Cleveland Cavaliers can make history and shake Golden State's confidence by winning Game 6 -- Terry Pluto (photos)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Cavaliers showed a lot of character and determination by beating the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 on Monday.

Can they do it again?

Can the Cavaliers ignore the tidal wave of history that wants to wipe them out of the NBA Finals? Can they channel the energy of the Quicken Loans crowd and knock off the Warriors on Thursday night in Game 6?

If that happens, the Cavs will have already have done something special.

Know what happens when a team in the Cavs position of being down 3-1 in The Finals wins Game 5?

They lose in Game 6. It has happened over and over.

I was aware that no team that was down 3-1 in the best-of-seven Finals ever came back to win a title. But this was a shocker…

Only 2-of-32 teams down 3-1 in The Finals managed to take the series to seven games. Here they are:

• 1951: The New York Knicks came back to force a Game 7 — then lost to Rochester.


• 1966: The Los Angeles Lakers won to in a row — then lost in Game 7 to Boston.

That’s right … two teams … and it last happened 49 years ago.

Now you know why Golden State coach Steve Kerr said: “It’s the NBA Finals and you have two great teams. I kind of like our position… We go back to Cleveland and tee it up again. I like our position better than theirs.”

BREAKING THE JINX

Cleveland fans know the 1964 Browns are the last Cleveland major sports franchise to win a title.

The hunger for a championship bubbled over to the Lake Erie Monsters They are the local American Hockey League franchise won the Calder Cup last week.

It’s a championship and they earned it, sweeping the Hershey Bears in four games. They won the title in front of 19,665 fans at Quicken Loans Arena.

I’ve long believed for one of the Big Three Cleveland sports franchises to finally win a title, it will require something extraordinary.

The Cavs are in position to do just that.

No one I’ve heard in the media predicts the Cavs will be the first team in NBA history to come back from the 3-1 deficit and bring a championship to Cleveland.

History screams the season is likely to ends on the Cavs home court Thursday. The same happened last season with the Warriors winning Game 6 here.

Being eliminated from The Finals twice in a row at Quicken Loans Arena?

Will the Cavs allow that to happen?

WHAT THE WARRIORS BELIEVE

Without saying it directly, the Warriors thought they’d have won Game 5 in Oakland — except Draymond Green was suspended.

Perhaps, but I doubt it.

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving had a game for the ages, becoming the first Finals team with two players who scored at last 40 points in the same game. They combined for 82 points. Their assists led to another 15 points, meaning Irving and James accounted for 97 points.

Golden State scored 97 points in the Cavs 112-97 victory. Defense was a big story for the Cavs in Game 5 as the Warriors shot only 37 percent from the field.

Watching that game at Oracle Arena, there was a sense James was not about to allow the Cavs to lose — especially when Irving was playing the game of his life.

It was their night … a night for James and Irving … a night for the Cavs.

Golden State is convinced that won’t happen again. Green is back. It’s hard for them to imagine another night where James and Irving convert 33-of-54 shots (9-of-15 from 3-point range) and score 82 points.

And the Warriors are probably right.

The odds of Irving and James have a repeat of that historic performance are about as likely as the Cavs reaching Game 7.

WHAT THE CAVS BELIEVE

Win another game.

That’s been the Cavs approach since losing Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena last week.

“We want to have another opportunity to fight another day,” said James after the Game 5 victory.

The Cavs are 8-1 in the playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena.

“Whatever it takes to win,” said James. “I know we will be very well prepared for Game 6… We understand the magnitude of what Game 6 means to us at home.”

James has a strong sense of basketball history. He is interested in legacy. He knows what forcing a Game 7 would mean.

James sounds confident.

So is Kerr, as the Golden State coach explained: “We’re in the same place we were a year ago, up 3-2 heading back to Cleveland. If you told me that at the start of the series, I’d have taken it. So we’re in a good spot.”

And it’s up to the Cavs to take that away from them.

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Cleveland Cavaliers can make history and shake Golden State"s confidence by winning Game 6 -- Terry Pluto (photos)