Before the first game of Cleveland's opening-round playoff series of 2015, Cavaliers players gathered to watch a video meant for the team's eyes only.
It opened with the city skyline, then flashed to a boxer, face shrouded, entering a ring.
For the next 8 minutes and 14 seconds, every conceivable season highlight, from LeBron James dunks to Kendrick Perkins jump hooks, played in rapid succession to a thumping beat. Spliced into the video were quotes from Malcolm X and Charles de Gaulle. There were motivational video clips of Ray Lewis, Bill Parcells and Red Auerbach extolling the virtues of a title and a voice-over from a narrator who intoned that "greatness does not come along very often."
