At the end of the day, it is not about a wins and losses record. It's not about becoming the first unanimous MVP the sport has ever seen. It is about winning the grand prize. Winning championships is the final goal of every season in every sport. And this one was sweeter than most.
In a city that has had 52 years of heartbreak, the Larry O'Brien Trophy now resides. After the most highly coveted high school prodigy we have witnessed in the past 20 years left his home city for the Miami Heat, LeBron James returned to fill a prophecy. To bring a championship to the city of Cleveland.
Down three games to one in the NBA Finals and history against them, the Cleveland Cavaliers took on a serious do-or-die attitude that, ultimately, prevailed. Prior to the 2016 NBA Finals, no team had come back from a 3-1 deficit in The Finals. The first two games of the series were blowouts and the Golden State Warriors took an easy 2-0 lead. Then, knowing Game 3 would define the series, the Cavaliers blew out the Warriors by 30 in Cleveland. James scored 32, while his co-pilot, Kyrie Irving dropped 30. And, just like that, it was a series again.
In Game 4, it was Stephen Curry's turn. The unanimous MVP scored 38 points, his highest total in any game in the 2016 NBA Finals, and the Warriors were up 3-1 going back to Oracle Arena-a place where they had lost just four regular season games over the past two seasons. But, before we get into Game 5, there was a crucial play in Game 4 in Cleveland that gave the Cavaliers a mountain of hope. A physical confrontation resulted in Draymond Green falling to the floor while play continued. James subsequently stepped over him, to which Green responded by flailing his arms toward The King's golden nuggets. The most surprising part about the play was that a whistle was not blown until moments later, when Green was called for a foul while fighting James for a rebound. The NBA reviewed the play after the game and decided to upgrade the foul to a Flagrant Foul 1, resulting in a total of four flagrant foul points in the playoffs for Green, which warrants an automatic suspension.
This was the cumulative effect of a kick to the groin of Steven Adams by Green in the Western Conference Finals, which was not ruled a flagrant foul. In the eyes of the NBA, Green is a repeat offender (there were even instances in the early rounds of the playoffs where Green flailed at another player's junk). But what is odd about the situation is the NBA had to upgrade a common foul to a flagrant when, in actuality, it was not. Calling a flagrant on the arm swing by Green would have been justifiable but, because the referees in the game did not whistle a foul, the NBA could not review that specific part of the play. Ultimately, it is fair to argue that the NBA made the wrong call which led to the suspension.
So the Warriors went back to Oakland with their best defender banned from Oracle Arena. And the Cavs took full advantage. James and Irving each scored 41 points and the Warriors could not get any help from anyone not named Curry or Klay Thompson (25 and 37 points, respectively). James also had a game-high 16 rebounds, a game-high seven assists, and added three steals and three assists. 112-97 was the final score and it was back to Cleveland for Game 6. Does James have another 40-point performance in him? Another double-double?
Of course he does. A year to the day after the Cavs watched the Warriors hoist the trophy on their home floor in Game 6, the 31 year-old James dropped 41 in consecutive games. And, this time, added a game-high 11 assists, a game-high four steals, a game-high three blocks, and eight rebounds. The Cavaliers shot 51 percent and racked up 24 assists. The Warriors, who led the league in assists during the regular season with 28.9 per game, had 19 in Game 6. Green was back on the floor and had a team-high six assists, but scored eight points and, again, it was the role players failing to come to the aid of Curry and Thompson.
The story in Game 6, however, was Curry fouling out for the first time in his career, which prompted him to throw his mouth piece at a fan. He was subsequently ejected for the first time in his career as the fourth quarter had not yet come to a close, but the game was out of reach. Curry was fined $25,000 after the incident.
So off to Game 7 we go. Back in Oakland. Warriors: three. Cavs: three. Unlike last season, it was the Warriors who were banged up. Andrew Bogut, who averaged 8.6 minutes-per-game in The Finals, went down with a knee injury in Game 5 and was ruled out for the rest of the series. Andre Iguodala was bothered by a back problem in Game 6 and was not himself in Game 7. Time will tell what Curry was dealing with in terms of pain in his knee, ankle, and shoulder. The Warriors were undersized without Bogut and were lacking defensively without the 2015 Finals MVP completely healthy.
A defensive battle ensued and it was James and Irving who got theirs. They scored 27 points and 26 points, respectively, and played like champions in the final game of the 2015-2016 season. Kevin Love, who averaged 7.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in The Finals and missed Game 3 due to a concussion, grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds in Game 7. James notched his second triple-double of the 2016 playoffs, giving him a total of 15 career playoff triple-doubles. He ranks second in that category behind Magic Johnson and moved past Shaquille O'Neal for fourth on the all-time postseason scoring list.
Green also approached a triple-double and had a game-high 32 points and 15 rebounds. He certainly made up for his Game 5 suspension, but it was not enough for the Warriors. James had a huge block on Iguodala late in the game and, with 53 seconds left on the game clock, Irving drained a three-pointer over Curry to give the Cavaliers a 92-89 lead.
The Warriors coughed the ball up on the other end of the floor and it was James taking it hard to the rim. Green wisely fouled and James hit the deck hard. Had he connected on that dunk, the world might have shattered.
James took time to get up after falling hard on his wrist and, after missing his first free throw, he made the second to stretch the lead to four. And that's where it would stay. The fans at Oracle Arena saw the Cavaliers win for the second time in as many games and it was their turn to watch their opponent hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
King James repossessed his crown with authority. He led all players in The Finals in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks and was named unanimous Finals MVP. The prophecy was fulfilled and it had all come full circle, starting and ending with the best player on the planet.
Curry and Thompson combined to shoot 12-for-36 from the field and 6-for-24 from three-point range in Game 7. The unanimous regular season MVP had 17 points, two assists, four turnovers, and four fouls. After leading the NBA in steals during the regular season, Curry was flawed defensively. He averaged just 0.9 steals-per-game in The Finals. Had the Warriors come out victorious, Curry would likely have finished fourth in the MVP voting behind Thompson, Green, and James.
A series that once looked as though it would be wrapped up in five games by the 73-9 Golden State Warriors lived up to the hype and went the distance. The Warriors lost as many games in the postseason as they did in the 82-game regular season. They have become the equivalent to the 2007 New England Patriots. As Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen said, the best regular season in NBA history means nothing without a championship. One can only wonder what kind of motivation the Dubs will bring to the table next season.
Everyone loves a true underdog story and this one should solidify The King's legacy for good. He is now 3-4 in the NBA Finals after winning his first Game 7 as a Cavalier. It was he who led the first ever comeback from down 3-1 in The Finals. And it was LeBron James who delivered a promise to the city of Cleveland to bring a championship by storm to a city that has been riddled by a championship drought since 1964.
Congratulations, Cleveland. You should be bumping J.R. Smith for years to come.