Do Blatt’s Cavs have divine favor?

If Golden State’s Stephen Curry is wondering why he’s been struggling to make shots in the NBA Finals, he may want to ask the Big Man upstairs.

A quote from the Biblical book of Samuel has some wondering whether a Cleveland Cavaliers basketball championship was foretold thousands of years ago.

The verse from I Samuel 18:22, first pointed out by Israeli journalist and humorist Hanoch Daum, appeared to show that David Blatt, the Cavs’ successful Israeli-American coach, enjoyed the favor of the king (LeBron James, of course) and the team, and would lead the team to victory.

The beginning of the biblical verse, which Daum quoted in his Facebook post, reads: “Speak with David privately and say: See, the king is fond of you, and all his servants love you.”

Or in Hebrew: דַּבְּרוּ אֶל-דָּוִד בַּלָּט לֵאמֹר, הִנֵּה חָפֵץ בְּךָ הַמֶּלֶךְ, וְכָל-עֲבָדָיו אֲהֵבוּךָ

The beginning of the verse reads: “Dabru el David balat” — balat meaning “privately” or “discreetly.”

In modern Hebrew, which is read without vowels, the word could also be read as “Blatt” — the surname of the Cavs’ beloved head coach.

In this reading, the verse could be rendered: “Speak to David Blatt privately and tell him: See, the king [referring to renowned Cavs’ forward LeBron James] is fond of you, and all his servants [referring to the other team members] love you.”

The actual context of the verse has nothing to do with basketball, though.

The speaker is King Saul, who, in his envy of the good-looking and popular David, sought a pretext to send the younger man on a quest that he hoped meant certain death: to collect a hundred foreskins from the Philistine enemies in exchange for marrying his daughter Michal. (Spoiler alert: David collected two hundred foreskins, married Michal, and eventually replaced Saul as king.)

In complete disregard of biblical-era palace intrigues, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 96–91 in the finals on Tuesday night.

Blatt, who was born in Massachusetts, immigrated in 1981 to Israel, where he played professional basketball until an injury ended his playing career.

After many years as a successful coach in professional basketball in Israel and other countries, most notably leading Maccabi Tel Aviv to victory in the Euroleague Championship in 2014, he became the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers last year. Shortly after he signed with the Cavaliers, he was named Euroleague Coach of the Year.

No Cleveland team has won a championship in any sport since 1964, and so northeast Ohioans will surely be happy with any help, biblical or otherwise, they can get.