7, 2023, when he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer? If I say it was then - the 2016 finals - when he steered the Cavs from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Warriors in Game 7, winning the first title in franchise history and first for the city of Cleveland since 1964, might you mention Feb. James has been on the scene 20 years now, a 20-year reign for a kid from Akron with the nickname “King,” and, after everything that’s happened over these last two decades, can we even still agree on what stands as his seminal moment? What was happening during those 17 days in June, seven years ago, was James was preparing to lead the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, which, for this discussion, is almost beside the point. “To me, that’s what changed his attitude about the sense of urgency of what was happening at that moment,” Frye said. “And they were like, ‘Muhammad Ali had such an influence on him.’ “I was like, ‘What the (expletive) is wrong with this dude?’” Frye said. On a Friday night? With practice scheduled for the next day and Game 2 of the finals on Sunday? After several glasses of wine? “Somebody whispered something in (James’) ear, and he was like, ‘All right, y’all, see you,’ goes up, changes his clothes and goes and works out for like two hours.” “We’re sitting there with the Nike folks, our regular crew, having a glass of wine, and we had been there an hour or two - so, it’s like a couple of glasses,” Frye said. Smith and LeBron James, were seated together, engaging in a familiar activity from that season: sipping a vintage red. As clouds hovered over the bridges and a steady mist surrounded the street lamps along Market, every TV in every bar, restaurant and, yes, the Cavs’ team room at the Four Seasons was tuned to the wall-to-wall coverage of Ali’s passing.Ī number of Cavs personnel, including Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, Kevin Love, J.R. Muhammad Ali, the greatest to ever lace up boxing gloves, died that day. But the loss on the court wasn’t the reason for the melancholy mood around the table.
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