Coming Full Circle on Today's Game

REUTERS/David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Today, the Cleveland Cavaliers are playing in their first playoff game in almost five years. It's a big day for those in northeast Ohio and a day that has been waited upon for nearly four-and-half years. I want to go back and reminisce about the day LeBron James left, the previous four years and explain why today's game is more important than you already think it is.

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I remember it like it was yesterday.

The day was July 8, 2010, and LeBron James was set to make the biggest free agent decision in NBA history.

Just like every other Cavs' fan at this point, I had no idea what James would decide to do: is going to come back to Cleveland and make note on his promise, or is going to walk away and break the hearts of millions in northeast Ohio?

The feeling throughout the day was weird, as if this were more than just basketball decision. It almost felt like a pending doom was upon us. No one said much about it throughout the day, just wishing it was over and hoping the right decision was made.

I had a baseball game at Perry High School that night, but I knew I wasn't playing so I was constantly looking at my phone in between innings, trying to find any type of information about what James would do.

It was nearing 8 p.m., when James was going to announce his decision, and the nerves starting flying in -- could the King really leave his hometown for brighter pastures? I never thought it would happen, no matter how much sense it makes in hindsight.

Around the sixth inning, I was constantly updating Twitter and Facebook, hoping that a decision was made. I wasn't the only one concerned either, as the rest of the team was more worried about where James would end up than the game.

As the decision was about to be made, my phone was nearly dead and I was beginning to freak out. Why was I so worried about this?

Finally, it came across my screen: LeBron James has announced his decision to sign with the Miami Heat.

That was the last thing I saw before my phone died, along with my spirit.

The game had ended by the time every one else there found out. I couldn't tell you if we won or lost, but I can tell you that it felt like everyone in Ohio lost on that day. Every memory I had at that point of the Cavs involves James (I was five years old when we drafted him), so it was hard to imagine what it would be like without him.

But eventually we saw what it was like. We watched the Cavs struggle for four years while James won two championships in South Beach.

Over those last four years, we saw a numerous amounts of lows. The 26-game losing streak, the missed draft picks and the incompetent coaches. On more than one occasion would I turn the Cavs game off because of just how bad they were, something you couldn't pay enough to do this year.

However, the highs were still there, especially with the pick of one player that became almost like our own child in Kyrie Irving.

We expected Irving to become the second savior of Cleveland, the guy who would bring the Cavs out of the ashes of misery and back to the top of the mountain. Although he struggled to win games, the individual efforts by Irving were special to us -- the flashy ball-handling, the All-Star game MVP and every single game-winner he hit. All of those moments made us forget the fact that the Cavs were still one of the worst teams in the league and helped us ease the pain of watching our former King win titles in a different town.

So when we signed Irving to a five-year deal in June (after some rumors that he might leave), it felt like the first domino to fall in what hoped to be an exciting summer, as James was a free agent and the chance of him coming back was higher than it had been since he left for Miami.

No matter what anyone says, most Cavs' fans were like dog sitting by the window waiting for its owner to return home. We sat and waited for James to return back to his home, whether he would actually would come back or not.

But we knew there was a chance. If you look at every move that was made over the last four years, it was made around the possibility of James' return.

The second decision was looming and all the signs were slowly pointing towards him returning home. Could this be real?

As it was the first time, I remember exactly where I was when James announced his free agent decision. The scenario was different, the mood was different and the feeling was different from his first decision. It almost felt like a big reward for everything that Cavs' fans went through over the previous four years.

James and Irving weren't the only positive things to go our way; the Cavs would trade for All-Star power forward Kevin Love just a few weeks later. I couldn't believe it. How could all of these great things happen to a team that has suffered through so much?

Eventually, the season would start and I was expecting all of the the pain of the past four years to go away. But I was wrong. I didn't want to see James, Irving and Love just play for the Cavs, I wanted them to take us to places we haven't been in awhile. The regular season was nice, but it was just a long appetizer for what we truly wanted.

That brings us today. The Cavs are playing a playoff game at home, something they haven't done since James' first stint as a Cav. It's a surreal moment that I have no idea how to cherish. I might laugh; I might cry; I might scream and shout. The whirlwind of emotions will be too much, even before the game starts for multiple reasons.

We finally get to see out era's child in Irving play his first playoff game and hopefully prove that he is more than capable of translating his regular season performances into the playoffs. We get to see James dominating in the wine and gold (and navy) instead of the red and black. We finally get to see how this team overcame a mid-season crisis and possibly turned it into a championship.

Tonight's game will be more than just the first game in the first round of the playoffs; it's the start of the journey toward bringing Cleveland a title for the first time in almost 50 years.

Above all else, tonight's game is the first step in the process toward forgetting that fateful July day nearly five years ago.