NBA’s last two defending champs both have plenty to work out

A funny thing is happening on the way to Cavs-Warriors III in the NBA Finals.

Or maybe it’s not. We’re only in January, after all.

Cleveland is in first place in the East and Golden State stands atop the Western Conference standings, but both teams have lately dealt with questions about whether or not they have fatal flaws.

LeBron James made headlines late Monday night (and into Tuesday morning) when he expressed to the team’s beat writers his frustration about the defending champs not being (at least in his view) as good as they were last year.

"We need a (expletive) playmaker," James said (via the AP) before offering a potentially conciliatory tweet Tuesday.

James may be jealous of the Warriors, who responded to their seven-game Finals loss to Cleveland last June by signing All-Star Kevin Durant to join the power trio of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

And yet not all is well out west, either.

Golden State was the subject of a Sports Illustrated feature last week seeking to see what is wrong with the team that has won 38 games and lost seven but doesn't seem settled with how to handle itself in crunch time.

Will this all turn out to be much ado about nothing? Probably so… at least until they meet again.

With the trade deadline still almost a month away, both have chances to make themselves better, too.

But at least one fear about this NBA season – that it was all a formality until a Finals rematch – hasn't come to fruition yet.

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