LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were the favorites to make it to the NBA Finals before the season started, and while the road to it wasn’t always pretty, that’s exactly where they are headed now after running the shorthanded Atlanta Hawks out of the gym 118-88 for a series sweep on Tuesday.
James, who scored a game-high 23 points to go with nine rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block, has now made it to the Finals for the fifth consecutive season.
The Cavaliers will now have a chance to rest for an extended period of time, as they wait for the winner of the Western Conference Finals between Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors.
Meanwhile, players around the league congratulated the Cavaliers and showed appreciation for the greatness of James, while others have already started to make predictions about a series between the Cavaliers and Warriors. While that’s not necessarily fair to the Rockets, it’s worth noting that no team has ever come back from a series after going down 3-0.
Lebron really make people highly upset cause he’s just so good lol
— Pierre Jackson (@PAPPYGAWD) May 27, 2015
impressive — RT @ChrisPalmerNBA: LeBron headed to his 5th Finals in a row. Michael, Magic and Bird never did that. — Kendall Marshall (@KButter5) May 27, 2015
Congrats cavs more work to do in the #finals … #letsgocavs pic.twitter.com/439oMGL6A7
— Ron Harper (@HARPER04_5) May 27, 2015
Mood!! No city deserves this opportunity more than Cleveland.. During our worst years the Love never… https://t.co/lZulbamo4y — BoobysWorld.Com (@BooBysWorld1) May 27, 2015
@KingJames did what people thought he wouldn’t this year and is reach Finals and did it without a big 3. 5 straight applaud! #Cavs
— Eddie A Johnson (@Jumpshot8) May 27, 2015
Bron to the finals five times in a row is a bar!! — Dorell Wright (@DWRIGHTWAY1) May 27, 2015
Congrats to @cavs on an absolutely dominating performance in ECFinals! Glad to see my teammate Larry Nance hand out the trophy! #TheFinals
— Mark Price (@Mark25Price) May 27, 2015
Respect to Lebron, 5 straight finals. That’s Killer! — BRANDON JENNINGS (@BrandonJennings) May 27, 2015
Congrats to my brother @KingJames on 5 straight finals appearances… alot of people have no idea how tough that is.
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) May 27, 2015
5th consecutive finals for LBJ, glad to see a player living out his dream when soooo much has been placed upon his shoulders. #cominghome — Bruce Bowen (@Bowen12) May 27, 2015
https://t.co/VWL4L0sD3b @cavs @matthewdelly @KingJames @TheQArena @NBA @NBABrasil #AllForOne #ALLinCLE pic.twitter.com/nXDjzwrLO0
— Anderson Varejão (@VAREJAOANDERSON) May 27, 2015
Warriors in 6 — BRANDON JENNINGS (@BrandonJennings) May 27, 2015
Draymond Green versus Lebron James gets my hyped. @ESPNNBA
— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) May 27, 2015
Jim Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.