Ten Years Later, the Cavs’ NBA Championship Win Is Still a Point of Pride

Ten years ago, Jim Brown sat in Gateway Plaza, preparing to present the Larry O’Brien Trophy to LeBron James, just as I had seen in a dream on a playoff flight to Atlanta seven weeks earlier. 

The euphoric madness ignited by the end of Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought was about to reach its epic catharsis.

On June 19, 2016, the Cavaliers clinched the NBA title with a 93-89 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Three days later, one million people flocked Downtown to attend a parade for which the city was woefully unprepared, at least in terms of barricades, porta-johns and keeping to a schedule.

Rapid trains were so packed that the doors barely shut. On the route to Mall B, people climbed street poles where no man had gone before. Parking garages provided prime viewing. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue invited former Browns running back Earnest Byner, who had carried the weight of “The Fumble,” onto his flatbed truck.

Police pushed bicycles to create space alongside the convertible carrying James; his wife,
Savannah; and sons LeBron Jr. and Bryce, but fans pressed close. Savannah turned around once, perhaps to check on daughter, Zhuri, who had moved to a truck behind them with her grandmother Gloria James. A look of fear crossed Savannah’s face.

Walking behind James’ car that day remains the highlight of my professional career. What made it more special was the improbability of it all.

The Cavs had been to the Finals in 2015 without injured star forward Kevin Love, but saw the Warriors prevail in six games. That launched a dynasty that would see Golden State reach five consecutive Finals and claim three titles.

In 2016, Cavs coach David Blatt was fired in January, and Lue was promoted to his first top job in the NBA. No one knew how Lue would handle the pressure of leading the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed.

The Big Three of James, Kyrie Irving and Love were intact. But the Cavs were a team of cliques, not close until the arrival of center/forward Channing Frye in a February trade.

“It’s impossible that we would have had the fortitude we did as a unit if (Frye) doesn’t do what he did,” then-general manager David Griffin told me in 2019.

Frye made fun of teammates for blowing things out of proportion. He got them to laugh at themselves. He pushed a viewpoint of gratitude. Soon, all 15 players were attending team dinners. Griffin called that “a really powerful emotional currency.”

For another bonding experience, veteran swingman James Jones suggested a puzzle of the state of Ohio and the Larry O’Brien Trophy. It had 16 pieces, one for each victory required to capture the title, and the Cavs ceremoniously built it win by win.

When I dreamed about Brown, the iconic star of the Browns’ 1964 championship team, I was torn about whether it would come true. I’d never had such a premonition before.

Then the Warriors, who totaled a still-NBA record 73 regular-season victories, took a 3-1 lead in The Finals. Lue attacked negativity with psychology.

After the Cavs won Game 5 at Golden State, Lue collected over $5,000 from players, coaches and staffers and placed it in the ceiling in the coaches’ locker room. He told the Cavs they were going to return to get the trophy and their money. They set the stage with a 14-point Game 6 victory in Cleveland.

In Game 7, “The Block” (by James on Andre Iguodala with 1:50 to go), “The Shot” (a 25-foot pull-up 3 by Irving with 53 seconds left), and “The Stop” (Love’s defense on Stephen Curry’s 26-foot attempt with 30.7 seconds remaining) decided it. I was seated next to The Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto, with late PD columnist Bill Livingston to Pluto’s right. After Curry’s miss, Livingston said, “They’re gonna win this thing!”

There was childlike excitement in Livy’s voice, with a tinge of incredulity.

The Warriors blew a 3-1 lead.

Those words, which reflect the Cavs’ resilience, resolve, hard work and camaraderie required to pull off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, can still inspire Northeast Ohio sports fans.

Through 42 Browns starting quarterbacks since 1999, the Guardians’ Game 7 loss to the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series, and the Cavs’ ill-timed injuries, the faithful need only remind themselves of the daunting odds defied in the 2016 Finals.

Ten years later, hope still reigns.

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