Although it has almost been a decade, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving’s heroics from the 2016 NBA Finals are still discussed by veteran fans of the basketball community. To the younger fans who might not know, LeBron and Kyrie led the Cleveland Cavaliers to victory over the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
While LeBron has been eliminated from postseason contention in this year’s playoffs, Kyrie Irving is currently in the Western Conference Finals and significantly close to winning a championship alongside Luka Doncic. While this year’s finals are expected to be quite exciting regardless of who makes it and who wins, it can be considered almost insignificant when compared to the 2016 NBA Finals.
LeBron James and the Cavs made a 3-1 comeback against the Warriors in 2016
Over the years, there have been several matchups and rivalries that have garnered attention from NBA fans. From the Celtics-Lakers rivalry to the Bulls-Pistons rivalry, the main focus for the past decade was the rivalry between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors.
Both teams first faced off against each other in the 2015 NBA Finals and GSW ended up winning their first title under Steph Curry. Both teams matched up again for the 2016 NBA Finals. The Warriors had finished the regular season with a record of 73 wins and 9 losses and crushed all the teams on their way to the Finals.
GSW took a 3-1 lead on LeBron and the Cavs. Given that no team had ever come back from being down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, many members of the basketball community thought that the Warriors would defeat the Cavs for the second time in a row. However, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving amped up their play for the remainder of this series and forced a Game 7.
During the final minutes of Game 7, both sides were struggling to get a bucket with identical scores. Kyrie Irving took matters into his own hands and scored a clutch three-pointer over Steph Curry. As the game approached the final seconds, LeBron James had an incredible chase-down block on Andre Iguodala to help his team complete their comeback and make NBA history.The Warriors transformed into a dynasty after this unexpected Finals loss
Although the Warriors had the best record in the history of the league and were coming off an MVP season for Steph Curry, the team ended up choking a 3-1 lead to the Cavs. Many members of the NBA media have claimed that this loss forced the team to recruit Kevin Durant to help them establish their dominance in the league.
Given that Curry and Durant were both MVP-caliber players at the time, the Warriors instantly transformed into a championship dynasty and dominated LeBron’s Cavaliers in 2017 and 2018. They turned the NBA Finals into a one-sided beatdown and held the Cavs to just 1 win in 2 finals series. Unfortunately, the Warriors dynasty ended up coming to an end in 2019 after losing to Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors