July 7, 2016 Page 5 LeBron Brings Title Back to Cleveland Page 1 July 10, 2014 EL SEGUNDO HERALD Grape and Spinach Salad with Raspberry Balsamic Dressing Ingredients • 8 cups fresh baby spinach, washed • 4 1/2 cups California grapes • 1 1/4 cups mandarin orange segments (drained, if using canned) • 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion • 3/4 cup bottled light balsamic vinegar and oil dressing • 1/4 cup orange juice • 3 tablespoons raspberry jam • 3/4 cup crunchy chow mein noodles Preparation 1. Place spinach in large salad bowl. Top with grapes, oranges and onion. 2. Whisk together dressing, orange juice and jam. Pour over salad and toss until greens are coated with dressing. Top with crunchy noodles. Serving suggestion: Add noodles just before serving to maintain crunchy texture. Nutrition Information per Serving: 166 calories; 3 g protein; 32 g carbohydrates; 4 g fat (22% calories from fat); .71 g saturated fat (4% calories from saturated fat); 0 mg cholesterol; 350 mg sodium; 3 g fi ber. Recipe by GrapesfromCalifornia.com, provided by BPT. Serving size: 1 cup • Servings per recipe: 6 By Adam Serrao The Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in an NBA Finals series to become the 2015-16 NBA champions. LeBron James carried his team to Game 7 of the Finals that took place last Sunday afternoon, but the game itself was more about his teammates that stepped up and the players on the Warriors that had horrible games. When the game’s final buzzer sounded, the score on the scoreboard read 93-89 in favor of the Cavaliers. With the victory, James and the Cavs wrote their names down in the history books in many ways - one of which was by bringing a championship title to the city of Cleveland for the first time since 1964. After a brief layover in Las Vegas on their way home, James and the Cavaliers arrived back in Cleveland on Monday morning. As he stepped off of the plane, James hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy above his head, much to the delight of the 10,000-plus fans that surrounded. It was a moment that both James and the fan of Cleveland have all waited a lifetime to see. Finally, a championship brought back home to Cleveland. This is something that neither the Indians, nor the Browns, nor any other Cavalier team of the past has ever been able to do. James was selected as this year’s Finals MVP, and he was certainly deserving of the award and the main reason why his team reached the seventh and ultimate game of the series. Over the seven game series, James led both his team and the Warriors in every statistical category available. That’s right, points, rebounds, blocked shots, steals and assists; if you can think of another category, he probably led in that, too. “Best player on the planet,” his teammate Kyrie Irving said of him shortly after their Game 7 victory. James averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists in the series. Almost a triple-double per game average. He was dominant. His field goal percentage was 53.3 and he became the third player ever to record a triple-double in Game 7 of the finals, joining Jerry West in ‘69 and James Worthy in ‘88. James finished the night with 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and three blocked shots, one of Andre Iguodala that may have saved the game. “I’m coming home with what I said I was going to do,” James explained. “I can’t wait to get off that plane, hold that trophy up and see all our fans at the terminal.” As great as James was with his averages and back-to-back 41-point games to even get the Cavs to a Game 7 in the first place, it was really his teammates that took the game over and gave James a ride on their backs in the final game of the series. Kevin Love resurfaced from the depths of the bench and the depth chart to add 30 minutes of gritty play. His 14 rebounds gave the Cavs a number of second chance opportunities and points that kept the Warriors from running away with the game early on. Likewise, J.R. Smith came through with two clutch three-point shots in the second half and not enough can be said about starting point guard, Kyrie Irving. His three-point shot right in the face of Stephen Curry with 53 seconds left in the game turned out to win the game the championship for the Cavs. Irving finished the night with 26 points and six rebounds. “All I was thinking at the end of the game was Mamba Mentality,” Irving said, crediting Kobe Bryant and his killer instinct for the ambition to take such a shot. “Now we have our own parade. We’ll celebrate it the way it’s supposed to be celebrated in Cleveland.” As well as all the Cavs played, it was the main players on the Warriors - especially Curry - that let the game slip away. Harrison Barnes had 10 points, but was an ugly 3-10 from the field and was destroyed on defense for the entire game. Festus Ezeli found himself in the game as a starter, but should never have suited up for the Warriors in the first place. He was exploited and taken advantage of every second he was on the court, specifically by James midway through the fourth quarter when Ezeli inexplicably found himself in the game once again. Anderson Varejao tried to flop his way to a win, but three fouls and one point later found out that it wasn’t working. Klay Thompson had an awful game, shooting 6 of 17 from the field and 2 of 10 from three-point range. Then there’s Curry. Completely dominated by James since Game 5, Curry, the same unanimous MVP and player who stood at the end of the court, pointing at James as if to say, ‘I’ll see you in Game 7’, scared absolutely no one in the series, let alone in Game 7. Curry finished going 6 for 19 from the field, 4 for 14 from three-point range, shots that didn’t even hit rim and a complete disadvantage for his own team on defense. “I didn’t do enough to help my team win,” Curry said. His cockiness got the best of him, his shot disappeared, his defense was non-existent and though he only had four turnovers (the most on the team), two of them led to three-point plays on the other end of the court for Cleveland, in essence leading to as much as a 12 point turnaround in the game. His head was held low for the entirety of the game, he walked around the court and ran away from the ball. The team was held scoreless for the final four minutes of the game. They missed their last nine shots and Curry missed his last five. Curry is the reason the Warriors lost the game. Not only was he ineffective, but his play led to his entire team being ineffective as well, especially in the second half. James almost single-handedly picked his Cavaliers up from off of the floor when they were down 3-1 in the series and brought them back to what wound up to an eventual championship. He had some key help from teammates like Irving, too, that will undoubtedly get lost in the limelight of what James and Cleveland has finally accomplished. “I was calm. I was focused. I was locked in,” James said. While James turned it up, the Warriors turned things off. Draymond Green got suspended. Andrew Bogut got injured. The Cavaliers took advantage and played more physical than the finesse team that became the Golden State Warriors. Perhaps the longevity of a 73-win regular season finally got to Golden State. Perhaps the Cavaliers were simply the better team. Either way you look at it, James has now received his third championship ring and the Cleveland Cavaliers are this season’s NBA champions. •
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