Cavaliers, LeBron faces historic situation
Four more wins.
For every team in the National Basketball Association, winning a championship is the ultimate. Getting to raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy is all a player could ever want out of this game, and yet for the men on the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning a title would mean so much more.
Yes, LeBron James has won two titles. James was part of the Miami Heat when they reached the NBA Finals in four consecutive years, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in 2013 and 2014. However, this would mean so much more for James, considering he is trying to bring a major professional sports championship for the first time since 1964.
Cleveland has been famously cursed. Recently, ESPN released a wonderful documentary entitled Believeland which chronicled all of the disasters over the past 52 years. The Cavaliers were never part of the problem up until James showed up in 2003, mostly because they did not matter.
The Cavaliers came to be in 1970 and reached the conference finals only twice before James arrived. Then, after the 2010 season, James left for the Heat and Cleveland’s win total dropped from 61 to 19. Then, after James returned before the 2015 campaign, the Cavaliers watched their stock rise from 33 victories to 53 and a trip to the Finals.
This time around, Cleveland fans have reason to believe. Unlike last year, the Cavaliers have a healthy Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to go with James against the Golden State Warriors. Golden State beat James and his charges last year in six games, but despite the Warriors’ 73 wins this season, they appear vulnerable.
For James, he believes the Cavaliers are set to give Golden State all it can handle, something that may not have been an honest statement before the 2015 Finals. Per ESPN:
“We’re better built to start the Finals than we were last year,” James said. “Doesn’t matter who it’s against. I mean, that’s not a headline. It’s obvious.”
Should the Cavaliers deliver a championship, every matter of the team will forever be a hero in Cleveland. This is a city that famously went through The Drive, The Fumble and The Decision. It watched its beloved Browns move to Baltimore in 1996 and then win a Super Bowl in 2000. It watched Jose Mesa fall apart in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, followed by the Jose Fernandez error to seal the defeat.
One more triumph this season for the Cavaliers, and James will have a legacy that goes from great player to a man who brought down a curse. It may sound silly to those outside of Cleveland, but to those folks, it is very real.
James and the Cavaliers have a chance to do something very special. Four more wins.
