Former Nebraska basketball star and current Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue is just four wins away from making some NBA history. After his Cavs team took down the Boston Celtics in yet another blowout victory the second year head coach has driven his squad to the NBA Finals for a second straight year. That isn't the part of the story that is history making. What would make history, if his team can get those four wins, is that Lue would be the first head coach in league history to win an NBA title in each of his first two seasons.
Lue in rarified air
The list of NBA coaches who have managed to win multiple titles is longer than most casual basketball fans probably realize. In total, there are 13 coaches who have won at least two league championships and five who have won five or more titles. The list gets a bit shorter when talking about back-to-back championships, though there are still several and one NBA coach who has won back-to-back titles is still coaching. Erik Spoelstra is still helming the Miami Heat after winning championships in 2012 and 2013. Ironically (or perhaps not ironically at all) Spoelstra had the services of LeBron James at his beck and call during those two wins.
James has since brought his talents back to Cleveland and is now taking his team to their third straight NBA Finals.
So far, Lebron is 1-1 in the Finals series having lost to Golden State in 2015 and beating the Warriors in 2016. The team is 1-0 when Lue is at the helm.
Lue is far from the only history maker
While it would certainly be an interesting footnote for the Cavaliers' head coach to win the title in his first two years as a head coach, there are other pieces of history that are following this NBA Finals matchup now that it is official.
This is the first time in the history of the league that two teams are facing off against each other for the third straight year. Not even the famed Los Angeles Lakers - Boston Celtics matchups managed to have the two squads meet in the finals three straight years.
There is also the little tidbit about Lebron James now appearing in seven straight NBA finals.
No other player in the history of the league has managed to pull that off. Not Michael Jordan, not Larry Bird and not Magic Johnson. James, of course, has taken a different career path than the other legends in that he's appeared in seven straight finals with two different teams. Now he and Tyronn Lue are just hoping to add to this historical run.
