Father’s Day will always mean even more to Cavs fans
By Dan Gilinsky
Sunday is a special day to so many, with it being Father’s Day. Along with that, June 19 is Juneteenth, and to both whom those days apply to, I hope you have an amazing day.
When it comes to the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ aspect here, in general, June 19 is even more of a relevant day, too, which is pretty awesome. Again, I’m not diluting the value of this day regarding both of those celebratory events of which we alluded to, for what it’s worth.
But at least when it comes to Father’s Day, in general, and Juneteenth in that same realm in this case, 6/19 is even more of a special to fans of the Wine and Gold. Today marks the six-year anniversary of the Cavaliers 2016 NBA title victory over the Golden State Warriors, where they completed their historic comeback in Game 7.
Father’s Day is all the more special to Cavs fans, even more so when it falls on June 19.
As all Cavaliers fans remember so vividly, and countless NBA fans overall it seems, the 2016 tilt between the Cavs and Warriors featured the only 3-1 comeback in the history of the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers had their issues in the first four games, of course, losing three of those to the Warriors.
They then would go into Game 5 then with their backs against the wall heading to face Golden State on the road. Granted, Andrew Bogut getting injured in the closing portion of those Finals was a fairly significant loss, and in that Game 5, Draymond Green was suspended. I of course don’t gloss over those two things.
However, in that Game 5, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each went off, leading Cleveland to pull away in the second half, and LeBron and Kyrie both had 41 points. As our own Justin Brownlow recently highlighted, it was the first time a pair of teammates had 40-plus points each in an NBA Finals game, and that gave the squad energy looking onward.
From there, the Cavaliers rolled for the most part in Game 6 in Cleveland, and then Game 7 was set for all the marbles.
It was a game where Draymond Green of all people went off in the first half, and in the third quarter, Cleveland got clutch play out of J.R. Smith to seemingly really give the Cavaliers juice, and as the game wound down, the big guns from Cleveland stepped up.
As we all can recall, LeBron came up “The Block” in transition on Andre Iguodala in the closing minutes with about 1:51 left to preserve a tie. And then from there, with roughly 50 seconds left, Kyrie Irving hit “The Shot” over Stephen Curry to bring the Cavaliers up by three, in what be the go-ahead shot and deciding play in a 93-89 victory.
Kevin Love came up with “The Stop” in a switchout situation on Curry as well, and moving on from that point, the Cavaliers and us Cavs fans would end up celebrating the teams’ first title and the first major pro sports championship for Cleveland since 1964. It was well, something else and a night fans will never forget.
That was truly an incredible Father’s Day memory for the team and Cavs fans, too.