The King. Down 3-1. Back against the wall. How will he and his squad respond against arguably the best regular season time of all-time? Usually, we hear that it's just another choke job by LeBron in the finals, but this year had a different fairy-tale ending. We saw a man fulfill his promise to the fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the teammates along the way. This year's finals performance by LeBron James puts him up there with the greats.
After being down 3-1 heading to Oracle Arena, we saw the end flashing before us, and I think everyone else did too. Heck, even Draymond Green was not far away from the arena, as he was in an Oakland A’s suite with an underground path to Oracle Arena just in case Golden State were to win that Game 5. It’s win or go home and LeBron and his crew got the memo. LeBron came out with his fearless instinct and dropped 41 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists, and Kyrie Irving put on a show and also joined LeBron with 41 points to win one of the biggest games in Cavaliers' history. But the job wasn’t done.
LeBron and his crew had to come out in Game 6 just as focused as Game 5 after leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the Golden State Warriors. As the game came down to the wire, Golden State's superstar came down the floor, committed his sixth and final foul to end his Game 6 experience in Cleveland, but it's not what it seems. Right after he got called, he chucked his infamous mouth piece at a fan in the first row. This incident, I think, gave Cleveland that edge going into Game 7. He showed that frustration that we have never seen out of Steph before. He seemed tired and fed up and that was obvious before the two teams went into Game 7.
As game 7 continued, the closer and closer it stayed. It was a back and forth game almost every minute. It was as good as a game 7 as I’ve ever watched, but this close game would get even more dramatic in the last minute. With the game tied at 89, Andre Iguodala had a good look on a fast break to regain the lead and really shift the momentum of the game in Golden State’s favor, until LeBron pin-blocked him up against the backboard in one of the greatest blocks I have ever seen in my life. That play truly proved the greatest LeBron has. Talk all you want about how many clutch jump shots he misses down the stretch, but nothing will beat the block he had on Iggy in the final two minutes that completely changed the game and the result of the Finals.
On the following possession, Kyrie Irving came down and also made a very clutch three pointer to take the lead and took the air out of that arena like no one had ever done before. Golden State came down and missed their next couple shots on the ending possessions, and the confetti flew on not Golden State, but the Cleveland Cavaliers. As the confetti came down and the Cleveland bench cleared, the first thing you saw was the the tears coming out of LeBron’s eyes. This meant more to him than any pay check or any endorsement deal. He fulfilled the promise that Cavs fans started to doubt. He did it for the land.
LeBron averaged 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists per game in the finals, only one assist a game, shy of averaging a triple-double against one of the best teams in NBA history. Last year, he had similar numbers and was seen as not being able to carry a team to win a championship; this year, he proved everyone that he is still not only the greatest on the planet, but one of the best the NBA has ever watched after arguably the best finals performances ever.
