The 2016 NBA Finals will live long in the memory of NBA fans around the world. The Golden State Warriors led by Stephen Curry were on the verge of the greatest season in NBA history as they had won a record 73 games in the regular season and went up 3-1 in the Finals over the Cleveland Cavaliers. What followed, however, was the greatest comeback in NBA history as the Cavaliers became the first team to ever overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.
They had LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to thank for that incredible turnaround as the duo torched the Warriors in the last 3 games. Game 5 saw them both score 41 points and LeBron poured in 41 again in Game 6 to tie the series. Game 7 was a tightly-contested affair and right at the end, it produced two of the most iconic moments in NBA history. There was first the incredible chase-down block by LeBron on Andre Iguodala’s layup attempt with the teams tied at 89 and less than a minute later, Kyrie drilled that iconic three-pointer over Curry with 53 seconds remaining. When he was asked about how many times he had seen that iconic shot of his, Kyrie instead stated he’s been watching that block.
He is right when he says that there would have been no shot if not for that block. Both these teams were very much feeling the nerves as that game was winding down and no one had scored a basket for almost 3 minutes before that block. If Golden State had managed to go up by 2, then the pressure would have mounted on the Cavs players. Instead, the scores remained tied, with that play inspiring the whole team and Kyrie took that momentum to go and drill that shot at the other end.
It is a pity that we didn’t get to see more of LeBron and Kyrie together on the court, as Irving would demand a trade from the team in 2017. He recently expressed his regret at how things ended with LeBron and the Cavs and we can only wonder how differently things would have turned out if he stayed with them.
