The championship LeBron James craves more than any other, the one he came back home to get, is within reach.
The Cavaliers are in the NBA finals.
James scored 23 points, Kyrie Irving provided a boost after missing two games and Cleveland reserved a spot in the finals with a 118-88 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night to win the Eastern Conference title.
We have everything it takes to win
By sweeping the top-seeded Hawks, the Cavs earned their second trip to the finals, where they will face either Golden State or Houston starting on June 4.
It will be the fifth straight visit to the league’s showcase event for the inimitable James, who returned to Cleveland after four years in Miami to try to end this city’s championship drought dating to 1964. The Cavs are four wins from doing it, and if they can, James will have a title that would put him in a class by himself. Other players have won more championships, but none has ever done it for his ring-starved home region.
“We have everything it takes to win,” James said after the Cavs were presented with the conference trophy.
“Cleveland,” owner Dan Gibert said, addressing the crowd. “We’re not settling for this.”