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WATCH: Cleveland Cavaliers’ tribute for LeBron James and his reaction

Utkarsh Bhatla
Published

Rondo on LeBron James' leadership

LeBron James was back home last night, when Lakers played against the Cavs in Cleveland.

For LeBron, it was a second homecoming this week, as the Lakers had earlier visited Miami, and ‘The King’ was greeted with a very warm reception, one that he embraced to the fullest.

For LeBron, it turned out to be a near perfect night, winning the game for the Lakers by 4 points and ending up with 32 points,  14 rebounds and 7 assists of his own.

The Lakers have been on a roll ever since Tyson Chandler has been drafted in, and with LeBron finding his feet in the new Lakers system, things seem to be on the upside for the Los Angeles franchise.

James took Cleveland to 4 straight finals in his second stint with them, and would be overjoyed by the applause he received, because that wasn’t the case when Miami had first visited Cleveland after his trade to the Heat.

The Cleveland crowd had shown their displeasure at James during that visit, but today, it was all about love in the Land.

Cleveland played the LeBron James tribute during the first time out of the game, and while LeBron wanted to have a longer peek at it, he couldn’t, as Lakers coach Luke Walton was discussing strategy with the team.

“Luke [Walton] was actually drawing up a play, so I had to pay attention slightly,” James said. “I didn’t want to miss that and mess up the play coming out of timeout. But I was able to catch some of it at the end.” LeBron said.

As soon as the huddle broke, LeBron pointed to different sections of the crowd and folded his hands in humility.

“I just felt different from the time we landed yesterday,” James said.

“From the time we landed yesterday, it just felt a different way. I’m a different person. We’re all different from eight years ago [when he returned to Cleveland for the first time with Miami], I think, both good and bad.”

“I appreciate these fans, just as much as they appreciate me. Every single night we stepped on the floor, they always showed their appreciation to not only myself, but to my teammates over these 11 years, especially the last four years those championship runs that we were making, so that was just my salute to them for appreciating what I was able to accomplish with my teammates and coaches along those four years.” he added.

Check out the video:

This is how LeBron reacted to the tribute video.

There was a festive mood in Cleveland.

This will be Lakers’ only visit to Cleveland this season.

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