LeBron James has fulfilled his promise by delivering a championship to Northeast Ohio, which creates a storybook ending in Cleveland.
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”
Those words, uttered by the late, great Muhammad Ali, capture the feelings of everyone in Northeast Ohio. Ali first became a champion in 1964, the culmination of years and years of training.
Later that year, the Cleveland Browns became champions, defeating the Baltimore Colts 27-0 in what came to be known for 52 years to come as the last championship won by any major-league professional sports team from Cleveland.
Now, it’s all over. No more “curse.” No more “drought.” No more “mistake by the lake.”
After a Marreese Speights three pointer clanked off the rim in the final seconds of Game 7 of the NBA Finals, ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen put it best.
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“Cleveland is a city of champions once again,” he shouted, with the exuberance of a long-suffering Cleveland fan.
For the fans, the “training” that Ali speaks of came in the form of heartbreak. After all the excruciating moments, fans and media personalities began referring to each moment by a different moniker.
Red Right 88. The Drive. The Fumble. The Shot. The Move. Jose Mesa. The Decision.
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All three teams had climbed the mountain but never reached the summit. As the collapses mounted, pessimism reigned. Fans seemingly adopted Murphy’s Law as an unofficial slogan: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
Until Sunday night. In one fell swoop, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love flipped the narrative. In the last, and deciding minute of Game 7, all three ensured that nothing would go wrong this time around.
Irving shimmied above the arc, created just enough space and splashed a three right over the two-time, defending MVP . Next possession, as he had done all series, Steph Curry sought out Love on a switch. Curry put on a dribbling clinic above the arc but Love wouldn’t let him shake loose.
After Love forced an errant three, LeBron retrieved the rebound and, 20 seconds later, calmly stepped to the free throw line, a place that hasn’t necessarily been kind to him throughout his storied career, and sunk one free throw, giving his hometown team an insurmountable four-point lead.
Now, all anyone will talk about is The Block. The Comeback. The Championship.
It wasn’t easy. But this is how it’s supposed to happen, right? Before ending their 86 year championship drought in 2004, the Boston Red Sox had to go down 3-0 against their hated rivals, the New York Yankees, before mounting a historic comeback.
The Cavs had to go down 3-1 to unlock Elimination Game LeBron, a basketball monster who nearly averaged a triple double in the last three games of the finals.
LeBron delivered on his promise. He did what Earnest Byner, Craig Ehlo, Jose Mesa and countless others couldn’t: deliver a title to this championship starved city. He is the rare child phenom who exceeded unrealistic expectations. He is the player who put an entire city on his back and, channeling Moses, urged them to follow him to the promised land.
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LeBron James is the best basketball player of his generation and, luckily for the people of Cleveland, he’s just a kid from Akron, Ohio.