CLEVELAND — The Comeback is still alive.
So, too, is The Mission.
LeBron James’ Mission, that is.
The Cavaliers will get a chance to make history, to become the first of 33 teams to fall behind 3-1 in the NBA Finals and rally for a championship.
Kyrie Irving is displaying supreme confidence in his shooting touch and Tristan Thompson is playing the best basketball of his career in the Finals for the second consecutive year, but James is providing the leadership to spur them to greater heights.
For the second consecutive game, James willed his team toward the title he sought when he returned home in the summer of 2014. He followed up a 41-point performance in Oakland on Monday with another 41-point performance.
A year to the day that the Warriors captured their first NBA title in 40 years in Quicken Loans Arena, James would have none of that again. The Cavs staved off elimination for the second time in the series, claiming a 115-101 home victory Thursday and forcing a Game 7 Sunday night in Oracle Arena.
That’s the night James lives for.
“My only job is to get this win, man,” James said Wednesday “We have a great opportunity to protect home court and go into two of the best words ever, and that’s ‘Game 7.’?”
In Games 5 and 6, James has played as if he’s five years younger. He and Irving became the first teammates in Finals history to score 40 with 41 apiece in Oracle. On Thursday, he saved the best for last with a 17-point fourth quarter that left the crowd roaring at a headache-inducing level.
James put the Cavs on his massive shoulders late in the third quarter, when he began a string of scoring or assisting on 27 consecutive Cavs points. After a 15-footer by Irving put the Cavs ahead 72-55 with 5:37 left in the third quarter, the game was nearly all James.
The stretch included James scoring the Cavs’ first 10 points of the fourth quarter. It included assists on two Thompson dunks and another on a J.R. Smith 3-pointer. It included a James jumper over Leandro Barbosa when Barbosa couldn’t have gotten any closer. It included a huge rebound layup by James off an Irving miss to push the lead back to 10 with 8:22 remaining.
James also contributed eight rebounds and 11 assists, and made 16-of-27 field goals and 3-of-6 3-pointers. In the fourth quarter, James added three rebounds and four assists.
When it comes to the children he serves with his foundation, James makes and keeps a lot of promises. But when James announced he was returning home to try to deliver a long-awaited title to Cleveland, a drought that has now reached 52 years, he wisely didn’t promise a championship.
He admitted in Sports Illustrated how hard the challenge would be.
“We’re not ready right now. No way,” he wrote of the 2014-15 season. “Of course, I want to win next year, but I’m realistic. It will be a long process … my patience will get tested.”
His mission of “next year” is still on track and could be completed in historic fashion.
The day began on a touching note when Richard Jefferson’s essay titled “Who We Are” written for The Players’ Tribune was posted on the website. Jefferson detailed how close the Cavs have become since the playoffs began. It started with a dinner at James’ house before the first round, when James went around the room and told each member of the team how he could contribute. It continued with another gathering at the home of Kevin Love after the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Jefferson marveled at James’ ability to lead a team, calling James “the kind of leader who makes you want to carry the weight, too. I feel indebted to him. We all do.”
The Cavs came out of the locker room like they’d read Jefferson’s message out loud before they took the court. Then they played like they wanted to show how much they cared about each other, and about James.
The biggest night in franchise history will be followed by an even bigger night. And they have their leader to thank.