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Ty Lue still owes LeBron $100 from his 'cash in the ceiling' Finals motivational ploy

Dan Devine
·Senior NBA writer
Tyronn Lue points to various elevated locations around Cleveland where he stashed cash. (Getty Images)
Tyronn Lue points to various elevated locations around Cleveland where he stashed cash. (Getty Images)

You know what motivates NBA players? The thrill of victory? The desire to dominate? The imperative to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are the very best in the world at what they do?

Sure, all of those are pretty good answers. The best one, though: cold hard cash stuffed in the ceiling of the visiting locker room at an opponent’s arena.

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Tyronn Lue knew that, and used it to his advantage to help the Cleveland Cavaliers climb out of the 3-1 hole they faced against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals, according to a tale the coach told at Cavs media day earlier this week, according to Will Burge of FOX Sports Ohio:

If that sounds familiar to you, there’s a good chance you were paying way too much attention to the NBA during the 2010 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, whose coaching staff included an assistant named Tyronn Lue:

Following a win over the Lakers last February, Celtics coach Doc Rivers demanded $100 each from Boston’s players, coaching staff, and even team managers. He stuffed the dough in an envelope, and told his team — his entire traveling organization, really — that they can have the money back the next time they play the Lakers inside the Staples Center.

The kicker? This was after the team’s only game inside the Staples Center during the regular season. They weren’t going to make it back inside that locker room unless the team made it back to the NBA Finals, some 3 1/2 months later. This was the only scenario that would see Rivers being able to take his team’s cash back, and at the time of the stashing, it seemed a long shot for the Celtics to even make it back to Staples within the year.

The Celtics, at the time, were a clear No. 3 in their own conference at that point, and may have even dropped a notch in most NBA followers’ minds between that February contest and the end of the regular season.

Rivers had faith, though. And at some point when the C’s returned to Los Angeles, on Tuesday, his team got its money back.

Those Celtics left L.A. with their money, but without another set of rings, as the Lakers got some revenge for the 2008 Finals and the fifth ring of Kobe Bryant’s career. Still, the brass and wisdom of Rivers — whose ceiling-stashing has inspired treasure-seeking inquiries from basketball luminaries like Gregg Popovich and Seth Rosenthal — inspired Lue at a pivotal point, with the Cavs having just staved off elimination with a Game 5 road win behind monster games from LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

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As you probably know, it — and the Larry O’Brien Trophy puzzle, and the Undertaker T-shirt, and the motivational group text that LeBron James sent to his teammates, and everything else — worked, as the Cavs ripped off three straight wins to claim the first championship in franchise history, breaking Cleveland’s 52-year pro sports title drought.

Lue went into detail on his demand that everybody put up $100 on Tuesday, after the Cavs’ first practice of training camp, according to Joe Vardon of cleveland.com:

Not just from LeBron James, or Kyrie Irving, or Kevin Love — you know, the players who print money. But everyone in the room, from owner Dan Gilbert (also not poor) down to Cavs’ public relations staffers and equipment managers.

Lue took the wad of cash — senior vice president of communications Tad Carper says it was $4,500 — and hid it in the ceiling of the coaches’ dressing room in the corner of the Oracle Arena visitor’s locker room.

“They were like, ‘Where is the money going?'” Lue said Tuesday, following the Cavs’ first practice as defending champs. “I’m like, ‘It’s going to me and I’m going to wrap it up and put it in the ceiling in the coaches locker room and we’re going to come back, get our money and get our trophy for Game 7.'” […]

The Cavs did indeed return to Oracle and win Game 7, 93-89, thus collecting the Larry O’Brien trophy on the Warriors’ court. As for the money, well, “we got it back to the right people,” Lue said.

Well, according to another attendee of Cavs training camp, not all of the right people, apparently:

“I’m still looking for my money. I didn’t get mine back,” James said.

Of all the guys on the Cavs to stiff. (At least the PR staffers and equipment managers got their investments back.)

Luckily, both James and Lue got repaid many times over by Gilbert this summer to help lead Cleveland’s pursuit of back-to-back championships. A pro-tip for arena staffers around the NBA: if the Cavs roll through town in the middle of a rough patch in their schedule, do yourselves a favor after they vacate the premises. Grab a ladder and start snooping. Baby needs a new pair of shoes, and fortune favors the bold.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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