The Cavs, Craig Ehlo, and Long Decembers: While We’re Waiting…
May 28, 2015Browns to host Orange & Brown Scrimmage in Columbus
May 28, 2015What do you remember about those 48 points LeBron James scored in Game 5? Think hard. It was eight years ago, after all.
I’m sure plenty of people remember that LeBron James scored 29 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ final 30 points1 on that fateful night against the Detroit Pistons. But think harder. What else do you remember? What do you feel?
There’s a certain singularity of force to that one moment in life. As LeBron would say in the future, “Nothing is given. Everything is earned.” In the course of one night, LeBron earned it. The force of will to achieve something so much greater than its own superficial worth. It wasn’t just a Game 5 win. It wasn’t even a series-clinching win — that dagger came in Game 6 thanks in large part to Daniel Gibson’s epic shooting — but it snapped reality. It took it and molded it into a wholly different shape. It changed the future. It broke the Detroit Pistons. It created LeBron James. It lifted Cleveland, Ohio.
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If the past leads to the future, those two ends of the spectrum are connected by the present.
There’s an adage that says “Act like you’ve been there before.” In 2007, the Cleveland Cavaliers hadn’t been there before. LeBron James hadn’t been there before. It’s hard to act like you’ve been there before when you don’t even know where “there” is on a map. In 2007, LeBron James might have described “there” as feeling like a bag of sand. How could he know any different? It was new to everyone associated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The franchise had never been there before. They couldn’t act like they had been there before, but they were sure happy to be there.
Those 48 points, born out of naiveté like a coming of age moment, forever frozen in time. And trapped within that frozen memory is a certain feeling. Part ignorance, part excitement, part fear. Tuesday night in Cleveland after securing a spot in the NBA Finals, another moment was frozen in time. And trapped within that moment, too, is a feeling. Is that feeling the same? Nostalgia predicates that the feeling of going to the same place should bear a strong resemblance, but it’s not the same, is it?
After Game 6 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron James said, “This is like a dream. This is probably the best feeling that I’ve ever had in my life.” Two decisions, two hometowns, five conference titles, and two NBA Championships later, LeBron is there again, but it’s no longer the best feeling in his life. LeBron knows. And he’s ready.
“I can’t guarantee the championship, that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to lead. But I will guarantee that we will play our asses off. We will do that.”
One simple statement represents the clarity of all that has transpired over four seasons in hell for a lost franchise while its prodigal son was away, learning how to become a Champion. It’s been 51 years now since the city of Cleveland could call itself a Champion. Perhaps Cleveland forgot what it takes. Maybe that’s why LeBron had to leave. While Cleveland dug into its own deepest, darkest insecurities to root for LeBron to fail, the irony is that Cleveland’s disappointment was a lesson for LeBron. Those Championships in Miami that felt like such a stab in the back to Cleveland are now the very thing that Cleveland will look to for guidance.
“Shocking events took place last summer and it was a slow, long, painful haul to get through it. Maybe this will be the final straw in getting over the hump, getting to the other side, and having a lot of hope for the future. That’s what we need.” – Dan Gilbert, May 17, 2011
On February 24, 2011, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to the Los Angeles Clippers for Baron Davis and an unprotected first round pick. Why was the pick unprotected? Clippers fans might forever ask themselves the same thing. The truth is, the Clippers were in the middle of the lottery. The odds of the pick ending up being the No. 1 overall spot were remote a mere 2.8 percent. The Clippers figured they were adding a young-ish All-Star to play with Blake Griffin while freeing up cap space to pay DeAndre Jordan and Eric Gordon. Plus, as Clippers GM Neil Olshey famously said at the time, “I’m not that high on the draft to begin with this year.”
Of course, that pick would indeed become the number one overall spot, and with it the Cavaliers would select Kyrie Irving. For his part, Irving, who was at the lottery, would immediately try to shrug off any comparisons to LeBron James.
“I don’t think you can make comparisons to me and LeBron. One, I’m not 6-8. Two, I’m not a high flyer and three, my name isn’t LeBron James. Honestly, you can’t make those comparisons yet. I think I would bring a different feel to the Cleveland organization if they do decide to take me.”
Who would have ever imagined in that moment that one day Kyrie Irving would play with LeBron James in Cleveland and together they would lead the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals? As if there wasn’t enough coincidence involved in that night, the team with the worst record that season wasn’t the Cavaliers. It was the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team looking to win the top spot to add another star player beside Kevin Love. Nobody will ever know if the Timberwolves would have taken Kyrie, but all three players were strangely intertangled that night, and now they are teammates on a team headed to the NBA Finals.
For all intents and purposes, this season really started with one key moment. And it’s not the moment LeBron announced his return. No, before that could happen, Kyrie Irving would first have to commit to the Cavaliers long term. It would have been easy for Kyrie to hedge. He could have made demands. He could have waited to sign to put extra pressure on the organization. After all, most of the media had spent the previous year telling everyone how unhappy Kyrie was in Cleveland and how he was looking to get out as soon as possible.
But Kyrie did none of those things. Instead, he sat down with Dan Gilbert, David Griffin, and David Blatt face-to-face, listened to their vision for this franchise, and immediately signed an extension for the max number of years possible. One simple signature sent a powerful message. Kyrie signaled his belief in this franchise. He made it clear that he was going to be in Cleveland for a very long time. Nobody knew it at the time, but that message clearly got the attention of LeBron James. It helped clear the way for LeBron to send a message of his own.
“When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission. I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Our city hasn’t had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what’s most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.” – LeBron James
It had to happen. Didn’t it? Maybe. Maybe not.
There will always be a feeling in some parts that LeBron and the Cavaliers would have eventually found a way to win a title had LeBron never left. But the only person whose opinion matters is LeBron James and he felt he had to leave to find a way to win.
It would be incredibly naive to believe that on the night LeBron announced his decision to leave for Miami, that his intention was to go win a couple titles in Miami and then return to Cleveland to find a way to bring a Championship back to Northeast Ohio. There’s no way LeBron could have known that the Cavaliers would have another young superstar in Kyrie Irving, or that they would have the assets to trade for another young star in Kevin Love. He couldn’t know how quickly Dwyane Wade’s health would deteriorate. He couldn’t possibly have foreseen losing to the Spurs in the Finals in the manner in which it happened in 2014.
That night in 2010? It wasn’t about LeBron learning to win for Cleveland. It was about LeBron learning to win for himself. He felt that could only happen somewhere else. And it did happen somewhere else – Miami, of all places – where the baseball team heartbreakingly ended Cleveland’s last good chance at a Championship.2 In 1997, the Cleveland Indians could have and should have beaten the Florida Marlins. The sting of watching LeBron James win in Miami was a heavy burden to bear. Watching the Cavaliers flounder in those four LeBron-less seasons only made things worse.
To understand what LeBron’s return to Cleveland means to Cleveland fans, one first has to understand the Cleveland Fan’s perspective: Year after year of losing, losing, losing, and then when a team is actually good, it has led only to heartbreak. It’s a tradition of hope, passion, and misery. Good things don’t happen to Cleveland sports teams. Having the greatest player since Michael Jordan not only come from Akron, but then get drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers? How does that happen? So, of course he embarrasses the fans by leaving in the most public and painful way possible. That’s how the story is supposed to end in Cleveland.
But it didn’t. For a myriad of reasons, LeBron James wanted to return to Cleveland. He wanted to come home. He wanted to win here in Ohio. The place he was born and raised. The place he once spurned. The place he easily could have forever turned his back on never looked back. The place that forgave him, and the place that he forgave as well. As confetti rained down from the rafters inside Quicken Loans Arena, one could almost see the flood of emotions raining down inside LeBron as well.
This wasn’t supposed to happen so quickly. But the Cavaliers are now in the NBA Finals. This is a real chance. Forget the 51 year drought for a moment. This is about the absolution of four years of pain. Maybe this Cavaliers team is ahead of schedule. That fact doesn’t change the reality of this moment. Remember the way you feel today, because this is different than eight years ago. LeBron willed a team to the Finals once before. He willed them there this year. But it’s so different.
This team is ready. They are ready to follow LeBron James wherever he leads them. In 2007, that team wasn’t ready for the task. They were just happy to be there. In 2015, these Cavaliers are primed to give it their all and throw their cards in the middle. Let the chips fall where they may.
Those four years of learning, preparation, and winning have set a course that led LeBron James and his teammates to this apex. Four wins away from glory. Four wins away from destiny. Four wins away from immortality. Nobody knows what will happen. Maybe the Golden State Warriors really are the juggernaut and the team of destiny. Or maybe the Cleveland Cavaliers are about to erase five decades of frustration.
23 Comments
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Great column. I felt that he cemented his legacy when he walked away from a team that went to the Finals 4 straight years. He chose to return, he wasn’t drafted or traded. He only added to it during the playoffs. But to win the whole thing? Wow..
Nice 40-Year Old Virgin reference in there.
“I’m sure plenty of people remember that LeBron James scored 29 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ final 30 points on that fateful night against the Detroit Pistons. But think harder. What else do you remember? What do you feel?”
I remember feeling stunned (in a good way). I was at a Buffalo Wild Wings with a friend, and there were about 30 fans just kind of aimlessly milling around with their hands on their heads for about 5-10 minutes after it was over. People on their phones, people staring at the highlights still on the screen, all of us muttering things along the lines of “did that just happen?” and “did he really just do that?” Strangers high fiving, discussing stat lines with disbelief, feeling like there was no way Detroit could come back from it.
What I remember feeling most from that night during the game itself was one simple thing: it didn’t matter where he was on the court, who was guarding him, how much time was left on the shot clock, whether he drove to the rim or fired a jump shot. You just KNEW the ball was going in the basket. You just KNEW that the Pistons simply Could. Not. Stop. Him. I wrote this about it in my (long-since defunct) blog:
“It was at least 25 minutes later. My jaw still hung open. The only real words I could muster continually were, “Wow,” and “I can’t believe what I just saw.” Later, on the drive home from the sports bar, I truly felt that I had just witnessed something historic. A defining moment in a player’s career, and in a franchise’s history. I witnessed it. Someday, I can tell my kids about the night LeBron simply picked up his team, strapped it onto his broad shoulders, and willed it to a victory in the most important game the franchise had EVER played.
Words like: amazing, dominating, transcendent, virtuoso, jaw-dropping, breath-taking, awe-inspiring, defining, UNREAL…. none of these phrases (nor highlight clips on ESPN) could sum up what LeBron James did last night to someone who didn’t see it. You truly had to see it to really appreciate it. Even to believe it.
It was almost as if James decided that it didn’t matter what obstacles were put in his way. He was winning this game for his team. The purest definition of “will” that I have ever seen in basketball since the days of Michael Jordan.
In sports, words like “will” and “determination” and “domination” get used and thrown around sometimes far too often. But what LeBron James did last night defines all of them. This was a game the Cavs HAD to win, purely and simply. And, midway through the fourth quarter, James simply decided that there was no way his team was losing this game… not while he was still in it. Each and every possession, his teammates gave him the ball at the top of the key and simply got out of his way. The Pistons ran everyone and anyone they had at him.
Everyone in the building (and for that matter, in any building with a TV set tuned in to this game) knew he was taking every shot down the stretch and in the overtimes. Everyone in the building knew that the Cavs were hitching their wagon to their superstar. Everyone in the building knew that if the Pistons wanted to win that game, they were going to have to do whatever it took to stop James.
And they still could NOT stop him.
They had no answers.
58 minutes of basketball, three Cavaliers players fouled out… James just seemed to get stronger. As if through sheer will, he slowly wore down the Pistons to the point where they could do nothing but accept their fate that, on this night, there was nothing they could do to stem the tide, to stop the flood.”
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“What do you remember about those 48 points LeBron James scored in Game 5? Think hard. It was eight years ago, after all.”
That is, 8 years on, the defining Cavs game in my memory. All Cavs games will be compared to that one.
This team feels different for me largely because of everything they have overcome while being held under a microscope by everyone outside of NE Ohio. Whether it was the return of LBJ, trading the #1 pick in Wiggins for Love, a rookie head coach, a rookie GM, a rough start to the season, LBJ missing two weeks, two huge trades within a matter of days, Love fitting/not fitting in, Love being injured for the year, the Bulls supposedly being better and finally the unbeatable, four AS team known as the Hawks. Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check and check.
That leaves just one more doubt left one which I’m sure if you watch/read nationally is not possible to overcome: Golden State Warriors. The team with the best record in the NBA led by the current MVP who is father to an adorable little girl verse the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers who are nothing but LeBron James. I actually heard someone say on TV that the current Cavaliers are worse then the team back in 2007 led by a then 22 year old LBJ. I just laughed. That was one of the dumbest, ill informed comments I have heard yet. The current Cavaliers are not only better on the court but off. Bring on the Warriors. While I respect them I don’t fear them because the current Cavaliers are not only led by the best basketball player in the world but are truly battle tested and shown unbelievable heart and strength.
Lets keep in mind the Cavaliers weren’t supposed to be here even LBJ in his coming home letter cautioned for patience. The Cavaliers are playing with Horseshoe Casino $$$ so there’s nothing to lose. For me this season has already been a huge success enough of a success that I’m happy regardless of the ending. But I’m also greedy. It’s time for the drought to end in Cleveland. Lets give the story the ending it deserves and that is a parade with duck boats, wait, sorry I got confused, a parade down Euclid for the 2015 NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers!!!
Great post. But I have to disagree: I think our “last good chance at a championship” was in 2007, with a 3-1 series lead on Boston in the ALCS and the lowly Rockies awaiting us in the World Series. Curse you, Josh Beckett!
Great post! Nice season synopsis and exactly the way I feel. Toughness wins in the playoffs and this team seems tougher (mentally and physically) than the 2007 team IMO. Go Cavs!
Remember when the Indians flew out Beckett’s ex-gf to sing the National Anthem before Game 5?
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Wait who said the 2007 team was better? I hope it was a fan. If it is someone who has a job working in or with sports, that person needs to lose his job. He is clearly not suited to it.
i was by myself in my apartment – the one i lived in while i was dating my now-wife. I was dancing on the floor in front of the tv with every bucket. Drinking Brooklyn Lagers all night. It was epiphany.
How’d that work out?
No wasn’t a fan I’ve tried all day to remember but I was flipping channels after the ECF win and can’t remember which one.
***Caveat: when Cavs lose I only watch FoxSports when they win I watch multiple channels – lol.
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LeBron: “I can’t guarantee a win…but we will play our asses off.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtovzvPz7uo
you guys are funny.
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Cavs and Lebron will loose against the Warriors…
Yeah, they should be pretty loose. They’ve played loose all playoffs, really.
What do I remember about the 48 point game? I buried my mom a couple weeks before. I buried my uncle the day before. And I buried my dog the day after. Why did my dog have to go so soon?
I was in college and my wife (at the time girlfriend) was invited by her friend (a Detroit fan) to go to the game in Detroit (we went to Toledo so it was not too far a drive). She wore her LeBron jersey and took crap all game. But my god, I still can’t believe she was actually there.
You bet your butts I made sure we BOTH went to game 6 to watch Boobie close it out.
Go Cavs!