To celebrate the recent 15th birthday of FanSided I have decided to compile a list of the top moments from the past 15 years for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs have had plenty of ups and downs regarding their success on and off the court, ranging from 50+ win seasons to other years when gathering 20 wins seems like an impossible feat.
To say that creating this list in an order that everyone would agree with is nearly impossible due to the sheer number of memorable moments that the Cavaliers have had.
With that said, let’s get to the honorable mentions.
The shot.
No explanation is needed. Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, tied game, Kyrie Irving is given the ball and gives Stephen Curry the works as he takes a step back shot to give the Cavaliers a three-point lead with little time remaining in the game.
This shot happened almost immediately after the following entry on this list to give the Cavs all the momentum needed to make history.
The Block.
“Blocked by James!” Mike Breen screams in disbelief. Possibly the greatest play in the history of the NBA. Definitely the most iconic call the NBA has ever seen.
LeBron James was a blur running bucket-to-bucket as he was able to catch up to Andre Iguodala and rise up to send his shot right back with the nastiest rejection you will ever see.
This led inevitably to the shot by Irving which gave the Cavaliers a small lead with little time remaining on the clock.
Finally overcoming the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Cavaliers struggled to get past the Pistons throughout James’ early career, losing to them numerous times.
This year, however, was different. This Detroit team had lost Ben Wallace, the anchor of their defense and the heart of that team.
While they were still good enough to make the Conference Finals in 2007, they were no match for the LeBron-led Cavaliers team.
In a combination of LeBron James being the greatest player of all-time, Daniel “Boobie” Gibson having the best game of his career, and a near-nightly double-double from Zydrunas Ilgauskas the Cavaliers were able to sneak into their first ever NBA Finals appearance
“Boobie” Gibson would become one of the unsung heroes of this Cavs team as he would drop 31 points, six rebounds, and two assists off the bench in to close out the Pistons in Game 6. He led the team in scoring as he allowed LeBron to focus on other parts of his extremely versatile game.
#5: The 2022 NBA All-Star Game hosted by the Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers had the opportunity to host the All-Star game this year. This also happened to lineup with their first winning season not led by LeBron James since they were led by Shawn Kemp in 1998.
The Cavaliers had representation in nearly every event that night. This included the Rising Stars Challenge, Skills Challenge, and All-Star Game.
The environment was fantastic, and the fans were really invested. Overall, this was one of the best All-Star Weekends in recent memory. This includes the new and improved Skills Contest and All-Star Game with new goals and arrangements.
Evan Mobley showed out that weekend. He was a part of the Rising Stars team that won the contest as he teamed up with rookie rival Cade Cunningham and fellow Cavalier Isaac Okoro.
Not only did he win in that regard, but Mobley also hit the game-winning shot in the Skills Contest with a halfcourt shot to claim victory for team Cavs.
Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen also had their moments in the spotlight as they were both selected to the All-Star game.
They were both selected to team LeBron, which is memorable enough in it’s own right, as LeBron James still means a lot to the city of Cleveland and the Cavaliers organization. Neither played heavy minutes as other stars such as Stephen Curry, who went completely ballistic, and Nikola Jokic took up a majority of minutes at those positions.
They ended up being on the winning team as the Kid from Akron took a fadeaway jumper to ice the game for his team and bring his All-Star roster to a win in front of his hometown crowd.
The atmosphere was great, and we the fans were treated to amazing performances in every event, we don’t talk about the dunk contest. The city of Cleveland and the Cavaliers were amazing throughout the entire weekend.
#4: The Return of the King.
After the 2009-10 season when the Cavaliers led by LeBron once again failed to win the NBA Finals, and went out in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and there was little hope of bringing in a co-star, The King decided to make his infamous decision to take his talents to South Beach.
After losing the greatest basketball player to ever live, the Cavaliers struggled to say the least. They would go on to only surpass 30 wins once in the 2013-14 season led by Kyrie Irving in the next four seasons.
Cleveland would be lucky enough to secure the top pick in the draft three times during the non-LeBron years, selecting Kyrie Irving, Anthony Bennett, and Andrew Wiggins (and the latter two were traded for Kevin Love shortly after draft night in 2014).
The combination of a young core and good role players, matched by age causing both Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to slow down, led to the decision for LeBron to return to Cleveland for four more years.
LeBron James was hated by many fans in Cleveland for abandoning his hometown team, one of the first superstar players to do so.
With LeBron James also comes great success, though, which leads us to the next spot on this list.
#3: Four consecutive NBA Finals appearances.
Muscled by a big three of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love with the help of a deep bench and good coaching, the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Eastern Conference.
The first three years of the second LeBron era there was absolutely no competition on their level, making the NBA Finals easily every year with the top seed nearly every time.
The Cavs met the Warriors every time, suffering injuries in the first matchup and just not having the firepower to match one of the greatest teams in NBA history in the last two.
The Cavaliers and Warriors matched up so many times that they set a NBA record for most consecutive Finals matchups. Although, not many fans outside of Cleveland or the Bay Area were enthusiastic about that fact.
The Cavs only had one season where they did not simply steamroll through the Eastern Conference during this run. That came in the 2018 playoffs following the Kyrie Irving trade and a plethora of injuries to Kevin Love and other members of the roster.
The Cavaliers held the four seed that season, only holding homecourt advantage in one series during the first round.
In the first round they went to seven against the Indiana Pacers led by Paul George. Followed by a second-round series where the Cavaliers swept the top-seeded Toronto Raptors team and an Eastern Conference Finals against an injured Boston Celtics team powered by a rookie Jayson Tatum that went to a Game 7.
This led to yet another series against Warriors team where they were overpowered and they lost in four.
#2: The 2007 playoff run.
In a year that followed the falloff of the Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, and Miami Heat, yet still before the rise of the Celtics, the NBA seemed wide open. Partially because it was. This years’ playoffs included numerous miracle runs.
The most famous underdog team of this year happens to be a recent rival of the Cavaliers, in the Warriors. This was the year that the “We Believe” Warriors defeated the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks team in the first round.
That surprisingly, is not the greatest story of the playoffs in 2007. LeBron James would power the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals by sheer will.
The first-round matchup was against the Washington Wizards featuring Gilbert Arenas as their main star as well as great depth including Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. The Cavs didn’t care, as they made easy work of them as they swept that team in four games.
In the second round they faced a New Jersey Nets team that starred Jason Kidd and Vince Carter as an incredibly underrated backcourt tandem. This team battled a little harder, taking the young king and company six games to defeat them before moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Once there, they faced the Pistons, a scrappy team shortly removed from two NBA Finals appearances and in their fifth consecutive Eastern Conference Finals. They had faced the Cavaliers before and had often beaten them in other games, albeit closely in a number of matchups.
This year, the Pistons entered the season without the heart and soul of their team as well as the anchor of their defense, Ben Wallace.
Due to the absence of Wallace the Cavaliers were able to pull off another series win in six games against their rival team, gathering a major moral victory.
This win against the Pistons set up a matchup of the unstoppable force in the Cleveland Cavaliers meeting an immovable object in the San Antonio Spurs.
LeBron would struggle, playing one of the worst playoff series of his career. He only posted stats of 22 points per game, 7 rebounds, and 6.8 assists on abysmal shooting splits of 35.6% from the field, 20% from three, and 69% from the free throw line. Very different from the 50-point triple doubles we’ve seen from him in other series.
The Cavaliers as a whole would struggle without LeBron playing at his normal standards, losing the series in four as the more experienced San Antonio Spurs took home their fourth championship of the Tim Duncan years.
#1: The 2016 Championship.
What a way to end off one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, highlighted by the farewell tour of Kobe Bryant, the 73-9 Warriors team, the incredibly competitive layout of the NBA, and it was all capped off with the greatest playoff series the NBA has ever seen.
The Cleveland Cavaliers matched up with the Golden State Warriors for the second time in a row. The previous year they had suffered injuries to both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.
This year both teams had gotten better, learning more from the mistakes of the previous year. These were two truly unstoppable teams meeting for a marquis matchup.
The Warriors jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the first four games, but this would not deter the greatest of all-time and his squad of elite players.
Though the Cavaliers had some help in Game 5 as Draymond Green was suspended due to too many technical fouls and was forced to sit out a game. Andrew Bogut also missed this game, as well as the rest of the series, with a broken leg, and was a noticeable factor in the first four games. These two losses would severely hinder the Warriors defense in Game 5.
LeBron would snap, dropping 41 points and making it look easy as the Warriors defense simply could not keep up with The King as he played a masterful game. In addition to his masterful scoring, LeBron also pulled in 16 rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and three blocks.
He took over in every aspect of the game.
On top of this, Irving also went off with a 41-point game of his own. Also contributing six assists and two steals.
Many fans who did not support the Cleveland Cavaliers claimed that he only performed this well due to a lack of Draymond Green, one of the greatest, if not the greatest defender of all-time. King James responded in Game 6 by not only scoring another 41 points, but also doing so against Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.
This pushed the series to Game 7, one of the most famous games in NBA history.
The Cavs started out nicely leading by a point to end the first quarter, 23-22.
The Warriors fired back though, as the Cavaliers were unable to hit a shot in the ocean. They only scored 19 points in the second quarter being outscored by eight and losing by seven going into halftime.
Coming out of halftime the Cavs looked nearly unstoppable. They outscored the Warriors by six in the third quarter with two big three-pointers from J.R. Smith to give them the momentum, although they still trailed by one.
In the fourth quarter the Cavs and Warriors went back and forth as they battled to win the series. They then had a tied game with two minutes remaining, and Kyrie went in for a heavily contested layup and missed.
Iguodala gathered the rebound.
As Mike Breen said it, which we mentioned before on the first slide, “[T]o Curry, back to Iguodala. Oh! Blocked by James!”
The momentum-swinging play. The greatest play in NBA history.
This was followed less than a minute later by Kyrie Irving hitting the game-winning three over Steph Curry. His greatest play of his career.
The Cavs won the greatest playoff series of all-time and became the first team to come back from down 3-1 in an NBA Finals series.
The Cavaliers have plenty of upside to make a return to the NBA Finals soon, as they have a fantastic young team with plenty of room to grow. Hopefully, someday soon they will have another great moment to add to this list.