Cleveland rocks on homecoming night

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

For LeBron James, the journey begins anew.

Right back where it began.

Cleveland’s been waiting.

Nearly four months since proclaiming “I’m coming home” and shifting the NBA’s balance of power, James played Thursday night in front of family, friends and the Cleveland fans who had their hearts broken when he left four years ago.

This is a homecoming like no other.

“None of us should take this moment for granted,” a relaxed James said following Cleveland’s morning shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena. “This is probably one of the biggest sporting events ever. I don’t feel it, but I know it is.”

A crowd of 20,000-plus fans — with some paying as much as $5,000 for a ticket — were inside the Q, which was updated during the offseason with a gigantic, fire-spewing scoreboard to welcome home James. The Akron native came back to his hoops roots hoping to deliver a title to Cleveland, a city that has known mostly sports misery the past 50 years.

When James was introduced after new teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love as Cleveland’s final starter before the Cavs tipped off against the New York Knicks, Cleveland fans were able to put four painful years without him behind them.

This a fresh start for everyone.

James, who has won NBA titles and Olympic gold medals, knows this season opener is a little more special.

“I understand how much I mean to this team to this franchise, to this city and to this state,” he said. “It’s a different feeling, but I’m still as calm and excited at the same time because it’s the first game of the season.”

In the hours leading up to tip-off, thousands of fans gathered in the streets outside the arena. This was a party four years in the making.

Across the street from the Q, a 10-story-tall banner of James was unveiled in the same spot where one hung during his first seven seasons with the Cavs. The spot became a symbol of civic pride until that night in July 2010 when James announced he was leaving for Miami. In the hours after his decision, some angry fans burned his jersey and others hurled rocks at a banner that would be removed a few days later.

On Thursday, the new banner — showing James with his arms outstretched wearing a jersey with “Cleveland” where his name would normally be stitched — drew fans who posed for photos the same way they did when James was here last.

Along East 4th Street, fans wearing James jerseys and broad smiles mixed with patrons lined up to get into overflowing restaurants and bars and a free concert featuring hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar and the rock band Imagine Dragons.

As they filed past, Barry Harris, 55, of Cleveland, was filled with pride. A lifelong Clevelander, he had never seen his city acting quite like this.

“It’s amazing,” Harris said as his twin brother, Larry, snapped pictures of ESPN’s SportsCenter set. “I’ve been waiting 55 years for this. We got LeBron. We got Johnny [Manziel] Football. We got the Republican National convention coming in two years. We got casinos. It’s huge. We deserve this.”