NBA (DR)
Among the greatest feats of LeBron James’ career is the legendary comeback during the 2016 Finals against Golden State.
A former teammate of the winger made some revelations about the latter during the series… and it fits well with the character.
Whether he wins one more championship or not, LeBron James remains one of the greatest players in basketball history.
Currently in his 22nd season, the King continues to make history with absolutely insane performances for a player who will celebrate his 40th birthday in a few weeks.
On the other hand, this is one of the favorite pastimes of the four-time NBA champion : taking on challenges that would be unthinkable for his peers, in order to magnify his legend a little more.
Dominant as desired, he has also experienced moments with his back to the wall that pushed him to shine like never before.
We think of his 45-point, 15-rebound game against the Celtics during the 2012 playoffs, or his Game 6 in the Finals against the Spurs a year later.
LeBron’s Huge Speech Before Game 5 of the 2016 Finals
That being said, LBJ’s greatest accomplishment remains winning the title with his native Ohio Cavaliers in 2015-16.
Especially since Cleveland was facing a Warriors team that was coming off the best regular season in history (73 wins for 9 losses)… and after four games, the score was 3-1 for Stephen Curry & co. Not enough to panic Bron, however, as Iman Shumpert revealed on the Big Podcast :
Basically, LeBron told us, ‘We’re going to go (to Oakland for Game 5), we’re going to win and then we’re going to win at home.
Because that was going to put pressure on them, they don’t really want to win, they just want to win one last game because either they win at home or we’re automatically going to tie it in Game 6 because nobody wants to come back to Cleveland.
We’re gonna win this game, I guarantee you we’re gonna win this game. I don’t care what we have to do, we’re gonna win.” Draymond (Green) didn’t play. Everybody was like, “Wait a minute, you lose your superpowers when this guy’s not here? Nobody pointing to the sky anymore?” (laughs)
Those who claim that the Chosen One does not know how to be a good leader can clearly go get dressed after such a statement.
The Cavs were on the brink, Golden State had just won Game 4, but none of that was enough to destabilize LeBron and time ended up proving him right. After this speech, Tyronn Lue’s men won the next four games, including an anthology Game 7 which saw the winger sign a legendary block on Andre Iguodala.
If the Cavaliers managed to overthrow the Warriors in 2016, it’s also because LeBron James knew how to find the right words to motivate his troops. In any case, Iman Shumpert is not about to forget the confident speech of his franchise player.
