Reliving Game 7's Biggest Moments

The last two minutes of play were the most pressure-filled moments of the whole night.

To paint my Game 7 scene, I was at the bar at work. Coworkers and guests alike stopped everything they were doing to watch the game. The manager came out and didn’t reprimand us for stopping everything to watch the game. That’s when I knew it was serious.

Players’ legacies were being defined. Stephen Curry was knocked off of his pedestal, Klay Thompson earned the right to be considered a “choker”, and Draymond Green has begun to seem like the most valuable player for Golden State.

In three very intense moments of Game 7, the game was decided. All three of these moments helped elevate the perception’s people had of three particular games.

“The Block”

After a missed layup attempt by Kyrie Irving led to Andre Iguodala taking a pass from Stephen Curry, LeBron James blocks Iguodala with ferocity to keep the score 89-89 with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter. This 6’8″ 260 lb. behemoth raced full court past all players to block the players shot who was named MVP for “holding” him to 35.8 points at the rim. It seems that throughout the series, LeBron was simply setting the record straight. Though often undervalued, somehow, LeBron sips his tea and disproves the doubters about his talent level, his clutch gene, and his place amongst the all-time greats in NBA history.

As you can see in the video above, once Golden State got the rebound, LeBron was ready to stop the Warriors in transition with a signature chasedown block. He chased down Iguodala by running 19 mph, or a 12.1 100 meter dash.

“The Shot”

Golden State technically had a chance to still win after Kyrie Irving pulled up on the baby-faced assassin and dotted his eye from deep for the virtual game-winner. Tied at 89, both teams had been struggling to score for some time, until this shot. This is a shot that will go down in Cleveland sports history, undoubtedly. It will also mark the day that Kyrie Irving came of-age in the NBA. After beating the unanimous MVP all series, he hit a game winner over him to seal the championship. Kyrie became a Cleveland Cavalier legend with 53.5 seconds left on the shot clock in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

The play was just a simple in-your-face, I’m better than you, three. Kyrie would later say he was just trying to live “in the moment” at the postgame press conference. A hell of a psychological snapshot of a moment that was; Kyrie Irving has the cahonés of Kobe Bryant.

“The Miss”

At the other end, Curry had a chance to tie. After a terrific first half, and going against Kevin Love on the perimeter, there was a real possibility he could tie the game up. Dancing with Love for an entire 20 seconds on the shot clock in a necessary possession, Curry couldn’t shake loose of the embattled star’s defense and threw up a prayer that clanked off the rim. The rebound found LeBron, then Kyrie. It was like a Circle of Life. Then the Big Three of the Cleveland Cavaliers, but especially Kevin Love, were provided with a lasting memory from Game 7 that dilutes all of the stress and drama from the past two years. Game 7 makes it all seem like the Cleveland Cavaliers had exactly what they needed.

Love’s biggest weakness was suddenly a big strength in Game 7, as he shuffled his feet to match the ball-handling of Stephen Curry. This season, Kevin Love has made tremendous strides as a defender. The process yielded no bigger result for Kevin Love than the play he made at the end of the game.

In sum, this team, and LeBron James and Kyrie Irving surged through the history books and three straight victories in a legacy changing series. Cleveland’s stars brightened considerably in the biggest minutes, and the Cleveland skyline was all the better for it as all of its reliefs were illuminated.

This was one of the biggest sporting events I’ve ever watched and had three of the most clutch plays by a team’s star trio that we’ll ever see. For all the uncertainty facing the offseason, there is one inescapable fact. The Cleveland Cavaliers are NBA champions.

Reliving Game 7’s Biggest Moments

By Quenton S. Albertie | Jun 20, 2016