For LeBron James the memories still linger; the sting of the pain yet fuels him.
The two-time reigning league MVP was but a 22-year-old star in the making in 2007, when the Spurs mercilessly swept him and his upstart Cleveland Cavaliers out of the NBA Finals in four straight uneventful matchups.
It’ll be a different lineup, different city and most apparently different James they encounter in Game 1 of tonight’s Finals. But there’s no denying the way they left him feeling back then is what drives him right now.
"I have something in me that they took in '07,” James told The Miami Herald. “Beat us on our home floor, celebrated on our home floor. I won't forget that. You shouldn't as a competitor. You should never forget that."
Nor will he forget the words Spurs star Tim Duncan uttered to him that night. With the outcome no longer in doubt and the final seconds ticking away, Duncan made his way down around the Cavs bench where he whispered to James how the league would someday soon be his.
Now one of the league's elder statesmen, James, now 27, plans on doing all he can to now make certain Duncan's words come true.
"That's what I'm here for," James told The Herald of the Heat’s quest to join the small list of NBA teams to earn back-to-back titles. "I'm here to win championships, and you're not always going to be on the successful side. I've seen it twice, not being on the successful side."
It’s that level of maturity that somewhat makes James so much more dangerous this time around. He shot just 36 percent in 07, compared to the blistering 57 percent he shot all this season. In the series finale, he shot just for 10 for 30 and finished with an ungodly 23 turnovers overall.
“If you go under my pick-and-roll now, I'm going to shoot,” he told The Herald of this year’s game plan. “And I'm confident I'm going to make every last one of them. I'm just more confident in my ability to shoot the ball.
Even Spurs Coach Greg Popovich expects and fears his team will be seeing a different player. “LeBron’s a different player,” he fretfully told The Herald. "That was like ancient history. He was basically a neophyte at the time, wondering how all this stuff worked and how it's put together. We were very fortunate at that time to get him so early. But at this point he's grown."
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