Lue Leads Cleveland to NBA Title

Former Husker great Tyronn Lue made NBA history, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first NBA title, as the Cavs overcame a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors with a 93-89 win in game seven Sunday night.

The series win over a Golden State team which won an NBA-record 73 regular-season games, capped an incredible first season as a head coach. The Cavs became the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit and just the fourth team to win game seven on the road and the first since 1978.

Lue, who played at Nebraska from 1996-98, became the Cavs’ head coach in January and became only the third NBA coach to win a title after taking over a team in midseason, joining Pat Riley and Paul Westhead.  It also marked the third time since 1982 that a rookie head coach won an NBA title.

While guiding Cleveland through the playoffs en route to the city’s first major sports title in 52 years, the title marked Lue’s second NBA title after winning one as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001. He played for 11 seasons with seven teams as a player before moving into the coaching ranks. He had served as an assistant coach in Boston and with the Los Angeles Clippers before becoming the Cavs’ Associate Head Coach before the 2014-15 season.

Lue, a member of the Nebraska Basketball Hall of Fame, was a standout player for the Huskers during his playing career. A first-round draft pick in 1998, Lue ranks among the school leaders in assists (432, fourth), steals (154, seventh) and points (1,577, ninth) despite playing only three seasons. The point guard from Mexico, Mo., helped the Huskers to three straight postseason appearances, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors in 1998 in leading the Huskers to an NCAA Tournament berth before turning professional.