CLEVELAND, Ohio — The wave was more abrupt than he wanted it to be.
Head coach Tyronn Lue can at least laugh about it now, even after his Clippers fell [127-122 to the Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon](https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/03/cavs-end-grueling-march-with-127-122-win-over-los-angeles-clippers.html).
But can you blame the guy? His moment to acknowledge the cheering Cleveland fans, the ones who still very much appreciate the title he helped bring their team back in 2016, had some bad timing.
The Clippers’ coach was shown on the arena’s humongotron while his team was trailing 13-8 midway through the first quarter.
“I was a little (expletive) off before, so I didn’t give ‘em a good wave because it was during the timeout, we wasn’t playing well,” Lue quipped. “But no, I always loved coming back here.”
And there’s still plenty of love coming back at Lue, nearly nine years later, for helping end a sports-obsessed city’s 52-year title drought and giving their basketball team its first championship.
On the interactive media board outside of the Clippers locker room, the Cavs put Lue’s 2016 portrait with the Larry O’Brien trophy with a welcome back message.
His pregame press conference was crashed by the last player standing in Cleveland from that championship team, Tristan Thompson, who pulled Lue into a hug mid-answer.
“That’s my brother, bro, T-Lue,” Thompson said. “We got history. Win the championship, having all them great years together.”
And then came the moment on the humongotron mid-game.
Just ahead of the PA announcer welcoming back Lue, the moment also featured two other members of the Cavs’ 2016 championship team.
Larry Drew, who served as an assistant and associate head coach with the Cavs during Lue’s tenure, was the first. Drew also stepped in as an interim head coach for nine games while Lue battled health issues in 2018. When Lue was fired after an 0-6 start in the 2018-19 season, and the Cavs embarked on a rebuild, Drew was promoted to head coach. He and the team parted ways in 2019 when his contract was up, and Drew has been an assistant on Lue’s Clippers staff since 2020.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. LA Clippers, March 30, 2025
And then there was Dahntay Jones, who played on the Cavs’ 2015-16 and 2016-17 teams. The veteran was signed by the Cavs on the last day of the regular season in 2016, but went on to play crucial spot playoff minutes. He’ll go down in Cavs’ lore for a crucial 5-point, 1-block performance in Game 6 as the Cavs evened up the Finals series against Golden State, overcoming a 3-1 deficit.
“It’s always a lot of love and respect, and to do something for this city, it meant a lot to me,” Lue said. “I know it meant a lot to Dahntay and L.D. as well. Just like you see their fans, you see what they do and when you’re walking down the street, just very positive people, very positive fans. And like I said, it was a really good run — a great run actually.
“And to win a championship in a city that has never done that before, it really means a lot.”
This kind of scene is bound to meet Lue every time he returns to Cleveland for the rest of his coaching career, no matter where that career takes him.
But his return also serves as a reminder of what these current Cavs are chasing and why.
With the victory over the Clippers, Cleveland hit the 60-win mark. It’s only the third time the Cavs have reached that mark in franchise history, and it’s something none of Lue’s Cleveland teams managed to pull off (they topped out at 57 regular-season wins in that championship season).
There’s now only seven games remaining on the schedule, as Cleveland holds on to the top seed in the Eastern Conference, 4.5 games ahead of the Boston Celtics.
But Lue’s return. Subtle reminders of 2016 and the Cavs’ four straight trips to the NBA Finals from 2015-18. It helped make the postseason run the Cavs are chasing feel that much more tangible.
Take this exchange between Jarrett Allen and Donovan Mitchell, two of the Cavs’ core four, when asked about those reminders:
_“Yeah, I mean the city always remembers the 2016 championship, and I always joke with people, if you win a championship, you can go anywhere and not have to pay for a drink or something like that,” Allen said._
_“Damn right!” Mitchell interjected._
_“They never forget,” Allen continued. “And that’s something we want to bring to the city. That’s the joy that we want to bring.”_
_Mitchell, once again interjecting: “We want free drinks.”_
_“That might be the reason. What do you play for?” Allen said with a laugh. “We just want to be remembered in the city for something great that we did and how talented we are as a team and just what we put forward.”_
Jokes aside, Mitchell was in the building as a fan for the Cavs-Warriors Finals matchup the following year in 2017.
At that time, he was just getting ready to begin his own NBA career. In real-time, he saw what that atmosphere in Cleveland was like, and still remembers it.
“I was sitting in the crowd just watching and just being able to see the electricity, to see the passion (in) the entire city hours before the game,” Mitchell said. “Just nuts. That’s what you play for. You play for the city’s at our back, and they believe in us. And that’s something that, like you said, we want to be remembered in history and I think that we’re on track, but we got a lot of work to do to get there.”
The Cavs finished March with an 11-5 record, a stretch that included their season-long, four-game losing streak. In total, this 16-game stretch was played out over 29 days, with 10 games on the road, making it an absolutely grueling stretch.
The Cavs’ magic number to clinch the top spot in the East is now down to four — but after that, the real fun begins.
The playoffs and a postseason run are what the Cavs have worked all year — or all of their careers — for.
Success in May and June in the NBA can immediately become a part of your legacy. Lue’s return was a reminder of that
But that return was also a reminder of just how quickly things can change. Lue was out of Cleveland just over two years after winning that title. It’s now been 10 years since that 2014-15 Cavs squad started the run of four straight finals matchups with Golden State.
“It goes by quick in his league,” Thompson said. “I mean, think about it. ”Dahntay (was) a player. Now he’s a coach, and you’ve got James Jones. He’s front office president for the Suns. So it’s crazy to see how much can happen in 10 years.”
It’s all part of the natural cycle of NBA life.
That stilted wave to the crowd from Lue on Sunday was an acknowledgement, a reminder of the team’s past.
But it was also a reminder of the sense of urgency needed, when you’re talking about titles and legacy.