CLEVELAND, Ohio — No one knows how much longer LeBron James can play. No one knows when the final home game will come.
The Akron native is about a month away from his 39th birthday. He is in the middle of his 21st season. He accomplished just about everything he wanted on the basketball court. While he continues to defy the odds and usher the NBA world into new levels of sustained excellence, the sand in the hourglass will soon be bottoming out.
That’s why everyone, including LeBron, is savoring his few remaining games in Cleveland — a blue-collar Midwestern city he once promised to light up like Las Vegas. That’s where his illustrious career began.
Saturday night was James’ latest comeback as the Lakers beat the Cavaliers 121-115, with James hitting two clutch baskets in the final seconds to thwart a late comeback attempt by Cleveland.
“It’s always special to come back here,” James said after the game. “I felt that way too when we came back to Miami, just learning the history. But it’s even a little bit more here because I spent 11 years here. To be able to come back and play for this team after playing in Miami, The city won championships and I think for any sports team, the city of Cleveland went through a 52-year drought or something like that and I think it’s just something I’ll never forget no matter how old I get.
“It’s always a really cool feeling to be back on this floor, looking up and almost away from all the banners on this stage. The first banner, the one in the middle, is the ’16 championship. It’s so cool.”
Because he plays for the Western Conference giant Lakers, James only visits Rocket Mortgage Arena once per season. All these years later — 20 years since the Cavaliers selected him No. 1 overall in the 2003 NBA draft and six seasons since he last won a Gin Award — LeBron’s return remains A spectacle.
Opponents expressed appreciation. Fans adore him. A-list celebrities flocked downtown to see him. The Cavaliers organization respects him.
“He’s great at the game of basketball,” Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said before discussing James’ long-term greatness. “He keeps proving to us that he can do it, so it doesn’t seem surprising anymore. I think at 35, we were surprised. Now it seems like he’s doing it.”
A deafening roar nearly drowned out in-house MC Ahmaad Crump’s pre-game introduction on Saturday night. Then, during the second stoppage of the first quarter, the Cavaliers paid tribute to James, honoring him for becoming the NBA’s all-time scoring leader last season and noting the former Cavalier’s unprecedented 11 seasons with Cleveland. Scoring more than 23,000 points, the team reached the Finals for the first time in 2007 and won its only championship in 2016.
At the end of the tribute video, fans stood and serenaded their beloved King with applause, while James — the team’s career leader in points, rebounds, assists, steals, minutes played and games played — Put your hands together and remember it in your heart.
There is also a brief section in the rafters, where evidence of James’ indelible influence hangs proudly.
On the court, beneath those banners and two rows in front of Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert (who sat on either side of the baseline in his usual seat) and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, James Got the best performance from his old team. He played 36 minutes and scored 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Not only did he open the scoring with a classic +-1 shot, but James scored eight points in the fourth quarter and gave Los Angeles just enough of a cushion in the final minutes with back-to-back shots — a mid-range shot and a thunderous two-handed dunk.
The latest win avenged Cleveland’s chances of a 2022-23 series sweep, hours after “LeBron James Home” at his family’s foundation’s Three Thirty near Akron. Building grand opening.
The museum celebrating his life treasures memories of his 21-year NBA career, as well as his four years as a teenager at Akron St. Vincent-St. Marie High School and the last apartment he and his mother, Gloria, lived in before turning pro. Tickets cost $23, consistent with his long-worn uniform number, and museum visitors begin their tour by turning their apartment key to open Unit 602 — just as James did when he moved into his Spring Hill apartment.
House Three Thirty also houses a Starbucks for training adults in its mentoring program, a sports bar, pizza parlor and retail store.
Gloria attended the opening of the museum.
“Ever since I started playing sports, I used to get angry at my mom for trying to save everything,” James said. “When the museum was getting things ready, she threw it right back in my face because a lot of the stuff there was because of stuff she preserved. It was pretty cool.”
Here are James’ first basketball games as a kid and the trophy he received when he won the league’s MVP award at age nine. Several other memorabilia from his football days are also on display.
“This is something I haven’t seen in years,” James said. “I didn’t even know she still had it. I think I can do something in my life to bring back to my community, continue to highlight my community and provide my community with a place that people want to visit, want to see It’s pretty cool to be somewhere and want to be proud of it. Yo Soybean. “I’m proud of my foundation for being able to do some great things. “
In the days leading up to Saturday’s much-anticipated showdown, Bickerstaff was asked to define greatness. I paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. I thought about LeBron.
“It’s easy to see but hard to explain, if that makes sense,” Bickerstaff said. “Greatness is more than just individual basketball traits. There are a lot of great players in the NBA who can score, rebound, pass, impact the game. But few have the size and ability to transform a team and organization and reach a championship. level. “That’s what LeBron has been able to do everywhere he’s been. “
James’ talent should never be taken for granted, and as the end finally comes, each visit to Cleveland brings mutual love and support. It makes the best memories come flooding back. Saturday night was no different.
“Every time you walk down these hallways, I think back on a lot of games,” James said. “From when I was a rookie until the last time I played here. Just a few more steps to the locker room down the hall. I grew up 30 miles south of here. When I got drafted , I said I wanted to light up this place like Vegas.
“I think I did a pretty good job at it.”