It’s hard to imagine an NBA Finals without LeBron James in it. With the Cleveland Cavaliers beating the Boston Celtics last night, James advanced to a seventh straight NBA finals.
The last time James failed to make the NBA Finals was in May 2010 after a Kevin Garnett-led Celtics beat the Cavaliers, four games to two.
For nostalgia’s sake, let’s take a look at what was popular when James last failed to make the finals.
Top movie: “Iron Man 2.” (“The Avengers” wouldn’t come out for another two years.)
Top song: “Nothin’ on You” by B.O.B featuring Bruno Mars.
No. 1 rated TV show: “American Idol.”
The NBA was quite different as well.
Been quite a while. pic.twitter.com/KxVp2KcVwC
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) May 26, 2017
A few months before, Tracy Porter picked off Peyton Manning to help lead the New Orleans Saints over the Indianapolis Colts to win the Super Bowl.
The Celtics and the Lakers played in the 2010 NBA Finals with the Lakers winning in seven games. Here was the starting lineups for those teams:
Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Piece, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins.
Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.
Of that group, only Rondo, Peace and Gasol still play in the NBA.
That’s how time works, but man, LeBron has been dominant.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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