LeBron James played a starring role as the Cleveland Cavaliers became NBA champions for the first time, with a series-deciding victory over Golden State Warriors on Sunday.
James potted 27 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds in Cleveland's 93-89 triumph in game seven of the NBA finals series which the Cavaliers clinched 4-3.
The NBA's newest champions became the first team to rally from a 1-3 series deficit, by completing a famous win over the top-seeded Warriors at their home venue in Oakland, California.
And the result ends decades of heartbreak for the city of Cleveland, which had not won a major American championship since the Browns secured the National Football League title in 1964.
The victory also earned the Cavaliers revenge over the Warriors who had beaten them 4-2 to win last year's finals series.
Cavaliers superstar James said: "I'm coming home with what I said I was going to do. I can't wait to get off that plane, hold that trophy up and see all our fans at the terminal."
The eventual winners recovered from a seven-point deficit at the halfway stage but levelled matters 54-54 early in the third quarter.
The match continued to sway one way, and then the other, and was locked at 89-89 with three minutes, 40 seconds left - the lead having changed hands 20 times.
The score remained the same with 1:09 remaining as Andre Iguodala and James blocked each other's shot attempts.
Kyrie Irving's tremendous three-point jumper finally broke the tie and, after Stephen Curry missed, James took a heavy fall when fouled by Draymond Green and made one of the two free throws to clinch a four-point winning margin.
Curry had been named the league's most valuable player, after his team had finished the regular season with a brilliant 73-9 record.
For the Warriors, who had a record number of wins during the 82-game regular season, Sunday's defeat marked the first time since November 2013 that they had lost three games in a row.
MVP Curry admitted: "It hurts. It wasn't easy what we accomplished and it's not an easy pill to swallow what we didn't accomplish."