LeBron James decided to leave Miami Heat to return to Cleveland Cavaliers for one sole purpose - bring a championship trophy to Northeast Ohio.
James and the Cavaliers will resume their title quest on Sunday when they open their 2015 NBA Playoffs campaign in Game One of their best-of-seven series against the Boston Celtics at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
James, who averaged 25.3 points to go along with 7.4 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game during the regular season, will look to lead the Cavaliers to a convincing victory in their playoff opener and the 30-year-old superstar has plenty of motivations on Sunday afternoon.
James admitted that he still remembers their loss to the Celtics during the 2010 Playoff Series before he left Cleveland for Miami. The Celtics, who were then led by veterans Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen eliminated James and the Cavaliers in six games, which signaled the end of James' first tour of duty in Cleveland.
"I think about every loss I ever had," James told Northeast Ohio Media Group. "It's definitely a different challenge for me. I'm going in with a much younger team and an inexperienced team than I've had the last four years. But I look forward to the challenge."
James knows the Cavaliers, who finished the regular season second in the Eastern Conference with their 53-29 record, are favored to get past the Celtics in their first-round playoff series. However, James said that regular-season records do not matter in the playoffs.
"Everyone's 0-0 when you get to this point, so our whole game plan right now is giving ourselves a chance to win the game," said James, who led the Heat to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances in as many seasons in Miami before returning to Cleveland.
Aside from James, superstar teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love will also have a fair share of the spotlight and attention on Sunday in Cleveland. Irving and Love will be playing in their first playoff game since entering the league in 2011 and 2008, respectively.
Aside from Love and Irving, Cavaliers coach David Blatt and Celtics coach Brad Stevens will also be coaching in their first NBA postseason game, but both coaches downplayed that notion. Stevens experienced playoff-like basketball when he was coaching Butler, while Blatt made waves in Europe before joining the Cavaliers.
The Celtics-Cavaliers match will start at 3:00 a.m. ET and will be shown live on ABC. Fans can also catch the action through online live stream via WatchESPN.
