Cleveland Cavaliers: Emotional LeBron James Reaches 6th Straight NBA Finals

Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James reaches his sixth straight NBA Finals after closing out the Toronto Raptors in six games

All season, the Cleveland Cavaliers failed to emerge victorious in their trips to Canada.

Even during the Conference Finals, up 2-0, the Cavaliers were unable to win their first two games on the road and the Raptors were able to even the series.

Unfortunately for the amazing fans of the North, Cleveland was able to continue their impressive streak of closing out teams on the road in Game 6. After a tumultuous season filled with off-court headlines, the Cavaliers are now back in the NBA Finals.

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It is the second straight Finals appearance for the franchise and third overall.

Most notably, it is the sixth consecutive Finals appearance for LeBron James and his seventh overall.

Such a feat is unheard of in the modern NBA. The last superstar to ever achieve the feat was Bill Russell 50 years ago.

LeBron James will become 8th player in NBA history to play in 6 straight NBA Finals (1st in 50 years) pic.twitter.com/DTbIpCzeKE
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 28, 2016

James is the eighth player overall to achieve the feat. Several Celtics and Russell teammates are also in the category. Ironically, LeBron’s teammate James Jones also holds the record as he has been with him in both Miami and Cleveland for each championship run.

While the Finals are nothing new to James, this journey into June is different.

This time around, James will have both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love healthy for the championship series. Last season, Love was injured in the final game of the first round. Irving was injured in Game 1 of the Finals and was unable to continue.

Much has been made of how undermanned the Cavaliers were in last season’s Finals against the Warriors. The fact that both James and Irving had at least 30 points and Love had 20 in this game gives credit to the idea that the Cavs will be a far more formidable foe this time around.

When asked by Doris Burke after the game what he was most proud of about playing in his sixth straight Finals, James said.

"“I have heard all the questions, and that right there is a stumper. Um, I am just very humbled and gracious that the man above has given me the opportunity to play the game that I love. And I get to go out here and do it every single night in front of my fans.“It is very emotional to be a part of something like this. This is my sixth straight. It means everything.”"

It has to be pointed out, LeBron has played more playoff minutes in the last six seasons than anyone else. In fact, he has double the amount that the player with the second most: Dwyane Wade.

LeBron James has played an NBA-high 5,002 playoff minutes during his 6 straight Finals runs. Dwyane Wade is second at 3,683 over that span.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) May 28, 2016

After so many postseason runs, Team USA summers, and general wear-and-tear, one has to wonder when the marvelous run by James might come to an end. This did not seem to be lost on LeBron, who struggled to stay composed as he answered ESPN’s Doris Burke’s final question.

For now, the Cleveland Cavaliers await the winner of the Warriors-Thunder series which could conclude on Saturday.

The NBA Finals are set to begin on Thursday, June 2.

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