Reliving LeBron's First Return To Cleveland In 2010
Brian Windhorst wrote an interesting story about LeBron’s first return to Cleveland and what a scene that was. Obviously when you factor in how his tenure ended for the first time
Cavs fans were for sure pissed. When the Heat came into Cleveland on December 2nd 2010, you knew they were going to be hostile and boo LeBron with everything they had. This was obviously before the title and post The Decision, and fans rightfully felt like LeBron quit on them. In their minds they probably figured he was never ever going to come back, and if you rewatch the highlights from that game, it was some of the loudest boos I’ve ever heard
Advertisement
At the end of the day it didn’t really impact LeBron, as he finished with 38/5/8 on 12-25 shooting in 30 minutes. Remember, this was the first year of his career he had to play this villain role, and seeing as how he won the MVP the year before and the year after, some could say this was when LeBron was at the height of his powers.
Now coming back for the second time, a lot has changed. He delivered on his promise of bringing a championship to the city of Cleveland and he did it with one of the best Finals performances in history. At the same time, his unwillingness to commit while also demanding his friends get paid has sort of boned the current state of the Cavs. He drove Kyrie out of town, and the Cavs are certainly in a tough spot during their rebuild now that they are looking for a new home for JR Smith. So in that regard I would imagine LeBron is still going to get booed tonight, but I doubt the arena is going to be filled with so much hate like back in 2010. He didn’t have to come back and he did, and then we dragged this team to all those Finals appearances and gave that city a title so I’m fascinated to see how they respond.
Given the fact that he just did THIS in his return to Miami just a few days ago
I would just advise Cavs fans to be pretty careful to not poke the bear tonight, or you aren’t going to like what happens.