CLEVELAND – With so much at stake, so much on the line, so much history in play, so much talent trying to find their place in it, this was an NBA Finals that deserved a seventh game.
It needed the ultimate decider. The kind of signature that will leave generations of fans discussing what it meant and why for years to come.
The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will be playing Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, back in Oakland.
Stephen Curry tried his best to make that not happen. Klay Thompson chipped in to try and make sure that the Warriors’ friends and family who flew in from the Bay Area on Thursday morning for a potential celebration didn’t come in vain.
But LeBron James? He wasn’t having it. And Kyrie Irving? He wasn’t going to lose on his home floor. And Brampton, Ont., native Tristan Thompson? Not sure a pure role player can play his role much better with so much on the line.
The series is going back to Oracle Arena where just a few days ago Irving and James made history in Game 5 with their twin 41-point performances to bring the series back to Cleveland for a Game 6 celebration no one at Quicken Loans Arena will forget for some time.
"I’ll take it," said King James with a laugh after his second signature Finals performance in as many games. "It don’t matter to me [where we play]. Like I told you guys the other day, it’s two of the greatest words in the world, and that’s ‘Game 7,’ so I’ll play it anywhere."
There is more history to be made now: No team in Finals history has ever won a series after falling behind 2-0 or 3-1. James and the Cavs are the first team in 50 years to even force a Game 7 after trailing 3-1.
But when you have James on your team and he’s feeling confident and assured and dropping 41 points – including 27 in the second half – to go along with 11 assists and eight rebounds on just 27 shots in another epic performance, almost anything seems possible.
"That’s LeBron being LeBron," said Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue. "He’s one of the greatest of all time. Our back was against the wall and he took it upon himself in the last couple games, himself and Kyrie, to really put this team on their backs and really get us to where we’re trying to get to and that’s a Game 7 in Golden State."
And when the normally mild-mannered Curry fouled out with 4:32 left – picking up a technical for losing his cool on the ref and throwing his mouth guard, which hit a fan and could draw further discipline – and the Cavaliers were up by 12, the improbable became real: The Cavs won 115-101 and the series that seemed virtually over just a few days ago has the best yet to come.
The emotions were raw. Curry’s wife took to social media and accused the NBA of rigging the game to benefit from a Game 7, a tweet she later deleted. Her husband apologized to the fan he hit with his mouth guard, but was still frustrated after:
"The last two fouls I had I thought were – I didn’t think I fouled either Kyrie or LeBron," said Curry. "That’s just kind of my perception of the plays and I had a reaction to it. It was obviously frustrating fouling out in the fourth quarter of a clinching game and not being out there with my teammates. So it got the best of me, but I’ll be all right for next game."
The game itself was worthy of what the series was supposed to be: A clash of the modern NBA titans. It started hinting broadly at blowout and ended with the scoreboard suggesting the same thing but the middle 36 minutes were pure theatre featuring the biggest names and best players on the brightest stage, taking turns fighting for their place in NBA history.
There was James’ history-in-a-battle box score line; Irving chipping in 23 points, 20 of which came in the first half before he twisted his foot (he says he’ll be fine). The Warriors’ Splash Brothers tried to turn the tide, with Curry putting up 30 and Klay Thompson 25. It wasn’t enough.
James got help from the likes of Tristan Thompson, who scored a series-best 15 points on perfect 6-of-6 shooting while grabbing 16 rebounds in 43 energized minutes.
"I just try to be a superstar in my role," Thompson said in a rare appearance on the post-game interview podium.
The Cavs also got a crisp 14 points from the often-erratic J.R. Smith.
The Warriors? After their backcourt, there was precious little help. Draymond Green, back from suspension, had only eight points; the only other Warrior in double figures was Leandro Barbosa with 15. They shot just 40 per cent from the field to 52 per cent for the Cavaliers. And ominously, sparkplug Andre Iguodala struggled with a balky back for most of the game.
Golden State’s challenge was obvious: Eliminate Cleveland on their floor in six games, one year to the day from when the Warriors sprayed champagne all over the visitors dressing room at Quicken Loans Arena upon the conclusion of the 2015 NBA Finals. Get that done and the Warriors would have completed the most impressive two season span in league history, arguably, with back-to-back titles sandwiching a record-setting 73-9 regular season. Now they risk all of that adding up to a huge opportunity lost. Asked if the success of their season was riding on Game 7, Klay Thompson didn’t hesitate:
"100 per cent. I thought that was a trick question at first," he said. "We expected to win the NBA Championship coming into the season. It’s either win the whole thing or bust for us."
If anything, the Cavaliers’ burden was bigger, heavier. James returned to Cleveland for the purpose of winning a title here – Cleveland is without one in any major sport for 52 years – and even somehow elevate the fortunes of a region that can use the help. And if James earns his third ring in seven Finals visits? That can’t hurt the reputation of a player who might yet earn a spot among the top two or three players in NBA history.
"We want to give the city of Cleveland a championship," said Lue. "We want to give the state of Ohio a championship. We want to give the Cleveland organization a championship. So that’s what we’re all about and that’s what we’re trying to do."
The start was something out of a Cleveland Cavaliers fantasy. A collection of developments that Lue may have allowed himself to daydream about and then force it out of his mind as too fantastic, too unlikely.
And that was before Beyoncé sat herself courtside in a blue outfit (a nod to the Golden State Warriors, perhaps?). Oh yeah, and some guy named Jay Z was with her.
If Lue, James or any of the hard-drinking Cavs fans packing East 4th patios had made a list of things they would love to see to start Game 6 at the Q, in no particular order:
• Play energized, ball-hawking defence and get the crowd into it, and maybe force a few turnovers to generate some easy transition scores.
• Play aggressively enough that the Warriors pick up some cheap, early fouls and how about two on Curry in the first six minutes?
• Get superstar efforts from James and Irving, but also extra little efforts and smart plays from everyone else.
Those things all happened – a lot – and the result was a Cavaliers landslide of a first quarter. It was kind of hard to believe. There was James making a steal and going the length of the floor for a drunk, the crowd going even crazier than they were from the moment they walked in the building. There was Irving making a steal, navigating traffic and finding James for another dunk in transition. A moment later there was Curry picking up his second foul. Then Smith sprinted the floor and all the way to the far corner after another Warriors turnover. Why did that hustle play matter? His urgency dragged the Warriors defenders with him and opened a path for a hard-running Tristan Thompson to catch a perfect bounce pass from James for another dunk.
It was as if scripted. It was an early evisceration of the Warriors and – most significantly – it all added up to a 31-11 first quarter lead.
But the Warriors never quite let the game get away from them, making their frustration at their start all the more apparent. Curry got going in the second quarter with 13 points to rev the Warriors engine and Thompson scored eight straight points at the end of the third quarter to cut the lead to nine heading into the fourth with Curry and Thompson’s combined 47 points one better than Irving and James’ 46.
But the Warriors couldn’t close any further than six points with eight minutes left in the fourth. Six quick points from James ended the threat – LeBron being Lebron – and the Cavaliers were able to enjoy the final few moments of a finish that no one would have seen coming not long ago.
And now? Game 7; like James said, the two greatest words in the world.