Nike released a new LeBron James ad over the weekend, and some will view it as a nice tribute to a Cleveland Cavaliers team that came up just short in the NBA Finals. Others will read it and think “excuses, excuses.”
The ad references the injuries to both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving and essentially labels it miraculous that the Cavs pushed the Golden State Warriors to six games.
New Nike LeBron ad pic.twitter.com/p5Of0avA1u
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 21, 2015
Here’s the full text:
Imagine if Lebron came home to Cleveland.
Imagine if the team struggled early but finished the regular season strong.
Imagine if their big man went down, but they still found a way to power through the Eastern Conference.
Imagine if they faced the top seed in the Finals.
Imagine if they pushed Game 1 to overtime but lost another star to injury.
Imagine if everyone counted them out.
Imagine if they shocked the world and took the next two games.
Imagine if fatigue caught up with them, and they lost Games 4 and 5.
Imagine if they defied odds, logic and the basketball gods to come back and win the series in 7.
Except this isn’t Hollywood. It’s Cleveland.
Nothing is given. Everything is earned.
We get the message the ad was trying to send, but it’s nowhere near as good as the one Nike released shortly after LeBron returned to Cleveland. It goes without saying that those responsible for writing the content would have had a much easier time if the Cavs pulled off the upset.
