When the Cleveland Cavaliers made the NBA Finals in 2007, many believed the time had come for The Chosen One to take over the league. But after that season, the Boston Celtics assembled the first super team to prevent ‘The Takeover.’ That led to ‘The Decision.’

With Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo, the Celtics eliminated LeBron James’ Cavaliers in the second round of the 2008 NBA Playoffs. Two years later, the Celtics ousted the Cavs in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals. Then LeBron took his talents to South Beach.

Boston’s stars always claimed that they were the reason why King James left The Land, but he always talked about wanting to play with his fellow 2003 Draft batchmates ever since they played together for the Redeem Team.

Three championship rings later, LeBron finally admitted that it was Boston that forced him to retreat to Miami.

“I understood then that in order for me to compete for a championship and get to that next level,” said LeBron. “I had to figure out and get with some guys that could be on the same level as Paul, Ray, (Rajon) Rondo, KG and those guys,”

James wanted to form his super team in Cleveland

At first, James said he wanted to build his own super team in Cleveland. In fact, he was trying to recruit top free agents to join the Cavaliers as early as 2007. But none of the stars wanted to come to Ohio.

That 2010 summer, the Cavs were over the salary cap. Over the last two years, they have spent a lot of money to acquire players like Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams to help LeBron win the championship. Those moves looked good in ’07, but after Boston formed a Super Team a season later, the Cavs were suddenly not good enough to beat them, and they didn’t have the money to upgrade.

“And then at that time, we didn’t even have any money to go get anybody. I knew personally that D Wade was a free agent, I knew Bosh was a free agent, I knew Amare (Stoudemire) was a free agent, I knew Carlos Boozer was a free agent, so I knew I had to try and get some guys to try and get Boston, man. That was my whole mindset,” he continued.

Everybody was out to beat LeBron

Because LeBron was starting to emerge as a dominant force at that time, he said that teams began to build their rosters to counter him. That’s what Boston did, and that’s what the other teams were starting to do.

“I know teams switch and pick up new coaches or new players, and their whole goal is kind of they want to beat me,” James added. “It’s never just about me, but I always hear them saying, ‘We gotta beat LeBron.’ It’s not just me on the court, but I understand that teams get together in this conference and across the league to try to beat me.”

Back in the 90s, Michael Jordan endured three consecutive losses to the Detroit Pistons before finally getting over the hump in 1991. But after two playoff exits at the hands of the Celtics, LeBron decided the only way to beat them was to form his own super team and get his revenge.