NBA playoffs 2015: Cavaliers sweep Hawks, advance to NBA Finals

LeBron James is one step away from delivering on his promise to those ring-starved fans in Cleveland.

James scored 23 points and J.R. Smith added 18 points off the bench as the Cavaliers routed the Atlanta Hawks 118-88 to complete the series sweep and secure a spot in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. You can celebrate the win and show off your team pride by getting this The Future Is Now T-shirt:

Of course, the NBA was a lot different when Russell and company made the Finals every year. There were only nine teams then: five in the Western conference, four in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics only had to be better than three other teams to make the Finals. Now, James’ teams have to be better than 14 opponents to make the Finals.

He’s made it to the Finals in Miami. He’s made it to to the Finals in Cleveland. He’s made it to the Finals as the Eastern Conference’s top seed. He’s made it to the Finals as a non-top seed.

There are 3 things you must do after sweeping the Eastern Conference Finals. Please let the Cleveland Cavaliers demonstrate.

1) Party in a hot tub

After an extremely touching moment between David Blatt and LeBron James, Blatt does the unthinkable. He left LeBron hanging.

I hope the two can recover from this as they head into the ever important NBA Finals.

No, nothing in Cleveland is easy.

THIS RULES

MOVE OVER, ACROBAT CHIHUAHUA. THERE’S A NEW BALANCER IN TOWN

LeBron entered Game 4 averaging a triple-double in this series. Doesn’t look like he’s satisfied just yet.

The screencap is even better: