Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James appeared to have an emotional reaction to the Cleveland Cavaliers' tribute video for him prior to a matchup between the two teams.
According to Basket News, James was seen wiping his tears as he watched the video on the Jumbotron of the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Cavaliers fans rejoiced and positively embraced their former franchise star back to his old stomping ground.
James explained regarding his tearful reaction on the video tribute, "I didn’t expect that, but obviously a lot of memories here, a lot of history. I’m super grateful and thankful for the time spent here and the memories.”
“I looked up there and remembered that moment like it was yesterday—being the underdog against that Detroit Pistons team, winning that game, and then ultimately winning Game 6 here and going to the NBA Finals. It was a pretty cool moment," he added.
Facing LeBron, the entire Cavaliers group wore their Classic Edition uniforms, which is the throwback to the navy blue, wine and gold that famously donned by James during his first Cleveland stint from 2003 to 2010.
Apparently, that is the same look of the jersey that James has worn when he singlehandedly lifted the Cavs past Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and the powerhouse Detroit Pistons squad in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron went off for 25 consecutive points and nailed the game-winning layup to pull the 109–107 double-overtime victory, giving the Cavs a 3-2 series lead and an eventual ticket to the franchise's first-ever NBA Finals.
