Lakers’ LeBron James reflects on Cavs days — ‘It’s just special’،
CLEVELAND – The name of the arena might have changed, the locker room where he donned his uniform might have been down the hall and the signature headband look might have been replaced by a now easily identifiable graying beard, but LeBron James was playing basketball in Cleveland on Saturday night and winning.
Like always.
The Los Angeles Lakers beat the host Cavaliers 121-115 to improve to 10-7 on the season.
Although it wasn’t quite a vintage performance from James – he scored 22 points on 8-of-23 shooting, including 1-of-9 from 3 – he sealed the victory with back-to-back scores less than two minutes from time. end of the match. fourth quarter, getting a layup and a dunk to extend Los Angeles’ lead from one to five.
And just as James continued to come to his old team, the 21-year NBA veteran continues to find success during his career. So much so that his charitable foundation opened a museum – LeBron James’ Home Court – on Saturday morning in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, to chronicle all the exploits he continues to be responsible for.
“I spent 11 years here and to be able to come back after my time in Miami and win a championship here for this franchise, for this city, I think it was 52 years. Lakers’ LeBron James reflects on Cavs days — ‘It’s just special’ drought or something like that in the city of Cleveland for any sports team, I think that’s something I’ll never forget, no matter how old I get,” James said. “I’ll always remember of this moment.”
The Cavs organization did its part by treating James like an old friend rather than an adversary for the night. Cleveland mascot Moondog approached the Lakers group to give James a fist bump when he was announced in the starting lineup. During a first-quarter timeout, the video board played a lengthy tribute to James’ rise to the top of the NBA’s all-time scoring list, with many among the 19,432 sold-out spectators rising to their feet to cheer the 38-year-old star. finished.
“Coming back to this floor is always a pretty cool feeling, looking up there and being a part of all the banners in this arena,” James said. “And banner No. 1, the one in the middle, was the 2016 championship, so that’s pretty cool.”
It’s been seven years since James led the Cavs to the first comeback from a 3-1 deficit in NBA Finals history to win it all. Cleveland upset the Golden State Warriors, who were coming off a 73-9 regular season record and featured the first unanimous MVP in league history in Stephen Curry.
James barely slowed down. He entered the night shooting a career-best 57.8% from the field, and he continues to play major minutes as Los Angeles deals with early-season injuries. As he admitted Saturday, “We built this list for me and [Anthony Davis] not to carry a huge load,” because James wants to move this group in the right direction as best he can.
Los Angeles’ team effort against the Cavs was proof that it might be able to sustain that success if and when James takes his foot off the gas to try and conserve some energy for another post-season series. season. The Lakers racked up 34 assists on 47 field goals Saturday, and Davis led seven double-digit scorers for Los Angeles with a season-high 32 points.
But the Lakers still have 65 games left to figure all that out. They only make one trip per season to Cleveland, which means there might only be a few more games at his old stomping grounds in James’ career — barring a Lakers-Cavs game in the Finals before so he doesn’t hang up.
“It’s just special,” James said. “It’s very special to be a kid from Akron. I grew up 30 miles south of here and to be able to get drafted here and spend my first seven years here and do special things that the franchise didn’t have. never seen. And when I was being drafted, I said I wanted to light this place up like Las Vegas. So I feel like I did a decent job of doing that when I was here for my 11 years .
Those 11 years in a Cavs uniform and the rest of James’ journey will be commemorated for years to come at his new museum. General admission is $23, with proceeds from ticket sales funding a training program for students, parents and educators who are part of its I Promise School, located in nearby Akron. The museum features artifacts from his upbringing, including the oversized white suit he wore to draft night and sneakers worn in some of his biggest games. It is organized by his mother, Gloria James.
“I used to blame my mom a lot for keeping everything since I started playing sports,” James said. “And she kind of threw it back in my face when the stuff was being prepared at the museum, because a lot of the stuff in there is from what she curated. And it’s pretty cool .”
There will be more stat sheets for his mother to file, more game balls to archive before he calls it quits, more clutch buckets like the ones he scored to put the Cavs away Saturday night.
But for one who has spent the last two decades living by his personal motto “strive for greatness,” he has allowed himself at least an evening to pause and reflect.
“I think it’s pretty cool that I’ve been able to do certain things in my life to be able to bring my community back, continue to highlight my community and give my community a place where people want to visit, see and I want to to be proud,” James said. “And I am. I’m really proud of the fact that my foundation has been able to accomplish great things, and that’s just one of the things that we can all be proud of, for sure, in my hometown.”
