The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Will you feel betrayed if he exits?
Eight years ago, fans burned their “23” jerseys, condemned LeBron James to a life of misery and vowed they would hate him forever.
And then he returned after four seasons in Miami, took the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals four straight years and brought home a championship in 2016, ending a 52-year drought for Cleveland’s major sports teams. But he lost to the Warriors in the other three Finals, and that’s the team he has to find a way to beat.
It was as though the love affair with James only paused four years.
But what if he leaves again? Will you feel the same sense of betrayal if humbling the Game 4 108-85 loss in the 2018 Finals on June 8 was the last in which James will wear a Cavaliers’ uniform at Quicken Loans Arena?
Circumstances are different than they were eight years ago, starting with the reality James is 33.
As ageless as he seems to be when he plays, he’s running out of time to win championships. If he thinks his chances of winning are better with another team, can you really blame him for leaving?
“I have no idea at this point,” James said in his postgame press conference. “The one thing I’ve always done is considered, obviously, my family, understanding, especially, where my boys are at this point in their ages. They were a lot younger when I made a decision like this four years ago. I’ve got a teenage boy, a pre-teen and a little girl that wasn’t around.”
James did everything he could this season to lift the Cavaliers to the Finals. He carried them with his amazing skill and determination. He willed his teammates to be better. He played all 82 regular season and all 22 playoff games. He played more minutes than any other player in the league and he scored more than 40 points eight times this postseason.
James didn’t stop once the Cavaliers got to the Finals. He scored 51 points in Game 1 in a contest the Cavaliers lost, 124-114 in overtime. He was so frustrated, it was revealed after Game 4, that he punched a whiteboard in the Cavs locker room after the game.
“I basically played the last three games with a broken hand,” James said.
LeBron had 29 points and 13 assists in Game 2 and had a triple double in Game 3 with 33 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Game 4, however, was not a shining moment for James, He played down to the level of his teammates.
The Warriors dominated the first quarter to build a 34-25 lead and kept the pressure on for the next 36 minutes.
For the first time in the playoffs, the Cavaliers played like a defeated team. Even James checked out early. He had 16 points at halftime, but scored only seven in the second half. He missed his only 3-point attempt.
Coach Tyronn Lue, maybe for the last time, substituted Cedi Osman for James with 4:03 to play and the Cavs hopelessly behind, 102-77. Fans chanted “MVP! MVP!”
James slapped high-fives and wore a look that said more than the season is over for him. Reality was on full display: The Cavaliers are further from being able to compete with the Warriors than Cleveland is from Oakland.
So no one should feel shortchanged if James does leave. He gave fans total effort for four years. Plus, he learned a bitter lesson in 2010 with his grandstanding “The Decision” on ESPN.
On the other hand, James has a lot to consider that goes beyond forming another basketball superpower like he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did in Miami. He means it when he says it will be a family decision.
Plus, let’s face it, James owns Cleveland. He is bigger than Mayor Frank Jackson and bigger than any other sports figure in town, mainly because he is so good at what he does but also because he’s from Northeast Ohio. James being from Akron and spurning the Cavaliers is why those 16 words spoken in 2010 — “This fall I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat” — stung like a serpent’s bite.
Would LeBron be King James in any other city the way he is here? He was a rental in Miami and that’s what he would be in Houston or Philadelphia.
James likes crediting his teammates, but he also enjoys being the center of the universe.
Fans should prepare for bad news, though, because he likes championships even more. He said getting the two with the Heat and one with the Cavaliers makes him want more rings.