooting and 29 percent from deep.
Asked to sum up his performance after Game 4 a year ago, Smith said, “Horseshit.”
This year, he’s back to being the fourth option behind the Big Three of James, Irving and Love. Smith also made this underhand half court shot before Game 6.
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Phil Jackson and the Knicks, of course, traded both Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cavs and didn’t so much as get a draft pick back. Now both players can win an NBA championship — which would be Cleveland’s first major pro sports championship since 1964.
The Cavs also feature former Net Richard Jefferson, who last appeared in the NBA Finals with the New Jersey Nets in 2003, and has tied a record for most years (13) between Finals appearances.
Canadian Tristan Thompson also played briefly for Hurley at St. Benedict’s Prep before the two had a falling out and Thompson went to Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep where he played with fellow Canuck Cory Joseph.
Thompson ended up clinching a berth to the Finals in his native Toronto with a win over Joseph and the Raptors.
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