LeBron James driving Cavaliers to Finals
The Cleveland Cavaliers might need to beat the Atlanta Hawks one more time to reach the NBA Finals, but the end result is already known. Cleveland will get there in short order, perhaps even by Tuesday night in front of a sellout crowd at Quicken Loans Arena.
All of this has happened despite not having All-Star forward Kevin Love for the last two rounds, and All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving over the last two games. Suddenly, Matthew Dellavedova and JR Smith have become great players off the bench, while Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert are key contributors. In reality, those players are nothing more than window dressing, earning a co-starring role alongside the game’s greatest player.
LeBron James has been nothing short of miraculous against Atlanta, taking the Cavaliers to the doorstep of the Finals with a supporting cast that would win less than 30 games in the regular season without him. Take Irving and Love out of the equation, along with James, and you have an atrocious team. Yet, with James and sans the other two, you have the soon-to-be Eastern Conference champs.
In Game 3, all of James’ brilliance was on display. After missing his first 10 shots from the field, James roared back to post an absurd 37 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists. It was a touchstone game for James, the kind that is remembered when he is making his Hall of Fame speech a decade from now. James willed Cleveland to the overtime victory, practically assuring its spot in the Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
In all likelihood, Cleveland is going to get trounced by Golden State. The Warriors are insanely loaded from front to back, starting with Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green, and ending with Andrew Bogut and the league’s Most Valuable Player, Stephen Curry. The Cavaliers are good, but the Warriors are better, and they will end up taking the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Still, the accomplishments of James and his band of helpers can’t be discounted. James has put on a virtuoso performance in the playoffs, scoring 27.9 points with 10.5 rebounds and 8.4 assists per night. His regular season totals were lower in all categories, notching 25.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 7.4 assists on a nightly basis.
With one more win, James is going to reach his fifth consecutive Finals appearance. It seems like an amazing feat now, but wait until there are years of context to add. James getting to this point of the NBA campaign for five straight years is nothing short of top-notch legendary, something even the great Michael Jordan can’t claim.
Enjoy the ride, Cleveland. Getting to the Finals is something to cherish, an many fan bases around the league will attest. While everything may not be pretty in the end, the journey has been astonishingly beautiful.
