NBA History shouts out former Cavs SF Richard Jefferson for role in thriller

Christmas Day is coming up soon here on Saturday, and although the Cleveland Cavaliers have not been on the NBA’s Christmas slate in a while since LeBron James departed for the second time, it’s always fun to look back on some Cavs Christmas memories. One of those that instantly come to mind was the Cavaliers-Golden State Warriors Christmas Day matchup in 2016.

It was in the regular season following Cleveland’s historic 3-1 comeback over Golden State in the NBA Finals, and this was in the first season in which the Warriors had Kevin Durant.

As basketball fans know all too well, when Durant was with the Warriors, when they were mostly healthy, that was one of the more dominant teams in recent memory, and in NBA history, really. Golden State would win titles with, Durant healthy that is, back-to-back over the Cavaliers, including in five games in that ensuing NBA Finals in 2017 with him.

Nonetheless, there were a few games in that Finals series that could’ve gone differently, but Durant to a large extent down the stretch, prevented that.

Circling back, however, that first matchup between the Cavaliers and Warriors on Christmas in 2016 was again a heck of a contest between two rivals at the time, and it made for an instant classic. There were a few big runs for both clubs in that one, but ultimately, after Golden State at one point had a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the Cavs clawed their way back, largely behind Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, and some big individual moments from others.

One of those was Richard Jefferson, who was a solid veteran presence to have; he was only 2-of-11 from the field overall in the game, even still, he helped defensively down the stretch, and his dunk on Kevin Durant got a key 14-3 run started.

He was assessed a technical for winking at Durant after it, which was pretty ridiculous at the time, but that got the team going. It was a momentum-building type of play from the 36-year-old at the time, and a recent tweet from NBA History shouted him out for his other rim-rocker, with this on Klay Thompson, which was cool to see. And it was more of a conventional jam right on him following a cut, then gathering dribble, down the stretch.

Jefferson often gave the Cavs energy in his time with them, and this tweet from NBA History highlighted that.

Jefferson did not have the game in that one that LeBron James, nor Kyrie Irving, who had a brilliant, game-winning turnaround on Cleveland’s last possession, had in this 109-108 W. James had 31 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Irving had 25 points, 10 assists and a whopping seven steals, and several of those led to fastbreak production.

As we stressed here, though, even while Jefferson at that point was hardly what he was in his earlier days, say with the then-New Jersey Nets or with the San Antonio Spurs, Jefferson did give the Cavaliers some juice in his two seasons with them, much like Tristan Thompson. In his two years with the Cavs, the first of which resulted in a championship, Jefferson had 5.6 points in 19.2 minutes per contest, but his defense was big at crucial times and he endeared himself to Cleveland and the team’s fans.

It was a cool to see that shout out from the NBA History Twitter account for him, given that, and that jam over Thompson was such a signature play in what was quite a thrilling game that lived up to its high expectations.

Now, admittedly, it seemed that Jefferson got away with a foul on Durant on Golden State’s final possession. It wasn’t called, however, which was odd.

Even still, with how that Christmas Day matchup lived up to the hype leading into it, and the Cavaliers had a great comeback, it was good to see that unreal Jefferson jam on Thompson played back on Wednesday.

That’s especially so considering how Jefferson, who is currently an ESPN NBA analyst and does some play-by-play, and also has for YES Network, is so beloved by Cavs fans.

And with how these Cavaliers have been so impressive this season, maybe we’ll see them as a mainstay on Christmas Day once again in years to come.