God used to hate Cleveland. There was a sinking feeling around any team from the city vying for a championship. That shoe would never fall for the 2015-16 Cavs. Down 3-1 to the defending champions, Cleveland completed a comeback for the ages last night. It was a sight to behold for a city that never slept for all the wrong reasons. Rather than succumbing to the statistics and history surrounding their situation, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and company rose above it. It had been 52 years and 146 completed seasons since Cleveland hoisted a championship trophy. The King and his court have ended that reign of mediocrity though, and took out the league’s best regular season team ever to do so.
The Cavs were begging for the Warriors to give them a Finals rematch. The incumbent champions completed a comeback of their own against the Thunder to grant their wish. That wish was looking rather misguided though through two games of the series.
Two blowouts at the Oracle Arena had the Cavaliers reeling and the nation pigpiling on LeBron James. Is this how the King would define his legacy? Questions swirled as to whether this would lead to another unceremonious exit for him from his native Ohio. Those queries became even louder once they followed up a Game 3 win with another defeat. No team had ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. The networks made very sure to beat that fact into our brains every chance they got.
Cleveland’s death knell was supposed to come in Game 5. They received a stay of execution by Draymond Green getting suspended. The Cavs’ win in Game 6 was viewed even more so as a delay of the inevitable. The light at the end of the tunnel kept getting brighter though. The reversal of fortunes was nigh. Game 7 couldn’t disappoint. And after a series of miscalculations and questionable decisions by all parties involved, it didn’t.
The Cavs set the tone early by relying heavily on their big three. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James had starred all series, but Kevin Love had taken a literal and metaphorical beating. All three were equally contributive to the solid start. At the same time, Golden State’s trio of All-Stars were beginning their own surge.
The second quarter was all Warriors. More simplistically, the second was all Draymond Green. The man who had missed Game 6 imposed his will on the contest during this period. He was omnipresent on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. Green could do no wrong as Golden State’s lead grew towards halftime. This is the point where Cleveland threw in the towel last year. However, LeBron James wasn’t ready for his team, or his legacy, to wave the white flag just yet.
As I said before, James is an easy target for “haters.” They point and laugh at his Finals record and minimize his countless accomplishments. But if this performance in a Game 7 doesn’t forever seal their lips shut, nothing will. Speaking of will, LeBron James imposed his on the Warriors in the second half. He became the gatekeeper on defense and the lead broadsword in attack. I can hear the detractors now telling me that the King only scored four points in the third quarter. Those people look at a box score for a player’s performance, not the game itself. The Warriors’ body language said it all about what James, Irving, and company were doing to them. The swagger they had going into halftime up seven had eroded.
But the third quarter isn’t where this story became a legend. No, no. The fourth quarter, one filled with mountainous highs and cavernous lows, would be that. It was not the prettiest displays of basketball, yet it provided more drama than any 12 minutes of basketball in recent memory. There had been four other NBA Finals Game 7’s in the past 25 years. Although all of those previous games were just as close, none captivated the audience like this one.
A 73 win regular season team defending their title on their home floor were fading to a team that everybody loved to call anything but a “team.” The previous Game 7’s were all won by the home side. The 1993-1994 Rockets, 2004-2005 Spurs, 2009-2010 Lakers, and even James’ 2012-2013 Heat all took home the Larry O’Brien Trophy in front of their supporters. The 2015-2016 Cavs had other ideas.
The teams traded leads throughout the first two/thirds of the fourth. Once the score was knotted at 89 though, the real tension set in. For three and a half minutes, neither team could land the death blow. The Warriors launched three pointers to no avail. Shot blocks came on both ends. One of those blocks though, gave a dying game a resuscitation. Words can’t even do it justice. Needless to say, this is no longer the greatest block in playoffs history. THIS is.
That block may as well have taken the air out of the ball for the Golden State Warriors. Even before Kyrie Irving’s heroic three pointer tickled the twine a minute later, the Warriors were dead. The King had beheaded last year’s Finals MVP and made his constituents watch in horror. Game of Thrones, which was playing congruently with these final moments, has had its share of untimely demises. It has also had its share of kings. This Finals proved without a shadow of a doubt, that despite all loathing and nitpicking, there is only one true King in today’s NBA.
The unanimous MVP Stephen Curry was a false idol. The Warriors’ downfall wasn’t all his own, although as their leader it will be viewed as such. That fateful fourth quarter was nine parts brilliance by the Cavs and one part collapse by the Warriors. The fact that it got to that point may be another mixture, but that is besides the point at the moment.
Current Cleveland fans may never see a Browns Super Bowl. They could potentially die before the next Indians World Series appearance. But on June 19th, 2016, the Cavs and their King made sure they got at least one crown. God could still hate Cleveland. Whether that fact is true lies in the hands of theological experts. But regardless of his sentiments towards The ‘Land, you can’t say the man upstairs hates the Cavs anymore. This summer will prove if this is LeBron James’ final gift to the city. If it is, I don’t think the fans will be burning #23 jerseys in anger.