LeBron James and the San Antonio Spurs are already beefing.
"I like everybody," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told ESPN on Tuesday, one day after the Miami Heat star told reporters "they don't like us. I can sense it from Timmy's comments over the last couple of days. They want us, so they got us."
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After ousting Kevin Durant and Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals, setting up a rematch of last year's finals, the Spurs let it be known it was the defending champs they've wanted all along.
"We've got four more to win," said Duncan. "We'll do it this time."
San Antonio came within seconds of being crowned champs last year, blowing a five-point lead in the final seconds of Game 6 when they led the series 3-2. It was the first Finals loss for the Spurs in five trips.
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"Knowing Timmy, that's not trash talking," said Spurs star guard Tony Parker. "I don't think he meant it like that. But obviously, we are very motivated and we want to get it done. At the same time, we realize we are playing a very good team that went to the Finals four times in a row and won the last two."
Parker and veteran guard Manu Ginobili later both insisted they have great admiration for team seeking to become the NBA's first to three-peat in nearly two decades.
"Every time you play a team in the playoffs, you don't like them," added Manu Ginobili. "That grows on you. It's such a challenge, you want to beat them so bad that you start to grow that challenge of you don't want the opponent to score on me, you don't want them to do good. You want to do everything you can to limit them. In some ways it's sort of dislike, but the same happened to me against Dallas and against Portland and against Oklahoma City. It's part of what the playoffs are about."
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