The Cleveland Cavaliers win their first NBA title on Sunday, capturing the first championship for the city since 1952. In doing so, they beat the greatest regular season team of all time and the reigning champions, carried by the back-to-back MVP winner in Stephen Curry.
Curry may have been the MVP two years in a row, but the Cavaliers had an enormously valuable player of their own. LeBron James put together one of the greatest Finals performances of all time to lead the Cavs from being down 3-1 to a monumental victory in game seven.
James, unsurprisingly, became the winner of the Finals MVP Award and like Steph did with the regular season version, LeBron did so unanimously.
Playing nearly 47 minutes in the final game of the season, LeBron put up a triple-double, tallying 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists and added two steals and three blocks. It was another in a long line of phenomenal performances for LeBron, who led all players in the Finals in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. He goes home having won his third championship and third Finals MVP.
A legendary performance by a legendary player was given that much more importance with the history of LeBron’s hometown Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland.
If there was any doubt before, it should be more than clear now: LeBron James is an all-time great player and his greatness shone through on the biggest stage on Father’s Day.