With less than five seconds to go in probably the most career-defining game for the city of Cleveland, Marreese Speights of the Golden State Warriors tries to knock down a three.
He misses – and a deluge of Cleveland Cavaliers players inundate the playing field at the Oracle Arena.
They have accomplished something never achieved before in the history of the NBA Finals – coming back from 1-3 down to win the championship. Their leader, LeBron James, is knelt down on the floor, with tears of joy tripping down his face.
An immense weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He has brought home a championship to the title deprived city of Cleveland.
In July 2014 when LeBron James wrote that coming home letter to Sports Illustrated, many wondered whether he would be able to deliver on his promise to bring home a championship – particularly after the San Antonio Spurs had ruthlessly blown away his Miami Heat’s quest for a three-peat in a beat down for the ages.
It had seemed as if a new generation consisting of stars like Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green had figured out ways to manhandle the self-proclaimed ‘King’.
As soon as he got to Cleveland, James was interested in the Cavs’ first pick of the 2014 draft. After drafting Andrew Wiggins, the Cavs traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Love – a player who could literally put up double-doubles in his sleep.
Along with the omnipresent Kyrie Irving, the Cavs now had the Miami Heat’s edition of the ‘Big Three’.
During the first season, rookie head coach David Blatt was brought on board. Blatt had been signed before James’s letter to S.I. had gone viral and so it was a coincidence that James had to make up with Blatt during the first year.
A respectable 53-29 record led to the Cavs easily making it back to the Finals where they squared off against a new and rising talent of the Golden State Warriors. However, the losses of Kevin Love to a dislocated shoulder and Kyrie Irving with a broken kneecap during the course of the playoffs saw the workload increase exponentially on LeBron’s shoulders.
Although he did lead the Cavs to two wins in the Finals, the Warriors proved too much for James to handle by himself.
Before the start of the second season, rumours had begun to emanate that James was unhappy with the coaching staff – especially David Blatt, with whom he had a tumultuous relationship.
In December after the Warriors thrashed the Cavs by thirty four points at the Quicken Loans Arena, Blatt was fired and Tyronn Lue instilled as the new head coach – a LeBron James guy.
A similar 55-27 record saw the Cavs take the number one seed and breeze through to the NBA Finals once again where for the second consecutive year they would face the Golden State Warriors.
After being manhandled during the course of the first four games, the Cavs found themselves staring down the barrel at a 3-1 deficit – a hole no team had pulled itself out of during the entire history of the NBA.
However, James did not give up his hopes of winning a championship for the city he grew up in.
Slowly but surely, the Cavs started to wrestle back some of the lost momentum courtesy of LeBron James dropping 41 points in games five and six. In the all-important game seven he dropped a triple-double: 27 points, 11 assists, 11 rebounds. He had done it.
“Cleveland, this one’s for you. I don’t know why God makes me take the difficult path but I never gave up and believed that I could win here tonight.”
He later remarked, “I told my team, get one, of we can win one on their floor we’ll win the championship.”
Many will now wonder what this third ring means for LeBron James. A three-time champion to go along with his three Finals MVP and four league MVPs will cement his legacy among the pantheon and echelon of NBA legends who have played the game.
However his most enduring image will be that of a native son who fulfilled his promise to deliver a championship to the city he was brought up in.
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