And the trade-deadline deals this past February that remade the Cavaliers roster — though welcomed by an exasperated James — must have made him feel as if he’d already left Cleveland for a second time. Of course, James’s insistence on signing short-term contracts to maximize his leverage surely contributed to the trading of Irving to Boston last summer and to the Cavaliers’ ongoing roster issues. And yet, his organizational power-tripping aside, James has been everything Cleveland desperately wanted back after his 2010 departure prompted Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers’ owner, to publicly disparage him. Over the last four seasons, in his second run with the Cavaliers, James has stretched the limits of his long-established greatness, encapsulated by his chase-down of Golden State’s Andre Iguodala late in Game 7 of the 2016 finals against Golden State. And then came Sunday night, which only took place because James notched 46 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists in Game 6 against the Celtics.

Source: New York Times May 28, 2018 03:56 UTC