Just as Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci has the Mona Lisa and German composer Ludwig van Beethoven his Fifth Symphony, Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James now has his immortal work – Sunday’s game seven of the NBA Finals.
The prodigal son who left for Miami in 2010 to win two NBA titles, then returned home in 2014 vowing to end a major sport title drought that had haunted Cleveland since 1964, delivered on his promise Sunday when the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Golden State 93-89 in the decisive seventh game of the NBA Finals.
James completed a virtuoso performance by scoring 27 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and passing off 11 assists to power Cleveland over the Golden State Warriors 93-89 and capture the best-of-seven series 4-3.
He dropped to his knees and cried on the court, wept as he kissed the trophy and again as he spoke about years of Cleveland sport frustration since Jim Brown led the Cleveland Browns to a 27-0 victory over the Baltimore Colts for the 1964 NFL crown.
“I watched the Beethoven of right now, LeBron James, compose a game,” Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving said. “He had a freaking triple-double in game seven of an NBA Finals. We’re champions and our whole team is etched in history.”
The Cavaliers are the first club to trail 3-1 and rally to win the finals, the epic comeback dethroning the reigning champion Warriors and spoiling their record 73-win season.
“He’s one of the great players of all time and obviously was the key to the turnaround and had a great series,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
The statistical triple double, double-digit efforts in three categories, was only the third in NBA history in a finals seventh game, joining those of Los Angeles Lakers stars James Worthy in 1988 and Jerry West in 1969, and his seventh career triple double in the finals, one shy of the record.
James was a unanimous choice as NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, having also won the award when leading Miami to the NBA crown in 2012 and 2013.
The 31-year-old guard matched Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson and Tim Duncan as a three-time finals MVP, with only six-time winner Michael Jordan having taken it more.
There has been pain in the past 18,802 days for Cleveland. James led the Cavs to the finals in 2007 and 2015 only to lose. Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians have not won a World Series since 1948, losing in 1995 and 1997. Meanwhile the Browns, playoffs losers thanks to an Earnest Byner fumble and an epic John Elway touchdown drive, moved to Baltimore and were replaced by an expansion team struggling to be a winner.
The NBA win will surely help wash away that pain.
