The reality that hung in the air in the tiny visitors locker room that muggy June night at AT&T Center was sobering.
Shane Battier announced his career was done. Ray Allen said he was leaning the same way. Chris Bosh said he was exhausted. Dwyane Wade described the feeling as the end of a long ride.
There was no missing the feeling of finality. The San Antonio Spurs had just wrapped up the title in five mostly one-sided games and the Miami Heat reached the end of what had been one hellacious ride.
That night LeBron James rubbed his eyes, shook his head and with a mixture of defeat and awe uttered:
"That's what team basketball and that's how team basketball should be played. You know, it's selfless. Guys move, cut, pass, you've got a shot, you take it, but it's all for the team and it's never about the individual.
"That's the brand of basketball, and that's how team basketball should be played."
There were a number of reasons that was his last night in a Heat uniform. It would be harmonious and symbolic to say he went to Cleveland to construct his own version of this type of basketball and attempt to mimic the Spurs ... blah, blah, blah.
Everyone these days tries to play like the Spurs did those two weeks in June. It's hardly a unique construct.
But along the lines of keeping it real, the team that James is taking into San Antonio on Thursday night is different from the one that found itself gassed under the Spurs' heels last season. And James has been refreshed by his change of latitude.
There was a quantifiable value to the shell the Heat had developed in their four years together. By last season, they'd yawn when they fell down in a series and roll their eyes at any perceived controversies. Questions that cause Cavaliers coach David Blatt to lash back at the media these days would be shed by Erik Spoelstra by a curt retort and a dismissive wave as the train rolled onward.
While there are going to be downsides, the unseasoned Cavs have an enthusiasm and excitement that was missing from the team James left. And it has positioned them to indeed resemble the Spurs team that crushed the spirits of James and his teammates last season.
The Cavs' starters combined for 108 points Tuesday night in an absolute lashing of Dallas, the biggest-ever win for the Cavs against the Mavs. And Dallas has dominated that series for a long time. It dates to their repeated lopsided trades in the 1980s, when the Mavs managed to acquire every Cavs first-round pick between 1983 and 1986 in separate deals and forced the league enact the so-called "Stepien Rule" -- named for then-Cavs owner Ted Stepien -- that deemed first-round picks can't be traded in back-to-back years.
Then-Mavs coach Dick Motta once said he was afraid to go to lunch because he might miss a call from Stepien with a trade offer. For the Cavs, it was a symbolic blowout.
Back to modern times, the team James will be playing for in Thursday's game between two of the hottest teams in the league is different from that battle-tested but drained Heat team that finally succumbed. The Cavs may lack experience, and their mental toughness has yet to be tested, but they're younger, more energetic and armed with a better array of shooters and big men than what the Spurs slayed in last season's Finals.
The Cavs have had, far and away, the best five-man unit in the league since Jan. 15, when James returned from his midseason hiatus to combine with the players they acquired. They've vaulted into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and look to be getting stronger as the season goes on.
When they're at their best, like on Tuesday, they move the ball. They have tried to keep James' minutes down and given him the occasional night off. At times they will have four players on the floor who are a threat to hit a 3-pointer. They have good rim protection. They have a mixture of veterans and young players. They have three bona fide stars.
The styles are different in various ways but, yes, there are certainly ingredients that resemble what the Spurs put together to win last season -- the sort of team that left James defeated and impressed last June.
James has tempered expectations since training camp. He has been through too much in his career not to. But he can't help seeing what is coming together, and he's letting himself wonder. He said so much Tuesday on his way out of a Texas arena where he once experienced the sting of a Finals defeat:
"It's a very exciting time."