OAKLAND — They’re cities with blue-collar roots that often end up on the butt end of jokes, usually flung by outsiders relying on rumors, not reality.

No, Cleveland and Oakland aren’t exactly kindred spirits. But as the Golden State Warriors face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers this week, it’s clear that these underdog cities have more in common than just their blue-chip basketball teams.

Yes, it’s not all good: Both cities have battled persistent crime problems, ranking in the top two cities for robberies per capita over the last decade.

Despite a booming economy with a blossoming art and food scene in Oakland and a touted renaissance in Cleveland’s downtown, both have struggled with how to bring that success out of the main streets to their poorest, most-underserved residents.

“I think both cities could use a boost,” said Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed, who worked for San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown from 1996 to 2000 and attended Golden Gate College before returning to Ohio. “Of course, I’m hoping it will be Cleveland.”

Cleveland was once a thriving manufacturing city on the shore of Lake Erie, with almost a million residents calling the Rust Belt city home from the 1930s through the 1950s. That included about a quarter-million African-Americans, many of whom found their first taste of freedom in Cleveland after the Civil War.

The city will host the 2016 Republican National Convention but was more progressive in the 1960s than now, said Cleveland State University professor Ronnie Dunn, who studies urban sociology and social justice. Cleveland was the first major city in the country to elect an African-American mayor, Carl Stokes, in 1968.

But as the economy slowed in the ’60s and ’70s, tens of thousands of people fled to the suburbs, like in many cities across the U.S.

Cleveland now has a population similar to Oakland — about 390,000, according to the latest estimates — which is the lowest tally since the 1900s.

But like in Oakland, which has capitalized on the Silicon Valley tech boom, Cleveland — which was derided as “the mistake by the lake” during its worst days — has been shifting to a biomedical, tech-based economy, Dunn said.

“It’s been a rough stretch for about the last 50 years,” Dunn said. “There was an erosion of our manufacturing base, a large population loss. Things are just beginning to turn around now.”

And Cleveland has long been mocked for the failures of its sports teams. The city last won a championship in 1964 when the Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts in the NFL title game — even before it was known as the Super Bowl.

“That’s a long time, 51 years. I think it would help heal a city,” Dunn said.

Oakland’s sports teams haven’t been as hapless, and Mayor Libby Schaaf said she can’t imagine her residents having more pride than they already do in their city. But this Warriors team embodies the city’s spirit, she said, which makes this season so special.

“This is a city which has, we’ll call it scrappy pride,” Schaaf said. “There’s a fierceness in their loyalty to this town that, obviously seeing this team do this well, is incredibly fulfilling.”

Oakland became a safe haven for immigrants and southern blacks following World War II in the 1940s, when its population was 95 percent white. It’s now one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, giving birth to historic activist groups like the Black Panther Party.

The city’s fans have supported its teams with as much fervor as they support their political causes, but that hasn’t seemed to matter. The Raiders and A’s are actively seeking to move to other cities and the Warriors’ owners have already purchased land for a new arena in San Francisco.

Oakland has been so overlooked and dismissed that its city officials had to argue to keep a potential championship parade on Broadway — not Market Street in San Francisco.

The Warriors, as the Bay Area’s only NBA basketball team, have long had a regional fan base. But that doesn’t mean the team can’t embrace Oakland, said Jim Zelinski, co-founder of Save Oakland Sports.

A championship would be “bittersweet” if the team decides to move, he said.

“I’ve always equated the Warriors with Oakland, and frankly, I think the Warriors should be playing as the Oakland Warriors,” Zelinski said. “That would be some level of tribute to a city that’s supported the franchise through bleak times.”

You don’t need to look much farther than Cleveland and Oakland to find examples of the harsh realities of life in the city for those trapped by poverty.

After the wrongful shooting of an unarmed 12-year-old boy last year, Cleveland handed the reins of its police department to the Department of Justice for an overhaul.

Oakland’s police department is just nearing the end of 15 years of federal monitoring, and both cities have been bedrocks of the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement to end police violence.

Sports can be an escape for some, Reed said, but no one thinks LeBron James and Stephen Curry will solve their city’s issues by tossing a ball through a hoop.

“I think it would be a Band-Aid,” the councilman said. “The problems we’re having in Cleveland didn’t start two or three years ago, and we won’t fix them that quickly.”

Contact Mike Blasky at 510-208-6429. Follow him at Twitter.com/blasky.