BELIEVELAND – Well, well, well… Look what we have here. The guy who always gets crucified for his hot takes
was right!
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers did it! And on the Golden State Warriors home floor no less!
It’s not going to be hard to find a place to start this week.
Here’s this week’s set of Ebs’ Hot Takes:
The King reigns supreme! I’m currently writing this column in the wee hours of Monday morning (12:48 a.m. here on the East Coast) and I still can’t believe what I just witnessed.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are NBA champions and the streak is over. LeBron James did it. He brought home a championship to his home city.
I know probably 95 percent of you won’t like one word of the next sentence I’m about to write, but I don’t care. LeBron James is the GOAT. Yes, even better than Michael Jordan.
I get it. He has just three rings compared to Jordan’s six. I understand that his NBA Finals record is significantly worse than Jordan’s. But MJ never faced the odds that the King faced to win this title, and one of his remaining two.
Facing a 3-1 deficit with two games left on the road against the 73-win Warriors, nobody (except me and the Cavs) imagined this would happen. And don’t even think about using the Draymond Green’s Game 5 suspension as an excuse, because he the Warriors had two other chances to get the job done, including Game 7 in Oracle Arena.
Nobody has ever accomplished what James did in the NBA Finals. Not MJ. Not Magic. Not Bird. Not Kareem. Not West. Not Shaq. Nobody! Nobody has ever lead both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in series. Nobody. Nobody has ever brought their team back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. Ever!
The King had a triple-double in Game 7 of the NBA Finals! A triple-double!
“Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. It’s where I walked. It’s where I ran. It’s where I cried. It’s where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart. People there have seen me grow up. I sometimes feel like I’m their son. Their passion can be overwhelming. But it drives me. I want to give them hope when I can. I want to inspire them when I can. My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now.“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have. I’m ready to accept the challenge. I’m coming home.” – LeBron James, July 11, 2014.
LeBron James is just a kid from Akron, Ohio. He was playing for a city in desperation of a championship, and he delivered. Even against the mightiest of odds he delivered.
