On May 9, 1993, US time, the Cleveland Cavaliers, with a squad including pillars such as Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, Mark Price and Craig Ehlo… entered Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs round 1 series against the New Jersey Nets.
This should have been just another match like any other match of the Cleveland Cavaliers or the NBA Playoffs in general. However, that 99-89 victory had historical value that even the Cavaliers did not expect.
From that time until the next 10 years, the Cleveland team did not win another Playoffs series. It wasn’t until they selected LeBron James with pick 1 in the 2003 NBA Draft that the Cavaliers’ fate changed.
The Cleveland Cavaliers continuously entered the Playoffs and won with LeBron in the lineup, including 5 years of appearing in the NBA Finals and winning the championship in the 2015-16 season. But as soon as James leaves, the Cavaliers fall back into the old “hole”.
During the years LeBron James moved to the Miami Heat (2011 to 2014), the Cleveland team did not make it to the Playoffs once. The second time James moved (from 2018 to present), although the Cavaliers sometimes made it to the postseason, they were always eliminated in the first round.
It seemed that this team would not be able to overcome the shadow of LeBron James, but that changed in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
In Game 7, which took place early on the morning of May 6, the Cleveland Cavaliers completed a comeback from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Orlando Magic, passing the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
This result marked the first Playoffs series victory with a squad without LeBron James in 31 years, since the 1993 Playoffs round 1 series.
Without LeBron, this year’s Cavaliers have a new leader, Donovan Mitchell. This young star scored 50 points in Game 6 and 39 points in Game 7, making a great contribution to bringing the team to the Eastern semi-finals.
Statistics show that Donovan Mitchell’s 89 points is a new record for Cleveland in Games 6 and 7, something LeBron James has never achieved before.
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Winning this historic Playoffs series is the first step in building a new image of the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that is inherently associated with the years of LeBron James.
“If we can create a new image, a new era in Cleveland, that would be extremely meaningful to us,” young defender Darius Garland shared.
“We respect what he does ( LeBron James – PV ) and it will last forever. But besides that, we also want to build our own legacy here.”
Looking back at the brilliance of Donovan Mitchell and the confrontation with Paolo Banchero on the Orlando Magic side
Waiting for the Cleveland Cavaliers in round 2 of the 2024 NBA Playoffs is the Boston Celtics, one of LeBron James’s “failed generals” for many years.
This will be a real challenge for Donovan Mitchell and his teammates on the path to creating their own legacy.
