When the Dallas Mavericks finished off the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night, the happiness in Dallas may have been eclipsed in only one place, Cleveland, the city that Heat star LeBron James left to take his talents to South Beach.
CNN affiliate WOIO-TV in Cleveland had a one-word headline on its sports page under a picture of James holding up his Heat jersey: "LOSER!"
"LeBron James still has no rings," the site's story began.
Cleveland.com quickly jumped on James' failure to bring a championship to Miami, something he promised would happen multiple times when he and former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh joined Heat superstar Dwayne Wade in Miami.
The site posted a video of James, Wade and Bosh made as Miami celebrated their arrival last July.
"It looks even sillier after the Dallas Mavericks clinched the NBA title with their win at Miami tonight," the site says. "Hear James say, 'The way we're gonna challenge each other to get better in practice, once the game starts, I mean it's gonna be easy.'
"Best of all, hear James count up of how many championships Miami will win. No limit."
Cavs fans may be chuckling over that Monday morning, but Yahoo! Sports Dan Wetzel writes they were laughing at James as they watched from a Cleveland bar during Sunday night's game.
"A crowd of Clevelanders gathered here to watch their onetime hero turned all-time traitor, and with each disinterested LeBron offensive possession, each failed LeBron chase down of Jason Terry, each embarrassing LeBron crunch-time turnover, the prevailing emotion was simple.
"Laughter.
"They weren’t hating LeBron here. They were laughing at him," Wetzel writes.
SI.com's Michael Rosenberg says James needs to take the loss the right way, with a heavy dose of humility that is needed to achieve true greatness.
"I hope he acknowledges that he brought this criticism upon himself and, I hope he admits it publicly and candidly. ... But after a year of being hated, LeBron can change and show the humility and desire we admire in all of our best athletes."
As far as becoming a true champion, James could learn a lesson from the Mavericks and their star, NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, writes Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Jennifer Floyd Engel.
"On its very best day, the game is about a guy like Dirk refusing to quit, to give into the doubt, to fail. And his guys, like (Mavs' coach Rick) Carlisle and (teammate Jason) Terry, backing him up. And not about an egomaniacal athlete named LeBron."
SI.com's Chris Mannix writes that Nowitzki's Mavericks won as a team and James' Heat "abandoned any semblance of a team game in favor of selfish, one-on-one play."
SI.com's Ian Thomsen points out that in getting his first NBA title, Nowitzki took a course that James rejected.
"He had drawn strength from playing with the same teammates year after year. Altogether he and they built a championship team that James and his newly assembled Heat could not beat. As far as they had come in one season together, they hadn't had enough time to resolve issues that had taken the Mavericks' several years to overcome," Thomsen writes.
As the game finished Sunday night, Nowitzki bolted off the court in Miami's American Airlines Arena toward the visitor's locker room. He wanted to cry alone, writes ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
"I could already feel the tears coming," Stein quotes Nowtizki as saying. "I had to recover, bro."
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said in an ESPN interview that Nowitzki "had the heart of a lion." Watch what else he had to say about his team's first NBA championship.
While Cuban was talkative Sunday night, he changed his form and stayed out of the spotlight during his team's playoff run, writes Jeff Caplan on ESPNDallas.com.
And now he has an NBA championship trophy and apparently he's not letting go of it. At least that's what it looks like on his Twitpic account.
One of those congratulating Cuban was Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert who posted on his Twitter account: "Congrats to Mark C. & entire Mavs org. Mavs NEVER stopped & now entire franchise gets rings. Old Lesson for all: There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE."
Even a former Cavalier, Los Angeles Clippers guard Mo Williams, was happy to see his old teammate James without a championship ring.
"Dallas just healed my HEART," Williams tweeted.
Half a world away, hearts were cheered too in Wurzburg, Germany, where fans of the NBA Finals MVP and hometown hero Dirk Nowitzki partied into the night, CNN affiliate WFAA reported.
And at least Cavaliers fan had a warning for a possible finals fallout:
"Just be careful when shipping the Miami Heat champs T-shirts to the poor in Guatemala," NBA.com quoted Avon, Ohio's, Nathan Obral as saying. "They could be a choking hazard."
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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you are a sad little man.....
Your a pathetic loser who "doesn't even like basketball" but replies to stories about the NBA.
If he would have left Cleveland with a little less ego and a little more class then the Cleveland fans would still be behind him.
Cleveland is a City. Miami is a civic center.
Why would he care? He's in Miami now. Hello, this is a multimillon dollar enterprise, not a family reunion.
that's really all anyone in Cleveland is saying.
The man took another job. Ok? So just get over it already. You all are just mad because he left Cleveland. What was he suppose to do? He moved on and so should you.
And how far did clevland go this year?
well....in the regular season, they got 5 more wins than Miami got in the playoffs...
As far as the heat did! They both lost! O and a little more wear and tear on their knees too! Suckers!
WHO CARES WHAT CLEVELAND DID – THEY AREN'T THE TOPIC – LEBRON IS. SO FULL OF HIMSELF. DESERVES TO BE HUMILITATED
Cleveland ended without the Championship, Just like Miami
I might be wrong but I am fairly sure Miami won the conference championship.....it's in their stats....hmm...let's check cleveland...nope, no confernce championship...oh, look at that....cleveland is the worst team in the entire league....
Basically as far as Miami went . If you dont. get a ring you lost. Duh.
Cleveland achieved exactly what Miami did. No ring!
Love Rob's comment. Made my day.
@ Chris – Correction sweetie, Miami won a championship. Cleveland never has. Keep aspiring.
LeChoke is overrated! The heat should worry about getting back to the finals next year which I don't think they will.... In leChoke's case, he didn't make a smart choice leaving Cleveland. Obviously the majority of the country thinks so too. You are right, everyone has their own choice but in leChoke's case, he made a very very stupid one!
what are you smoking? he took more money to play for a better team in a better location....Miami will be a contender EVERY YEAR while cleveland rots in its own filth...Miami gets 2 rings before cleveland breaks .500
LeChoke doesn't have the heart of a champion and it showed. Cleveland fans should be grateful to have LeChoke gone...
LeBron took less money in Miami so that he could play with better players and win a championship. He said so himself. Which is why former teammates are laughing on twitter too. Miami fans bought the hype and jumped on the LeBronwagon...but they will be left the same way Cleveland fans were unless the Heat can buy 6 more SuperStars...
As far as taking more money and better location, you are correct. But that is it. If you are not respected, loved, or revered then you have a pocket full of cash in a awesome party that no one attends! Have fun pal!
what are you people talking about this guy has crazy money, explosive talent, and a lot of stuff going on..no one cares what people think or feel because while were commenting about a superstar he's in the lap of luxury laughing yea he didnt achieve his ultimate goal this year ...but he got plenty far...cleveland...just get your lil draft picks and move own you clowns
There's so much put upon these individual players-has everyone forgotten that it's the entire team that wins? If Lebron was my son, I'd tell him to keep his head up. They got closer to the ring than his last team and even if it was a decision that didn't make everyone happy-live with it! Pull yourself up and keep it moving! Next people are going to be saying that Dwayne wasn't focused due to his responsibilities to his son...c'mon people! These people have lives outside of the NBA! Keep it moving! NEXT!
huh? seriously??
Why write about Lebron? Same thing happened out here in LA with Kpbe and Pau when the Lakers got swept. Lakers were supposed to beat Dallas so something must be really wrong with Kobe and Pau or Andrew or someone. That right there should have been a big red flag how good this Dallas team is. Celebrate and write about the greatness of this Dallas team. Lebron who?
i AGREE – FOCUS ON DALLAS, WHO WON, NOT WHO LOST.
Please enjoy the facts about lebron http://www.billspetrino.com/2011/06/12/lebron-james-4th-quarter-jokes-leboob-espn-clutch-situationsclutchchokes-stinks-loser/
How many years before LeBron wins a ring? Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven...
and can we please give dallas defense some critic, all this talk about somethings wrong with james,or that he choked,how about some credit where credit is due.
It's also eclipsed by the amount of LOVE white people have for Jordan. Suck on that for a while before you decide to be smart again.
ur really making this a racist thing?
Fail.
I still remember the day Cleveland had a quire out on the court singing for their hero to stay with the fans. Jordan stayed true to the Bulls, Kobe with the Lakers, Lebron made a TV show and took bosh with him to the Heat. Lebron did it "his" way with disregard for the fans and got it "his" way. Congratulations! mavs you guys earned it!!!
Eric. C'mon dude. Cleveland was dead last. They had scrubs when Lebron was there. And the kicker is they had scrubs when he left. He got wore out. Cleveland drug the man into the ground. He will win 5 or 6 rings before Cleveland wins 30 games. Get a life Cleveland will not have another player like him for ten years. He was CLEVELAND. He made the big wheels in Cleveland and Ohio BILLIONS. So enjoy the money you made. The NBA is a business not a social family.
Cleveland minus Lebron resulted in one of the poorest teams in NBA history. Mr James was loyal to the Cavs far longer than most persons of his talent and abilities ever would have been.
And he quit on his team after that amount of time. Period! Joke
I have to say this is very sad. You all go and insult Cleveland fans for hating, but you return by insulting Cleveland, its fans, its programs, etc. Have some class. If you think we're that pathetic, let us have this one.
I'm pretty certain it is eclipsed by your stupidity!