Cleveland's 3-1 Comeback
First team back from 3-1 down in the Finals. Down three games to one against a 73-win Warriors team, LeBron James and the Cavaliers won three straight to end Cleveland's 52-year title drought.
James and Curry, 2016 Finals: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0
The best regular season ever
The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors won 73 games, breaking the record of 72 set by Michael Jordan's 1995-96 Bulls. Stephen Curry was the first unanimous MVP in NBA history. They had beaten Cleveland in the 2015 Finals, and after Game 4 of the 2016 Finals, played in Cleveland, they led the series three games to one.
No team had ever come back from 3-1 down in the NBA Finals. Many fans in Cleveland, a city that had not celebrated a major professional title since 1964, assumed the worst.
Cleveland had stars of its own in LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, coached by Tyronn Lue, who had taken over in the middle of the season.
Three straight wins
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each scored 41 points in Game 5 in Oakland, where Golden State was also missing Draymond Green, who was suspended for one game. Back in Cleveland for Game 6, James scored 41 again, and the Cavaliers forced a Game 7.
Across the series James led both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, something no player had done in a Finals before.
In Game 5 Klay Thompson scored 37 for Golden State, but Cleveland's two stars were simply too much.
Game 7
Game 7 in Oakland was tied at 89 with under two minutes left. Andre Iguodala broke out on a fast break for what looked like the go-ahead layup, and James chased him the length of the floor to pin the shot against the backboard. It is still called simply the Block.
With under a minute left, Irving isolated against Curry on the right wing, stepped back and hit a three over his outstretched hand. Cleveland led 92-89, James added a free throw and the Cavaliers won 93-89. James, an Akron native who had come home to Cleveland in 2014, fell to the floor in tears.
Kevin Love made a crucial stop of his own, staying in front of Stephen Curry on the perimeter in the final minute and forcing a missed three.
Why it is one of the greatest
The comeback combined everything: the best team ever in the regular season, a 3-1 hole no one had escaped, a hometown star keeping a promise and a city ending a 52-year wait. It remains the standard for any team that falls behind on the biggest stage.
More than a million fans were estimated to have filled downtown Cleveland for the victory parade a few days later.
Text written by Shining Champion.
