LeBron James Delivers Cleveland The City's First NBA Championship.
Drew Zlogar (@drewzlogar21)
What an unbelievable NBA Finals. From thinking early on that it might have been a sweep for Golden State, to seeing the Cleveland Cavaliers come back to tie the series at 3 to send it to a game 7, it had everyone waiting impatiently for the next tilt. Tonight was game 7, and the closest of them all. Back and forth it went, a one-point game after the first three quarters. In the final 12 minutes, LeBron James with tremendous help from Kyrie Irving pulled away from the defending champions, to finally bring back a championship trophy to the beloved Cleveland, Ohio.
LeBron James was a different beast these last three games of the finals. Back to back 41-point outings to lead his team to a comeback, game 7 opportunity, to win the series. Then to get a triple double in the clinching game, only the third player to do so in a game 7 in history, it is finally time to call King James a legend. He gets his third finals trophy, but brings his first to Ohio, his reason for his second stint in his home state.
You have to give some credit to the Warriors on a great season. To become the most winning team in regular season history, and having a player in Steph Curry to win back to back MVP’s and being the first to win it by a unanimous decision, their season wasn’t shy of amazing in its own right. But, when the time mattered most, the MVP of the league was nowhere to be seen. Period. Tonight the only reason why the Warriors were in it in the last moments was because of Draymond Green. The man who got suspended for game 5 for his antics, cost his team a potential clinching game by not playing, but he gave them everything tonight. 32 points, 15 rebounds and a whole lot of possession-altering plays. I think that this series really showed the true colors of Steph Curry, folks. He isn’t an all around team leader, but more of a sharp shooter, one of the best we have seen. When the moment got large, and the best player on each team needed to step up, James did his part for Cleveland, and Curry not so much. It is simple, an MVP shows up in the clutch, and tonight Curry didn’t do what MVP’s do.
However, tonight is not about what the Warriors and Curry couldn’t get done, but enjoying the fact that Cleveland won the championship. This is a season and a championship that will go down in history. To go down 3-1 in the finals against the most successful team in regular season history, the odds were against LeBron and the Cavs. They become the first team to comeback and win a series from being down 3-1 and having the game 7 in the opponent's gym. And the fact that with all those factors to it, LeBron notches a triple double in the win? He is now in the all-time-greats discussion with no doubt about it. Congrats, King.