Revisiting top 5 moments from the 2016 NBA Finals
The last decade has seen basketball fans witness some very special NBA Finals. From the nerve-racking drama between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat in 2013, to the inspiring play of the Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors in 2019, the Finals are the ultimate stage for teams and players to showcase their greatness.
The 2016 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers would perhaps rank as among the best NBA Finals in this regard. It had all the ingredients of what makes a Finals matchup particularly memorable. Both teams were led by all-time superstars: LeBron James for the Cavaliers and Stephen Curry for the Warriors.
The series finished in seven games, an important prerequisite for an NBA Finals to be counted among the best of all-time. Even more importantly, it provided a situation where one team came back from a 1-3 deficit to win the Finals 4-3 for the first time in NBA history.
On the five-year anniversary mark of that intense and keenly-contested Finals, we look back at the five best moments from that epic series.
#5 Draymond Green gets suspended for Game 5; James, Irving drop 82 on Warriors in Game 5
The Warriors were up to a 2-1 lead. With the score at 96-86 in their favor in the fourth quarter of Game 4, they were cruising to a win in that game as well. But with under three minutes to go, Draymond Green got entangled with LeBron James on a play and the two players ended up jawing with each other.
After the game, which the Warriors won, the league issued Green with a flagrant foul. Since Green had already picked up three flagrant fouls in the playoffs, this fourth one, meant that he was suspended for Game 5. That decision is when the series actually turned on its head.
With the Warriors losing Green, their defensive lynchpin, James and teammate Kyrie Irving poured in a combined 82 points (41 each) in Game 5, in one of the greatest performances by a pair of teammates in the NBA Finals. The performance forced a Game 6.
#4 LeBron James blocks Stephen Curry and give him a stare down in Game 6
With the Golden State Warriors losing Game 5, they had a chance to win the Finals on the road in Cleveland. But with Harrison Barnes going scoreless and the team enduring a horrid offensive night where they shot just 40.2% from the field, the Warriors faced an uphill challenge all through Game 6.
Trailing by 13 points late in the fourth quarter of that game, Stephen Curry tried to make a one-on-one play against James. James had switched onto Curry and was guarding him from the top of the key, outside the three-point line. Curry penetrated inside, dribbling with his left hand. At the last instant, he braked and tried to fake James with a right-handed layup. Curry then switched hands and tried to use the glass with his left hand to score a bucket.
But James did not buy Curry’s ball fake. He swatted Curry’s attempt and then stared him down, even talking trash to him in the process. The entire sequence had the home fans up on their feet in applause.