Acrimony runs high between Riley and LeBron.....The game behind the game..........
NBA Finals: The storylines and stats that matter ahead of Lakers-Heat
ESPN.com
There aren't many days that go by during the NBA season when LeBron James doesn't use lessons he learned during his four years with the Miami Heat.
One has proven to be the most important: Keep the main thing the main thing.
It is one of the core tenets that Heat president Pat Riley has preached for years, and it's one that James holds dear. Even with his growing media company, his charity work in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, his activism and his love of fine wine, James never lets himself forget the main thing: chasing championships.
The main thing is here: Heat vs. Lakers in the NBA Finals.
The Riley-James dynamic, which essentially is the Heat-James dynamic, is complex.
James has two rings with Heat logos, he accepted two MVP trophies at AmericanAirlines Arena, and he probably will have No. 6 retired by the franchise someday. He credits Riley and the Heat not only for teaching him to become a champion but also for helping shape his world view.
Yet when they broke up in 2014, Riley was furious, and James was offended. Although James felt a pull to go home to Cleveland more than he felt a desire to leave Miami, there wasn't much room for nuance.
"I saw a dynasty fly out the window," Riley told ESPN four years later. "I knew that was a 10-year team. I wanted that dynasty."
James was turned off by the attitude the Heat took when he left and by something that was said to him.
"When I decided to leave Miami ... there were some people that I trusted and built relationships with in those four years [who] told me I was making the biggest mistake of my career," James said the night he won a title with the Cavs in 2016. "And that right there was my motivation."
James never said who it was, though many assumed it was Riley. They had an acrimonious phone call shortly before he made his announcement. Riley denied saying it. Either way, Riley took a major swipe at James several months after he left when he said the team had rid itself of players who had "smiling faces with hidden agendas."
They didn't communicate for years until Riley sent James a text the night of the 2016 title. James did not reply.
The truth is the philosophies of the Heat and of James ran so very close then and now. They are both obsessed with the nature of winning, a process that unfolds every day of every season, in which glory is earned just as much in the mundane discipline of routine as in the arena.
Both operate with a militaristic ethos, in which teammates are considered a band of brothers and are to be held to extreme accountability. Both believe in a family culture but have no problem casting aside a piece or two if it improves the chances of winning.
They are so much alike that perhaps they were never meant to stay together.
In nine playoff runs with the Cavs, James never met the Heat. In his first playoff run with Los Angeles, he will play his old team for the first time with the highest stakes.
Revenge isn't really covered in the "main thing" doctrine in these Finals. James is playing for legacy and in honor of Kobe Bryant. The Heat are trying to show that their culture wins over all and show off as a drawing card for free agents in the future.
But revenge won't be that far from the surface, either.