To the surprise of no one, Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James labeled tonight's NBA Finals home matchup against defending champion Golden State "a do-or-die game for us."
He soon added, "We can't afford to go down 3-0 to any team, especially a team that's 73-9 in the regular season and playing the type of basketball they're playing."
And since no team has ever climbed from a 3-0 hole to win an NBA title, no one's going to argue with King James's assessment of his team's plight. Especially with center Kevin Love's status uncertain after being placed in concussion protocol after being inadvertently struck by Harrison Barnes' elbow while going for a rebound.
Yet dire as the Cavs' attempt to give their city its first world championship of any kind since the 1964 football Browns, they can turn to Portland's 1977 NBA title team for inspiration.
Much like Cleveland, those Trail Blazers fell into a 2-0 hole at Philadelphia before heading home for two. Also much like the Cavs, they had been thoroughly humbled in the second game by a 76ers lineup that included the good Dr. J - Julius Erving - George McGinnis, Doug Collins and the entertaining reserve center Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins.
In fact, Dawkins got into a fight with Portland power forward Maurice Lucas near the close of Game 2, his wild punch missing Lucas but striking Collins in the mouth. Amazingly, by today's standards, no one was suspended for Game 3, though both Lucas and Dawkins were fined.
Anyway, Portland not only won the third game, but also the fourth, the fifth (back in Philly) and the sixth to deliver the franchise its first and only world title, thanks mostly to its brilliant yet brittle center Bill Walton never again remaining healthy enough to bring another championship to Oregon.
That didn't make that 1977 title any less memorable or important, however, especially if the Cavs are to become the fourth team in NBA history to climb from an 0-2 hole to claim a championship, joining the 1969 Boston Celtics (over the Los Angeles Lakers), the Trail Blazers and the 2006 Miami Heat (over Dallas).
And given that the Dawkins-Lucas fight is credited with turning that series around, maybe Cleveland can use Love's injury to inspire a similar comeback.
The Cavaliers certainly would appear to need some outside motivation if they're to force the Warriors' Steph Curry to utter words similar to what Dr. J said at the close of the Sixers' fifth-game defeat at home, when he noted, "I had a good feeling about tonight. It all backfired. It's a bad scene."
The scene couldn't appear to be much worse for the Cavs. The 31-year-old James looks tired, which is understandable given the 40-plus minutes he's logging each night in the postseason. Despite a defense that's limited Curry and Klay Thompson to a total of 55 points through the first two games, the Warriors have prevailed by an average of 24 points, Sunday's 110-77 final one of the most embarrassing results in Finals history.
Yet just as the Trail Blazers once put their two games behind them, so, theoretically, can a Cavs team that hasn't lost a home playoff game all spring. This is not to say that Cleveland's UCLA product in the post (Love) is remotely as talented as the big redhead Walton, who might have gone down as one of the top 10 or 15 players in the history of the sport had he remained healthy. Nor is Cavs coach Tyronn Lue the second coming of Dr. Jack Ramsay, one of the game's all-time brightest minds.
In fact, Cleveland much more closely resembles the Sixers - James the modern Dr. J with everyone else a dysfunctional family - than the Blazers, who epitomized the sum being greater than the parts.
But history is history. And when you're trying to become just the fourth team in the history of your sport to make such history, there's not a lot to lean on.
There's also this about Dawkins, whose end results never quite matched his apparent physical gifts:
On the sad passing of Dawkins a year ago, Los Angeles Clippers general manager Dave Wohl, who played against and coached Chocolate Thunder, said, "Many of us will judge him solely on what he could have been. Too many will be blinded by the flashes of brilliance that never materialized into consistent greatness. There were times when he teased us with a hint of how he could dominate a game. And we went home in awe and yet sad because we knew of no spell to make it happen more frequently. But few players could make us feel that way even once."
It would be completely unfair to compare the stunningly talented and successful James to the seemingly underachieving Dawkins. Yet should Cleveland fail to manufacture any noteworthy rally against the Warriors in King James's sixth straight Finals appearance, at least a few of Wohl's words will be aimed at James.
Some will say there were times he teased us with how he could dominate games. Others will talk about being blinded by flashes of brilliance that never materialized into consistent greatness.
Will it be fair? No, a thousand times. The mere fact the guy's reached six straight Finals should keep us in awe of the guy forevermore. And few players in the history of the sport could make us feel the chills and thrills of excitement that James has throughout his career.
That said, if he again comes up short, however unrealistic a different result, there will be a lot of folks wondering why James couldn't find a spell to win NBA titles more frequently than twice in his dozen seasons of professional hoops.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.