With the series at a 3-1 stand, it seemed to be almost a given that there would be another title going back to Oakland. Yet, the Cavs weren't ready to go home and they fought for their lives in the final three games to avenge last year's loss to the Warriors.
For the second straight season, the Golden State Warriors were the best team in the regular season putting on some amazing performances. They even surpassed Michael Jordan and the '95-'96 Bulls team who had seventy-two wins. With a 73-9 record and only two losses at the Oracle Arena (their home court), it seemed as if the Warriors had the title locked up before it even started.
That's why we love sports. Anything can happen, and that's what makes it so intriguing to get involved in. When the Warriors were playing game 5 at home, up 3-1 in the series, everyone thought it was over, since they'd only need to win one game out of the three, two at home. On one hand, it sucks to be wrong and guess that the Warriors would win, but on the other hand, it's pretty awesome to see what the Cavs did.
With their backs against the wall in Game 5, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James took over and carried the Cavs back to Cleveland for Game 6. They, as a duo, each had 41 points as they made shot after shot and draining out the buzz in the Oracle Arena minute by minute. As the final buzzer sounded the Cavs had won the game by a fifteen point margin.
Back in Cleveland for Game 6, it was all Cavaliers right from the tip as they jumped out to an early 30-9 lead in the first quarter. This time, it wasn't all Irving and James as the role players stepped up and dealt a great hand in returning to Oakland for one more game.
Until Game 5, Kyrie Irving didn't seem to be playing to his full ability until he came out on all cylinders for the final three games. Although he may have wanted to make a bigger impact on the series as a whole, he would have much rather ended up with the biggest shot of his career so far. As Game 7 came down to the last few minutes, it was looking like it would be a classic and it sure ended that way thanks to a big shot by Kyrie Irving.
In the final minute, the unanimous MVP Steph Curry tried to do what he's been doing the last two years by making the defense stumble and look silly trying to defend him. But in this situation, he might've gone too far. He dribbled around for a good ten seconds trying to get a shot off and ended up putting up a crazy shot. Did his head get to him as he made that decision? I think so. To me, it seemed like he forced a bad shot. You might be thinking: "No shot is a bad shot for Steph," and I somewhat agree, but he may have forced something that wasn't there and it was a bad time for that to happen.
Once the shot was off, the Cavs came down the court with a chance to take the lead and they did just that. Kyrie Irving pulled a step-back three and nailed it, giving the Cavs a three-point lead. After another forced shot by Curry, it was over from there as Lebron hit a free throw to seal the deal and bring a championship to Cleveland for the first time since 1964.
Could the story get any better? As a sports fan, these are the moments you always remember. The comeback, the Game 7 and all the hype surrounding it. For Cleveland, it had to have been one of the greatest feelings of finally bring home a title. Now it's the Browns and Indians turn. Maybe, but not anytime soon.
As far as the post-game went, though, a lot of buzz circled about all the glory they gave to Lebron. Yes, he is an amazing athlete and is up there as one of the all-time greats for sure. Just look at the fact that this was his sixth straight NBA finals appearance. Nothing like another Michael Jordan. Despite this, many thought that Lebron went overboard in his interviews and he got way too much attention. At the end of the day, it is a team sport and there were a lot of players on that team that deserved a lot more notice.
As my friend was saying after the game as we watched it, "They just gave three interviews, Lebron had two of them! What is going on!?"
At the time I just laughed and shrugged it off but after thinking about it, he was right. They talked about Lebron more than anything. What about the game winner by Kyrie Irving or the role players who even made the series go to a Game 7?
With all of my respect for Lebron, there's still a line that needs to be set on the glory that's given to one person no matter how special they are. Basketball is still a team sport. The number of times he said 'I' just amazed me.
Nevertheless, I'm not the biggest NBA fan but when you see a series like that between two great teams, it's hard to not watch it and enjoy the buzz that goes into it. All the emotional roller coasters and the never ending passion keeps you on the edge of your seat and that's what's so great about it.
For Cleveland, you can all take a sigh of relief, you finally have a championship.
