LeBron James’ second run with the Cleveland Cavaliers will always be an epic chapter in basketball record books.
Leaving the Miami Heat was the moment LeBron James learned the art of winning. He clinched two NBA titles in four consecutive Finals appearances alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. And then in 2014 LeBron James returned home in 2014 to fulfill his promise of a championship to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
For the next four years, the entire Eastern Conference ran through Cleveland. James conquered the league as he and the Cavs made it to Finals in every season wherein 2016 served as the year they finally won it all.
In peak form, playing the most well-rounded basketball of his illustrious career, James was deemed almost unstoppable. Only the dynastic Golden State Warriors of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson stood boldly as his lone obstacle.
The memories of James dominating their field remains alive in the mind of Jeff Teague.
Teague was one of the vital cogs of the mid-2010s Atlanta Hawks that hammered their case as one of the strong contenders of their era. Yet unfortunately, they emerged during the time when James and the Cavs were there as well.
In the 2014-15 season, the Hawks established themselves as a major storyline. They won 60 games and saw four players make it to the All-Star Game, Teague, Al Horford, Paul Millsap, and Kyle Korver, and managed to top the East.
They got the better of Cleveland throughout the regular season, beating them in three of their four matches.
But it all changed when James suddenly dropped a major revelation against Teague.
“We had beat the Cavs that year about like, on the average, like, 25- 26 every time we played. We was blowing Bron and them out.
“At All-Star, he was like, ‘Hey, I figured y’all out,’” Teague narrated in Out The Mud podcast.
“I was like, what? I never talked to [him]. Bron like, ‘I figured y’all out. I know what y’all gonna do. I figured y’all out.’
And the rest was just history.
“So when we got to playoffs, we were super confident…. and he figured us out,” Teague said.
“All he did was put me in a pick and roll, pick and roll, pick and roll. I’m hedging, hedging. Eventually you’re going to switch, switch. He’ll back me down to the free throw line, then send the double.
“JR Smith hit eight threes in the first game or something like that. Then Kevin Love, he hit seven threes.
“He figured us out. It’s over.”
With James completely neutralizing their schemes and play style, Teague and the Hawks were left helpless.
As a result, they endured being blown out by the Cavaliers in their Eastern Conference Finals duel. Cleveland dismantled Atlanta with a 4-0 series sweep en route to the NBA Finals.
And the following season, a similar result occurred as James and the Cavs have completely mopped the Hawks again in the East Semis playoffs.
From that point, the Hawks’ main core slowly disintegrated as they couldn’t get over the hump and contest the reign of James and the Cavaliers.
In a parallel universe, the Hawks might have won an NBA championship considering the talent and caliber that they had. Yet in the end, they can only feel frustrated about the reality they had to face out of James’ dominance and all-time greatness.
