For the first time in the history of the NBA finals, a team has overcome a three game-to-one deficit and won the championship series. With it, the city of Cleveland sees a 52-year-old curse broken and a championship trophy brought back to their city. It’s only right that the so called, “son of Cleveland,” LeBron James, is the one bringing it home. Along with the Finals MVP award, James has earned the respect of many (including this semi-professional writer) around the world.
On Sunday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 93-89 behind the stellar play of James. As a Chicago fan (primarily the Bulls), it takes a great deal of strength to tip the cap to the man of the hour. After all, James has basically crushed my hopes and dreams for my favorite team the past seven years (but it is okay). Seeing his performance during the last round of the NBA playoffs was something special. Through the first six games of the last round, James leads both teams in “points per game” with an average of 30.2. What’s more incredible is that this was while enduring an exhausting 40.9 minutes a game. To cap it off, LeBron James led the Cavaliers with 27 points during Game 7.
So here we are, reflecting on an incredible display of gamesmanship by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. But how did this team get here? How was the stage set so perfectly for this impossible ending at Oracle Arena in California? Here are three of the biggest moments, key plays, pivotal displays of basketball talent that changed the course of the seven game final series these past two weeks.
1. Draymond Green gets a little too handsy with LeBron.
If you followed the series at all, you definitely know about what is possibly the biggest incident of the 2016 Finals contest. If you missed it, here’s what you need to know; Green (a known suspect with hard fouls/flopping) was in an altercation with King James and in the commotion took a swing (although more of a slap) at the lower portion of LeBron James body (that’s right folks, close to his McNuggets). After reviewing the play, officials designated the foul as Flagrant 1 which put the Golden State power forward over a designated limit and a one game suspension was enforced. This one game suspension arguably opened up the floor for LeBron James and got the ball rolling (so-to-speak) in the last three games.
2. LeBron James decides to take over.
Who knows what took the Cavs coaching staff so long, but they finally realized that they have a perennial all-star, freak-athlete and two-time winning champion on their roster. Through the last three games of the series, James averaged 36.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists and 3 steals while shooting 50% from the field and 42% from beyond the arc. As if averaging a near-triple double through the series wasn’t good enough, James led his team in the final game with an actual triple-double (27pts, 11 rbds, 11asts) while playing 47 minutes (out of a possible 48). This is the definition of a man putting his team on his back while doing whatever it took to get his team and his city the win.
3. Small ball is finally over.
It might be because the Golden State Warriors won the previous year, but there was a ton of talk of other organizations trying to model their team after the Dubs. What this meant for the league is the increasing need for your roster to have shooters and the game of basketball changing. To many (and to me), winning games by raw offensive talent molded by a great basketball mind (props Steve Kerr) was impressive, but was NOT anything that merited teams to drop their plans and commit to that style. With the Warriors in this year’s Championship, hopefully, other general managers will let small ball die.
There you have it folks. If you were living under a rock when it came to sports in the past couple of weeks, you now have a semi-professional take on the NBA Finals. Go use these important facts/stats to win arguments with your friends and if you’re not a native, probably avoid the Cleveland area for the next couple days.
