Always Fighting // Kyrie Irving

Believeland

Kyrie:

Cleveland fans crowd around the gates as we step onto the plan. Chants of 'Cavs in 7' fill the air, trying to be heard over the roaring of the engine. We are stepping towards game 5, the game that will determine what sort of welcome we get coming back here, and, surprisingly, the fans couldn't be more excited. Somehow, they find enough faith to believe that we will win. Believe that we can come back from a 3-1 deficit against this 73-9 monster team.

Somehow. Somehow they have more faith than I do right now.

I know LeBron said don't even show up if you're doubting, but it's not like I could actually not show up. That's not how it works. Not if you're considered on of the big guys, the difference maker, a clutch player.

We all arrange ourselves on the plane, already stretching out for the long flight to California. Various medical and physical swarm around us, safely setting up all of their tools to keep us loose during the trip. So many things can effect us during these back and forth games, it's necessary to bring along specialists to ensure things like blood clots, jet lag, cramping, things of that sort, don't happen. There is no room for error.

LeBron gets up from his seat and starts walking down the rows, holding out his phone to each guy. What in the hell is he doing? I wonder, craning my neck as he makes his way to me.

"Phone, please, Kyrie." He says, motioning for me to give him my phone. I give him a strange look, but hand it to him nonetheless. He's airdropping something. "You listen to that after takeoff, okay?"

"A'ight, Bron." I nod my head as he moves on to the next guy.

Within a half hour, our pilot is announcing takeoff, and soon enough we are cruising. I slip in a pair of headphones, watching out of the corner of my eyes as the other guys do the same. Closing my eyes, I press play on the audio that LeBron gave to all of us.

"Yeah, we are down three to one," LeBron's voice fills my head, soft and quiet. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's true. We have to win three games. But first it starts with one. It starts with this one in Oracle arena, against the defending champs. The Golden State Warriors. It starts in roaracle, with thousands upon thousand of fans cheering against us. Wishing for us to lose, praying that we fail, hoping that we fall short. And it may seem like the whole world is against us. But think about the thousand and thousand of fans that are filling up the Q, wearing wine and gold in support of us. Think about the hunger they feel when they see us step onto that court, the passion that they try to give to us, the prayers they send to strengthen us. So instead of hearing the boo's in the Oracle, hears the screams in the Q, hear the chants of our fans as they push us to be better.

They believe in us, because they know belief is what it takes. You will never win with doubt. There are two battles going on in each and every one of us. That physical battle, going down three-one. But the more critical one is the mental battle, the thinking that we can't overcome our physical battle. That is what failure preys on, the doubt of the men that should be confident. It doesn't bother with the weak, it only pesters the strong, the ones who have a chance. It's a last tactic in the middle of war, in the waning moments of a game. Doubt.

But doubt doesn't have control over who we are and what we do if we know we are greater than what our mind would have us believe. Doubt doesn't have the power to make us believe what it says if we declare that fate has yet to decide our destiny. We stand up against out doubt and say that we get to determine our future. A future where we are champions, a future where we are legends, and victors.

The world says Cleveland is up against it's biggest opponent yet, and they're right but not in the way they think. Yes we are fighting for the championship but our battle is against ourselves. More specifically our battle is against our mind and our fears the feeling that we might fail.

Yeah. You know what? We might fail. I said it, it's a possibility. You know what else is a possibility? Succeeding. Succeeding where others have tried and failed because we know that eventually we will have our way with history. We will not be held back by numbers or statistics or the media. We will rise up to the challenge set before us with a greater and stronger passion because we know what we can accomplish when we first conquer our doubts. We will rise up to show ourselves and the people who doubted us that we are greater than anyone thought. That we are better than anyone knew. That we are not stopped by what might seem unstoppable.

First comes 48 minutes of hard work to bring us back home, 48 minutes of blood, sweat, and tears to show that we will not give up. One game, boys. One game to show the world that we will not accept defeat because the world wants us to. One game to say that we are never out of it until the ref blows the final whistle and the clock reads 0.

We worked all season to show up here again, with a vengeance and a thirst for blood. A desire and a hunger to prove the world wrong, to prove our doubts wrong and to prove our fans right. To prove to the people who back us that we will not let them down.

Anything can happen in a game five. So think about the people who support you, the fans who cheer you on, and tell yourself, your doubts, that there is nothing you cannot overcome. There is nothing you cannot defeat. There is no team, no deficit that is to big to overcome.

This is Cleveland, baby. This is where the magic happens. This is where we rise up and become greater than ever before. Cleveland will no longer be the home to missed chances. We will make Cleveland the city of Champions."