CHANHASSEN, Minn. — The org won its fifth ring. The star won his fourth. But what some might consider "old" felt very fresh as the clock ran out on Game 3 at Paisley Park. Shorewood, winners of four titles in the 2010s, had waited 5 years to climb the mountaintop again. And LeBron James, who had been a secondary piece on three other championship teams, finally got his flowers as COMO Finals MVP. The honor, along with his record sixth All-COMO Playoffs selection, cements his case as a first-ballot COMO Hall of Famer in what's sure to be a crowded first class later this decade. "LeBron is one of the most important characters in this league's story," Shorewood GM Alex Smith said following his team's 3-0 sweep. "He's helped win it for us before. He's beat us in the Finals. We've beat him. And to have a chance to work with The King again this year feels like a full-circle moment." Way back in 2015, the Show traded for James at the trade deadline, and he helped them upset Chaska in the Finals for a second consecutive year. Then, he was gone to free agency, never to return... until this January. A balanced, veteran Shorewood squad used James' presence to finally find some chemistry in what had been an up-and-down season. They surged late, earning the No. 5 seed and peaking against Scranton and Hamburg BSV in the quarterfinals, and semifinals, respectively. While the Show cooled off in the Finals, they had the good fortune of squaring up against a Paisley Park team that was completely out of gas after a magical playoff run from the No. 7 spot. Paisley GM Brendan Halleron thanked his first-year coach, Ted Lasso, for "injecting a new level of belief" in a mostly downtrodden franchise, and cited an inspiring speech about adversity and potatoes. "If you can do it once," Halleron said, "you can do it again." That certainly rings true for Shorewood, which won titles in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2019 before a half-decade championship drought that ended Thursday night. As the champagne flowed in the visitors' locker room, James had his arm around legendary coach Bobby Finstock, who finally had "one for the thumb." "There are three rules that I live by," Finstock told reporters as James shook his head and smiled. "Never get less than twelve hours sleep, never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city, and never stand between this man and a trophy. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese." 2024 All-COMO Playoffs team
List of COMO Finals MVPs
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