Cleveland welcomes King James’ return with Kendrick, confetti and a loss

LeBron James was officially welcomed back to Cleveland Thursday night. The Cavs held their first home game at the Q that included a pre-game concert with Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons. Kevin Hart was on hand to introduce Kendrick, and that doesn’t even include the pomp and circumstance for the player intros.

It felt like the finals. Ultimately it may have been too much too soon because the Cavs ended the night losing to the Knicks. Let’s review shall we:

LeBron’s walk into the arena included a familiar sidekick, former teammate Damon Jones.

Kendrick:

Usher sang the National anthem – he owns a minority piece of the team.

The Powder toss became a participation activity.

The stands were filled with some of your fav celebs. In addition to Kevin Hart and Usher, Justin Bieber, David Beckham, Michael Strahan, Spike Lee, Johnny Manziel and his Brown’s teammate Joe Hadden and more.

LeBron’s sponsors of course bought into the hype. Nike and Beats By Dre both created epic campaigns for the opening:

 

And people were mad when the Miami Heat held their pre-season pep rally in 2010… Not one, not two…