LeBron James - Pat Riley, the other Finals duel

When the opening whistle sounded for Game 7 of the 2016 Finals,

sent a message to

.

"I didn't want him to see it before the game, so I waited for him to start to send it to him. They hadn't spoken since LeBron left Miami two years before and the relationship, more than strained, was non-existent." Win this game and be free, "the message said. Riley understood that that ring with Cleveland would be worth more than the two he had won with the Heat. That he would finally get rid of the weight he had carried since 13 years before he had come to the NBA. James never answered the message.

The answer came through the press, already with the title under his arm.

"When I decided to leave Miami - and I'm not going to name names because I can't - some people that I trusted and had built a relationship with during those four years told me that I was making the biggest mistake of my career. All that stuff. shit hurt me. That's been my motivation, "said LeBron.

Riley assures that it was not him, that the only two words he said to LeBron when he called to give him the news were "Good luck", but in these six years the relationship has remained at the same point.

"As a good Irishman, I don't hold any grudges. Only drunkards do that. Well, and the Boston Celtics. But I don't."

They are two of the most fiercely competitive men who have passed through the NBA and in these NBA Finals they will finally meet face to face.

LeBron as the great star of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Riley, as the architect who rebuilt the Heat from the ashes left by James.

The bag

"Opens".

When it was her turn to introduce herself, Riley took some graphics and a small cloth bag from her briefcase.

It was the summer of 2010, James was the most momentous free agent in history and the Heat had traveled to Cleveland with their entire staff to convince him.

And the first masterstroke was in that little bag Riley kept by his side.

Between graph and graph, LeBron pointed her out.

"What's there?"

Riley took the bag and put it in front of James.

"Opens".

Inside were 35 rings that summed up the career of a legend.

LeBron was looking at them and asked what each one was about.

The one who won as a Lakers player.

Another as an assistant.

Five as coach - four leading

and the Heat in 2006, a piece set with 159 diamonds set in white gold.

Nine as an All-Star coach.

The Hall of Fame guy ... "Go ahead and try one on."

The message was direct: LeBron James felt the pressure to be crowned NBA champion and Riley, one of the most successful men in history - the only one to have won the ring as a player, coach and manager - had a hand.

The other masterstroke had already been revealed to his agent,

,

the night before

in a first meeting: Miami had the roadmap ready to reunite LeBron with

and

.

The last Finals

Riley had long feared that 2014 would be LeBron's last season in Miami.

Wade was increasingly limited by injuries and the cost of keeping three stars had been leaving the rotation in the bones.

He didn't have any proof, but he did have enough suspicions so that three days after losing the Finals, at the last press conference of the course, he launched an ordeal.

"This is hard, but if you have noses you have to stay together. You don't take the first door you find and walk away."

A few days later, James gave up his last year of contract to go on the market.

Riley, in celebration of one of his three rings with the Heat.REUTERS

One of his goals to strengthen the team was

.

According to Riley himself in the book

, by

, he got to meet the Spanish international, who showed his interest, and gave the phone number of his agent,

, to James and his representative,

, to talk to Pau.

The bad news came to him through Tellem.

As he recalls, LeBron told him, 'I'd like to play with you, wherever I am [next season].'

"Pat, I think you have a problem."

"Don't screw me. I know I have a problem."

They had lost the NBA Finals weeks ago, and Riley had barely spoken to LeBron again.

The silence was so disturbing that he went to the wedding of James' personal trainer,

, to try an approach.

Nothing.

And meanwhile he only heard rumors of moving and it came to him by other means that LeBron's agent and his lawyer,

, were going to meet in Cleveland with the Bulls, the Lakers, the Suns and the Rockets.

At least he would see them in person.

The rupture

Pat Riley and his right-hand man,

, walked into the room at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas with the two NBA titles that LeBron James had won with the Heat.

They also had a Napa Valley wine called 'Promise', the same one that

, one of James' closest associates, had brought out four years earlier to celebrate his move to Miami.

The first sign that something was wrong was that Carter was not in the meeting.

The most obvious, that during the meeting they seemed more attentive to the soccer World Cup game that they had on TV.

"He shouldn't have gone. It was like there was plenty of it there."

Although LeBron still maintains that he had not made a final decision, and that it was a show of respect to Riley, he had actually already met secretly in Miami with Cavaliers owner

to prepare for his return to Cleveland.

A few days later, in that same room, LeBron James met with journalist

to draft the letter with which he announced in

magazine

that, after four years in Miami, he would return home.

A few minutes before

published the letter, LeBron called Riley with the news.

At that point he no longer needed to confirm it, but when he started saying "I want to thank you ..." he stopped listening.

"For two or three days I felt tremendous rage. I was furious."

He did say something else on the first day of the next preseason, the first without LeBron, Riley left him a message: "We don't have any more smiles with hidden agendas."

Riley then launched into a model reconstruction that, just six years later, has returned the Heat to a Finals.

In front, the Lakers, their Lakers, but especially James.

And, no matter how much Irish blood you have, something will throb inside you both.

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