LEBRON JAMES CAME home to Cleveland in 2014 with one objective: deliver a championship to a city long devoid of such an accomplishment.
Sunday, he did that, ending all at once 52 years of sports misery in his hometown.
“I understood what the people of northeast Ohio have been through over the last 50-plus years,” James told ABC after the game. “I’m happy to be a part of history.”
James delivered in dramatic fashion, putting up a triple-double while leading his team to a game-seven win and upsetting the side that many were calling the greatest in NBA history.
The Cavaliers did it after facing a deficit that no team had ever come back from in an NBA Finals.
“We’ve been through so much adversity these last two years,” James said. “I just knew what we were capable of down 3-1.”
James knows about being down – not only in basketball, but in life. Born 20 years after the Cleveland Browns won the city’s last championship in 1964, James has a personal relationship with the team and city that few athletes have had.
When he left for Miami in 2010, seeking an NBA title, the city reacted like a jilted lover. They burned his jersey. They called him bad names. They tweeted him mean things.
But despite that, the city never left his heart and mind. So after learning the secret to championship basketball in South Beach, he headed back home to share it with his city.
“When I came back I knew I had the right ingredients and the blueprint,” James said of his return from Miami.
It wasn’t immediate, as the Cavs lost the NBA Finals in six games in 2015, but this one was even sweeter as it came against the team that won 73 regular-season games and had the unanimous MVP.
And now, James heads home with his third NBA championship. Not to South Beach, but to The Land. And he couldn’t be happier.
“I can’t wait to get to Cleveland. I can’t wait to get off that plane, hold that trophy up and see all our fans,” he said after the game. ”I’m coming home with what I said I was gonna do.”
