Cavs fans are ready for LeBron’s return to the Q

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

They’re coming armed with lingering anger from an emotional summer breakup. They’re going to yell and scream and vent at someone who did them wrong. It’s the Akron kid they watched grow up, the one they loved, the one who restored hope ... only to rip their hearts out.

Indeed, Cleveland fans are on edge this week. And that can mean only one thing: LeBron James, Northeast Ohio’s prodigal son, is coming home.

Tonight James returns to a city he captivated for seven seasons to face the Cavaliers, his former team and a franchise he lifted to unimagined heights and almost to an NBA title. But when the 25-year-old, wearing a No. 6 Miami Heat jersey, steps onto the floor of Quicken Loans Arena as a visitor, he will be the enemy and the eye of a fierce storm he created.

“I hope he’s safe,” said Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant. “Just from everything that happened this summer, fans are very upset.”

The same crowd he once thrilled will be outwardly hostile and hateful toward him, but hopefully, harmless. He’ll be booed, taunted and subjected to ridicule beyond his imagination.

“He deserves every bit of it,” said Jim Osherow, a Cavaliers’ season-ticket holder for 36 years. “When you leave a team the way he did, that’s what you got coming. It was rotten what he did. It’s not just that he ruined the fans’ expectations of him, but he ruined this franchise from being able to pick up any other free agents. Then he goes and has his own show? Wrong. Wrong, man.”

No one knows exactly what to expect before, during or after James’ hyped return, a game Cleveland fans first circled on their calendars months ago and a nationally televised event that civic leaders and the NBA trust will not develop into an embarrassment.

“I’m ready,” James said, “for whatever response that I’m going to get.”