June 2, 2022 • 35 mins
Hosted by 7-time champion Robert Horry and Jabari Davis, NBA Finals File dives deep into the greatest Finals series in NBA history, breaking down the best moments, storylines and matchups, using rare archival audio from the NBA, and the personal touch that only "Big Shot Bob" can give.
In this episode of NBA Finals File, we examine the 2016 Finals, one of the most dramatic Finals series of all-time. LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love bring the Cavs back from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in Finals history. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green led the Warriors to 73 wins, the best regular season record ever, but they could not close it out with a championship.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
We are back on the NBA Finals filed Jabari Davis
with seven time champ Robert Ry. Time for Part two
of the STEEN Finals featuring the Golden State Warriors and
the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Warriors are currently up three one
in the series and no one has ever come back
from a three one deficit in the finals before. So
you know, as we kind of alluded to at the end,
nothing to worry about, right, Rob, Nothing at all. Let's
(00:25):
go ahead and jump into Game five because Kyrie and
Lebron they become the founders of a certain club. With
Draymond serving a one game suspension following the league's review
of his backhanded swipe at Lebron's nether region, there's one
flight room foul and two technicals away from being suspended.
It takes a little sleep at missus after we objected
(00:45):
the James stepping over the calves seem to take things
to another level in this series. Two most important end
of your life, it's when you were born and when
you discovered the visa why you were born. I think
we're going to be saving. We got up fold the topic,
but we can do it. Rob. Remembering what you said
about Jalen and how you were actually glad that your
team didn't find out that he may have purposely stepped
(01:08):
under Cope, you know, intentionally stepped under Kobe at that time.
I'm wondering what type of rally cry a situation like
this can be for a squad, you know what it's
It's so weird because it can either be one or not.
And when it comes to Draymond Green, You're like, you know,
this is Draymond this is who he is. I think
the rally cry was, Yo, we're down three one, we're
(01:29):
down three one. We don't want to get embarrassed. Um,
we want to get a win and try to you know,
put some doubt and to go to State warrior's mind.
You know. So any time you win a game, it
puts doubt in the other team's mind. So they needed that.
They needed that win. They needed it bad. Yeah, speaking
of eeding that bad. Lebron and Kyrie were just just
brilliant throughout this game, you know, But it was actually
(01:50):
the third quarter that created separation between the two teams.
As a duo, they combined to go eight for ten
from the floor, including four for four from deep rob Look,
it's still good enough to stop one guy when he's
going nuclear in a game like this, what's it like
with two guys are basically battering you back and forth
like this? You know, I've been involved in a situation
like that with Clyde and Dream with for forty apiece
(02:12):
in a series against the Utah Jazz, and it was
just phenomenal to watch because now you don't know who
to guard. You're sitting here, You're really turning each way,
you trying to say, who do we God, who do
we gard? They both hat and thinking about the forty
one from Irving for the one from James, and they
just dominated. And if you look at the way they
(02:32):
scored their points, you know it wasn't just the three ball.
It wasn't just from their feet through line. It was
a little bit of everything. You know. They they and
they would efficient and they both were more than from
the floor. And that's what you wanted to have from
you your stars. Kyrie was seven, Lebron was from the floor.
And when guys are able to shoot at a high
(02:53):
clip in such an efficient rate, the other team is
in trouble. Irving just twenty four years old, set over
and over again. What he's healthy, a sensational offensive talent.
Nearly falls drives now spence back to fall away shot.
It's good. This to me was the game what Kyrie
had his coming out party. You know, we always weas talked,
(03:15):
We always talked about Kyrie's greatness and how good he is,
and you know how good he was before Lebron got there,
and what we can do. To me, this was his
coming out party where he showed everybody his handles. He
showed it everybody's ability to get to the basket and
his ability to knocked down threes. Because Kyrie was like, oh,
we always knew he had great handled but could he
do it on the biggest stage that there is, the
(03:38):
NBA Finals? And this game, to me, scoring for the
one in an array of shots was and shooting at
such a clip was his coming out party. And to
that point, much like Lebron was seeing different looks and
they were throwing all types of different bodies at them,
same thing with Kyrie, and and really there was just
simply no answer for it once once he got it going.
In this one, Kyrie irving and drows up a left hand,
laugh at off A good to go to stay its
(04:00):
credit Clay actually had his best offensive game at this
point as well as he and staff. They combined for
sixty two points, and they including eleven for twenty six
from deep Thompson what outside Toopson long distance twenty six
first half points. The trouble is, while Lebron and Kyrie
were going off in the third quarter, the Warriors struggled,
(04:22):
missing fourteen of their first twenty shots of the second
half and actually wound up going just seven for twenty
four and the third collectively. Golden State does try to
mount a comeback in the fourth, but they were unable
to get the lead under ten after the midway point.
Sturry on the brake, He goes off in traffic creek
checked by Lebron James, winding up with the Calvs rolling
to a one twelve and nineties seven win to pull
(04:44):
within a three three two deficit in this series. You
just mentioned it with the players. It's just about going
out and getting in a win. But on the other
side of things, you had a three one lead. Are
you a little bit more nervous at this point or
do you still feel like, no, no, we got a
three two lead. World, Okay, as like, okay, you're coming
here with a three one league. Okay, you lose that game,
(05:04):
big deal. We just have to win one. We just
got to win one game out of the next two
to beat the champion. And when you look at this game,
if you go back and really deep dive into this,
like we're doing, what has made the Warriors so successful
has been their bench. We talked about the strength and
numbers that their their model for the season. This is
(05:24):
the one game where the bench really didn't come through
in the clutch, like they know that they only had
fifteen points. I know that might seem a lot, but
it was a lot of those points was in scrub
time and so it didn't mean as much to the
team as it needed during the course of the game.
So even though Clay found his shooting stroke in this game,
mean a couple of those shots he pulled up from
(05:44):
the logo and thinking about it, Clay is one of
the best scores in this game that doesn't dribble, and
he's one of the best catching shoot guys. If you
look at that's what makes separates him and step Claim
might be a better shooter, but Steph is a better
shooter and score because he's able to do it off
the dribble. He can do it and you know, off
balance and Claire has just come off pick shooting. You know,
(06:08):
think about it, he scored He could score so many
points off one dribble, you know. But going back to this,
I think the bench we always want to deep dive
into these games and and give you a little a
little insight. And for me, the bench was a key.
They really didn't step up that big Boget gave him
zero points. Harrison Barnes, who was big and a couple
of other games with knocking down threes, he only had
(06:30):
five points. And sometimes I would like to know because
for me personally, I know, when you're big dogs are
shooting at a high clip thirty seven and twenty five,
it takes away for some of your rhythm that you have.
And I wonder if that had anything to do with
the way Harrison Barnes played, because he did get up
(06:51):
fourteen shots, but he was only able to make two.
You know, it's it's it's an excellent point. And you know,
and and to your point about you know, the their
bench were in fifteen points and this one that was
significantly less than they were accustomed to, you know, not
just on the season, but in this series, I mean
just a couple of games back, they got forty five
points of production from the bench. So no, no, you're
exactly right, and and you just and it is interesting
(07:12):
when you start to figure in, like, you know, our
our guys simply out of rhythm. You know, wasn't a
matter of you know, the looks were slightly different because
you know, the main guys had it going. But either way,
you know, the bench didn't step up in this one
and they ended up losing. That was special. That will
go down in the all time greatest performances in finals history.
By my point guard. He was spectacular. That Irving slides
(07:35):
inside tops the right with him, Irving bat shot has
shut out of foul. To the kid, it's just offensive
brilliance right here, great defense, the fade, the use of
the glass. It feels great, the winner go home situation.
(07:55):
Being resilient. Um, but we're still down in the series.
We understand that still playing against an incredible team. We
gotta come out even better in game six. Going on
the Game six, Lebron stays hot. No surprise, Draymond might
have returned to the action, but it honestly didn't do
much to change the course of this series, you know,
because like I said, Lebron stayed hotter than fish grease
(08:16):
the cat. Hey, look, we were two Southern We two Southerners.
We gotta have a little bit about it, even if
it's just a week. The Calves jumped out to an
eleven to two run to start the game, and honestly
really never looked back in this one. Thompson tumpson at all,
(08:37):
but precisely the third the Cavaleries were looking for. In fact,
the Warriors didn't even reach double figures until the last
second jumper from Iguadala that made it thirty one eleven
at the end of the first quarter. Rob did you
notice did you notice in the early going because bo
get you know, he goes down with injury the game
before now, and I recognize you know Golden State that
you know they made their bones with their small ball lineup,
(08:59):
But did you notice any adjustments to their rotation given
that Bogan simply wasn't available at this stage in this game? Um,
their rotation changed and since that, you know, now they're
gonna go with the small lineup. And even though you
had Festus over there, who could come out and give
you minutes. But you know what he went back to
last year. He says, this is the lineup that took
(09:20):
him to the top with Draymond at the five, So
why not try it again? And I think it's one
of the things that we forget to talk about. Bogan
excellent rebinding, excellent offensive rebinding. And he was really good
at those drop passes in the post, you know that,
which allowed Draymond to free up, you know, and knocked
down some threes like he did in previous the game. Now,
Draymond becomes a facilitator, and he has to be in
(09:42):
that situation when he's getting guys involved and doing things
of that nature. But in the biggest scheme of things,
this is a Golden State Wars. You know, they got
the Splash brothers. They just won a championship. I don't
think anything that was been gonna be thrown at him.
They hadn't seen because they were the number one team
in basketball way every but I was trying different things
to beat them. Let's remember, send me three wins. Clay
(10:05):
does get hot in the third quarter, and you know,
he scores fifteen points on six of eight shooting, helps
bring the Warriors back to within nine, hitting into the
fourth and I'll play pump fake fires a three, got it.
Clay Thompson nailed it down the left sideline. But then
Lebron and Jr. But you know, you know, put him
to bed. They combined for twenty five points on nine
of twelve shooting, and they're able to thwart the comeback
efforts of the Cantalier's long lead pass us come back
(10:28):
to the pod of Note in this one, and I
and I was wondering how you felt about this as
you watched the footage of note. I do want to
mention this because Steph files out with just under five
minutes to go in this game. You know, he gets frustrated,
He screams, He winds up firing his mouthpiece into the crowd.
It strikes a fan out, a foul Ontario curry. He's
(10:50):
gonna get with a sector group. He throws his mouthpiece
after fouling out of the game, first time he's fouled
out since December. And then you got the technical file
with Courts went to the frustration set again. Carry finishes
with thirty points. So let me ask you this the
(11:12):
the act aside, if you're on the other side of
that court. Are you thinking we got him, we got
him right where we want like or is it just
like you know, you understand he's a competitor, and you
know all competitors lose their cool at times. We give
him that look like, yeah, we in your head, and
sometimes that's all you wanna do. You want to get
inside a player's head. That's why you know Draymond does
(11:33):
the little things. That's why you know Lebron does a
little thing. That's why all players due to little antics
to try to get inside other players heads. And you
think Steph is not a player that normally loses his cool.
He's you know, cool hand luke um. But when you
see him fire his mouthpiece out of his mouth and
files out and gets ejected, you know two things, We're
(11:55):
in his head. He's frustrated and that oh it's deep Curry.
Is he gonna use that to be great in the
next day? So those are the things you think about,
but you but the biggest thing is you think about
we in his head, and that's all you want to
do because next game you gotta do whatever you can
to let him know put that little bit of doubt
(12:16):
in his head to let you know that you for real,
absolutely so. Lebron winds up with forty one, eleven and
eight in this one board one again. Yeah. He also
he also throws in four steals in three blocks, just
just for fun. Tristan Thompson, he's with. He was really
good in this one as well. Fifteen points, sixteen boards.
Trist took Tompson with a double double the first half.
(12:37):
Kyrie didn't shoot well, but he spread up. He spread
around his contributions to the tune of twenty three points
four boards, three assists, two steals, two blocks. All right,
So Rob, you know you kind of have this unique
relationship with Steve Kerr in sense that if you weren't winning,
his team was winning winning the title in this situation.
You know, you guys have seen all types of different
(12:58):
situations play out. What do you think is message was
to the team after this one? And what are what
are the guys saying in the locker room? Um? Hey, guys,
you remember that seventy three and nine record that we got.
This is why we're here just in case something like
this happened. Well, have home court advantage. We're going back
to Oracle and we don't lose that oracle. I feel
(13:19):
like we could have closed it out a long time ago,
but here we are. It's tied up three three, and
we're gonna be going back home. So if you told
us to be in your season one game to win
the championship in Oakland, I won't take that any day
of the week. So you try to give him that
speech and tell him that you need to go home,
eat right, rest right, and do whatever you need to
get your mind right, because this is the most important
(13:40):
game that you would ever play. And you have to
tell these guys all these scenarios to get them focused
because it was gonna be a battle because you got
your star player who's frustrated, who just got kicked out
of the the game, you got your other guys who have
been shooting the ball consistent, and your bench didn't show up.
So you need all these things to try to motivate
your players to come out and be ready for Game seven.
(14:03):
Absolutely okay, So the Calves you know, and you know,
as mentioned, they take that one one one oh one,
James finishing touch us one of my neflicent performance, and
there's the buzzer. Game seven Sunday night. You open but
Let's go ahead and take a quick break here because
when we come back, signed for an epic Game seven.
(14:30):
All right, we're back here on NBA Finals file. Let's
jump into it. We got gay I you know, idious cliche,
but there are not better words in sports, and Game
seven with the greatest words in the world is Game seven.
I've never stepped foot in March Madness where it's just
one game and you've done, or one game you win
it all. It was It's like that film and it's
like one game. Yes, gay seven is with the stars
(14:53):
signed the brightest and where how did they say where
superstars become legends? There you go, there you go? Yeah,
so yeah, this is where even this where others step
onto the stage and get nicknames like pitch up out hey,
you know exactly exactly on that on that note, where
was big shot? You know at the time of this game?
(15:13):
I remember where I was. I was watching it intensely,
even though it wasn't your your my team wasn't in it.
Where was I was at home and enjoined this. I
had my popcorn. I'm ready think about this. I really
haven't been involved in that many games sevens in the finals,
so I'm always interested to see how teams react in
Game sevens. Who's gonna come out because a lot of
(15:36):
times when you're at home, that first surge is to
let you know if you're gonna either win it or
lose it. Because home teams have all that energy from
the crowd. We always talk about the crowd, and we
always talk about home home court adventage. This is why
you need to cross. You come out and punch that
team in the mouth early and let them know. Yeah,
you should have fought hard during the regular season to
get home court advantage. But you know, in this game,
(15:57):
I'm like, hold on, what's happening. At first course, this
is a good game, So I was excited about this.
Welcome to the nineteen game seven in NBA history. Well,
tonight be the very night that Cleveland fans have spent
decades dreaming about to be on someone else's home floor,
to be around the adversity and the animosity and the
(16:18):
crowd of someone else's fan base and it's just you
and your fourteen guys and your coaching staff. It's no
better atmosphere than that. Well, no, no, let's go ahead
and jump into it, because at the start of this
it felt, you know, even despite the series turnaround, it
felt like a game where, Okay, the Worriors are gonna
find a way to get one at home. You know
they're gonna find They're just gonna find a way. This
is to your point, This is why they went out
(16:39):
and one seventy three games. This is why they went
out and made sure that they got it, especially especially
when you have Draymond playing his absolute best in the
biggest game of his career to date. He starts off
that first half eight for ten from the you know,
from the floor, including five or five from deep. Draymond's
wide open takes another three, five, five. They keep feeling
(17:00):
it makes this quick move, stops underneath draymond brain has
twenty one points. I always thought those Dubs teams were
all but unbeatable when Draymond is locked in and making threes,
because at a certain point, it really is just a
matter of pick your poison giving all the other weapons, right, Oh,
(17:21):
no doubt. If you look at Draymond when he hit
those five threes in the first half, I'm like, oh,
it's a rap. I'm gonna I'm about to go out
and do something different because they're about to blow them out.
But you know what, sometimes you got to steal weight
to the end of the show because the game ain't
over until the person says it's over, and that and
(17:43):
and that's exactly the case, because the thing is, even
with that unexpected production from Draymond, the Calves kept it
to just a seven point deficit at the half. Then
they had to feel good about their chances. James, but
you don't have to slam what is coach lose message
At that stage, every coach is gonna say, hey, we
survived that first round. We didn't play great because they didn't.
(18:05):
You know, they had spurts where they played good in
the first quarter, but they only scored nineteen points in
that second quarter, so they didn't play great. And said, look,
we didn't play great. Look what Draymond did. He played exceptional.
They're playing exceptional, and we were right here, We're right here.
We can win this thing. We just got to go
out and have a good third quarter. And if we're
able to do that, you know, they put a doubt
(18:27):
and then we scared him a little bit, and then
we can win this thing. You gotta be better. We
gotta pick a fire language up, all right, you gotta
play harder, we gotta be more wrestled, all right, and listen, man,
everything we got is it is so funny that the
third quarter, when it comes to game sevens are the
most important quarter. You know, whoever can come out and
(18:49):
show their dominance is the team that usic comes out
on top. Tend to shoot. Lebron shuff us to his
left because j R. Smithbur contested Tree. He's got it.
Good start here a look heard for the Cavaliers and
for players, they know this. So every locker room is
always preaching third quarter, and win the third quarter, you
(19:10):
win the game. And speaking of that third quarter, Lebron
actually is cold in the third quarter, but he does
dish out five assists as Kyrie j R. Smith and
Tristan Thompson. They got things going for Cleveland outside of
j R. Side step Fox, j R. Smith and Heat
checked back to back freeze. The Cats were able to
cut the depths of down to just one point heading
into the fourth. The entire NBA season coming down the
(19:33):
one final quarter to the side of champions, and and
and as crazy as it is even you even discussing
it right now, I'm back in that mode where it's
just like ramping up and ramping up and ramping up. Because,
to be honest with you, the finale of this quarter,
the finale of this game. While you know, I've been
blessed to see a lot of different you know, a lot,
a lot of great action, a lot of great basketball games,
(19:55):
it might be my favorite. It might actually be my favorite.
Just giving the back and forth that we got, I
totally agree with you, and you know, I think this
game for me um and watching Draymond Green player, I
was like, Okay, he's a good player. Now he's a borderline,
this borderline, but he has a neck for when it's
(20:17):
the big stage. He steps up into the biggest moments
and play really well. Thirty if you to tell me.
Draymond Green scores thirty two points in Game seven of
an NBA. Finally, I'm like with the Splash Brothers, it's
a rap, and I think Draymond Green is that one
guy who went home and looked at h stuff in
the mirror and said, you know what, I laid an
(20:38):
egg by getting suspended for a game, so I gotta
come out and make sure we win this game seven
so I can get my ring. He did what he
could while he was on the court. I will absolutely
give him that. I will absolutely give him that. So
the game is tied at eighty nine, were three thirty left,
and Rob we absolutely get the ultimate showdown that we were.
You know that that that this game was, that series
was promising to be. Let's moving forward just a little
(20:59):
bit in the action because the teams were exhausted and
they're missing a bunch of shots. But Igua Dollar rebounds
a Kyrie attempt at one with one fifty five left
in the game and starts racing up courts. After swinging
at the Curry on the wing, Curry passes it right
back to it, sets up Iguadala for a layup, but
Lebron comes flying in from absolutely nowhere for the ultimate
chase down block. There was a two on one fast
(21:21):
break and uh probably nine nine point nine percent of
time that that's gonna be a Finnish between Stephaniegodala and
j R. Was back Dollar out of the pack. He's
got numbers if he hurries the Curry bounds pass. The
main thing was a new Brown was coming just to
give him a chance. I was just like, I can't
give up on his play. We've come so far, like
(21:42):
a dollar to Curry clock tagger down flock by James Brown,
James with a rejection, James out of nowhere, skies to
the ram. He bats in away, huge, huge defensive play
by the four time m VP man that was so big.
Both teams are clearly exhausted. Coach Louke calls the time
(22:04):
out at the one on nine mark. The Calves come
out of that time out looking, in my estimation, looking
to force a switch of Stephan the Kyrie. Is that
how you read that play as well? Yes, because we
know Kyrie is exceptional when he has the ball in
his hand, and all series we've been trying to get
that matchup, you know, point guard versus point guard, and
(22:27):
stephe Let's be honest, he's not one of the best
defenders in his league and the best defender on the
league is playing next to him, Draymond and his other
splash brother Clay. But they get that switch up and
now he's in the Kyrie goes to work and you
know what we mentioned this earlier about him being on
this big stage, Neibor to step up because as a player,
when you an elite player and you've got other guys
(22:49):
that are considered elite. It brings out the best in you.
And we all know Steph one m v P unitized
that year. So that's motivation in itself. When you one
of the guys that played the same position, it's different
if you say, okay, Lebron wins it and I'm a
point guard. You know, different positions, but it is a
guy that plays your position, you out to try to
(23:10):
show him up and show you should have been m
v P. And that's what this situation presented. And Kyrie
met the moment because he surveys for a brief moment
before pulling up for the dagger three from the right
wing over Curry's outstretched arms. This is a journey I
was preparing for my whole life. I had to be
ready for Irving and Curry one on one. Irvan puts
(23:32):
it up match Tyring Downtown and the Cavaliers by three.
They always say defense wins championships, and obviously, you know,
you know we've got some of that coming up shortly.
But are there moments where incredible offense simply trump's defense
no matter what, even if it's your best defensive effort
every day, every hour, every minute, because as an offensive player,
(23:55):
I know what I'm gonna do. As a defense you
can only guess. And with Kyrie's ability to handling the
rock and hit him with that step back. And as
a defendant, you said, okay, you try to think in
your mind. Okay, the shot clocks running down, which it
was in this situation, when will he shoot it? With
you know, five seconds, three seconds, one second? When will
(24:17):
you shoot it? And Kyrie shot this with three seconds
left to go in the shot class and then by
the bottom of the net. And like I said, Stars
loved those big moments, and this was the biggest moment
for him Game seven. It's a big shot without a doubt,
without a doubt. So the next play down, Steph asked
Kevin Love, isolated on the top of the key with
an opportunity to return the favor. He's made so many
(24:39):
great shots throughout the entire season for them, which was
a historic season, especially at home. Two seconds I got
switched out on the staff, and I knew he was
gonna give me everything that he had in his bag.
I knew that if I was able to stay down
and stay in front of him, that I could, you know,
really force him into a tough contested shot. He gave
(25:01):
the ball up after giving me a few crossover, a
few news and not being able to get a shot off.
Draymond passed it back to him. Curry takes the three
steps back crossover, puts up a three James. It absolutely
felt like he was going to be like and I
was as I was watching it. I know the outcome, Rob,
I know what happens, but it still felt like this
(25:21):
is finally steps moment. Not only you know like this
is this is his opportunity. He you know, I'm i'm, i'm,
i'm i'm. I was pulling for him. While it would
be easy, honestly to point the fingers step for not
being able to get a clear look, I'm actually going
to elect the praise love for what I consider the
best fifteen seconds of defense of his career. I actually
think he would agree with that. It would happen watching
(25:43):
him move his feet and get set. It's it is
so weird in certain moments you go back to childhood
when you talk the techniques on how to play deep,
it's on how to shoot the basketball. It's amazing how
you can pull that in and said, I got to
be pitched perfect right here, I gotta get down, I
gotta move my feet, I gotta stay in front, and
(26:05):
I gotta contest. And for me watching that moment, I
was like, what Kevin Love is moving his feet? What
he is contested? It was. It was a great defensive
moment for Kevin Love. Yeah, so step three is off
the calfs to get the rebound. The Warriors are forced
to foul Lebron on the other end. They actually had
to foil to give so they actually have to file
him one more time. And I and I vividly remember
(26:28):
this play because they found him on a dive to
the basket that almost resulted in one of the best
and ones in finals history. Perfect drives to James, Mrs
John But foul? Do you remember they play? Yes? I do.
But that's the thing about Lebron. He is so strong.
The only other person I can compare him to is
Shaquille O'Neil. You can try to wrap him up, but
(26:51):
the strength and the ability to still get it off,
it's incredible. So you look at this play, was like
did they just file him and not wrap him up?
And next thing you know, he's getting a shutouts. It's
incredible Without a doubt. So Lebron makes one free throw,
putting them up four. Steph comes down, misses another three
on the other end, and the rest is history. That's over.
(27:13):
The Cavaliers are NBA champions. Please, Wan's a city of
champions once again. The drought is over, the curse destroyed,
fifty two years of torment, and English has been washed away.
So Rob, I know we say things like all rings
(27:34):
and titles are equal, but certain wins like this actually
stand out a bit more to someone like you that's
actually one so much. At the highest level, this team
had the best record in basketball, meaning the Golden State Warris.
This team was up three one. Telling about the Golden
(27:55):
State Warriors. This team is trying to cement themselves as
a dynasty by going to back to back because there's
so many times players look at guys or you want
a championship. Oh that's cute, you didn't go back to back.
So this is what the Golden State has on the
table right now. But let's just say Cleveland Cavaliers came
(28:15):
in and wrecked that shot big time. They came in
and destroyed everything they had offered. They set records, you know,
first teamail to come back from three one, you know,
to be the team that you know killed it in
the regular season, and and it kind of said the
pressents like, you know what, it doesn't matter what you
do in the regular season, it's about what you're doing
the postseason. And the way Cleveland Cavaliers came back from
(28:37):
three one deaths that the way Kyrie stepped up into
the moment, and we all know Lebron's gonna do his thing,
but this was to me, like I said, Kyrie's coming
out party. To be able to accomplish something like that
with a group of guys that you genuinely care about
and genuinely love, there's no better feeling in the world
at all. Right here, right right, We're done. We're done.
(29:02):
We did it. We did it, alright, one more break
and when we come back, it's time for our series
awards and of course the all important Big Shot Bob Awards. Cleveland,
this is for you. Congratulations, you're the first team in
(29:24):
the history of the NBA to come back from the
three one deficit and Lebron Most Valuable Player two thousand
and sixteen NBA Finals Congratulations. We're back here on the
NBA Finals Final. Time to wrap it up. Rob, This was,
like you just mentioned, this was a fantastic series, but
(29:44):
now it signed for our Finals File Awards. M v
P I think I can guess it. But who's your
m VP for this series? You know, watching these games, man,
and it really makes you appreciate the fine out of basketball.
It makes sure you really appreciate not just to start players,
but the role players and everything that they have to
go through to win win championships. But there's no doubt
(30:05):
in my mind that Lebron James the m v P
of this series. You know, he should have been m
VP of the series last year, but they lost the series.
This guy seemen in his legacy each and every moment
he stepped on the court. So Lebron James by far,
you know, unimously vote James there. It is. What's going
on right now is still so surreal to me. It
(30:26):
still hasn't hit me what actually happened. I'm nothing without
the city, I'm nothing without y'all. I love all of y'all,
and let's getting ready for next. Serially, I affectionately referred
to this version of Lebron that we saw in the
last three games of this series as terminator Brown And
(30:48):
I'm not joking, like that's what it felt like. Just
you know, just it didn't matter what you throw at him,
It didn't matter what you hit him with, what you
if you let him on fire, he was just gonna
bring it. So I get the whole hardily agreed. You know,
Lebron James was incredible? All right? What about best role
player in this series? You know, it's when you have
series like this, you try to I always try to give,
(31:11):
you know, the role player, someone who comes off the bench.
And if Draymond would have been suspended for a game,
he would have had my award. But I'm gonna have
to I'm gonna have to go with Richard Jefferson. You know,
he wasn't playing very many minutes and he came out
and played a significant role, playing good defense on Clay,
playing good defense on Draymond. It's little things like that
(31:33):
that won't show up in the stat book. But I'm
gonna have to go with Richard Jefferson, not mad if
that r J makes a lot of sense, you know,
Tristan Thompson could have made some sense. But yeah know,
like this is like this, this was a this was
a great series because you've got incredible performances out of
the big dogs, but you also got great performances and
contributions you know, kind of all the round on both teams.
So no no arguments there, all right, what about the
(31:55):
coaching matchup? You know what this this is one time
where you know, if this is a Rookie of the
or we're you know, I can give co rookies of
the year co coaches. I would do that, But think
about this, though you down three one, you have to
get the ear of your team. You have to get
your team into believe in one another. You got to
(32:17):
get the team to play the right way. Think about
you got Kyrie and Lebron who can be like, okay,
in order for us win this, we had to do
it on our own. But no, even though they showed
like they did on their own, but they played as
a team. So my coaching move goes to Tyler down
three one to come back, never done before Tyler gets
my award coach. That honestly, that makes the most sense.
(32:40):
And that's not taking anything away from what Kurr did.
You like the excellent of Steve Kerr, but yeah, this
is Tyler Award. In fact, we might need to rename that,
you know, much like the last award is named after you,
this award should probably be the Tylo for that comeback.
Speaking of that next award, let's wrap it up on
the egg Shot Bob Award. Who was the most clutch
(33:02):
performer Kyrie Irving. Yes, I've been priested in all this series.
He's just coming out party and knowing Lebron in that
last game wasn't shooting it particularly well. Nine for Kyrie
went ten for twenty three, not that much better, but
he was able to knock down that big shot at
the end of the game for his second three or
the game. So Kyrie Irving his big Shot Award. Now,
(33:25):
a Lebron stand would tell you what I mean big
A big play could also be that block. But no, like,
there's no, there's no question like that. That shot is legendary.
He know, he hit big shots throughout the you know,
throughout the series, but in particular, like you just mentioned,
on the biggest stage, in the biggest moments, Kyrie was
that guy. So like, I'm all right, Rob, absolutely fantastic time,
(33:46):
you know, discussing this NBA Finals with you, uh, you know,
one for the Ages one for the record books, you know,
the to say the least Okay, actually, before we wrap
it up, what does it do for Lebron's legacy at
this point when you look at Lebron's legacy at this point,
you know, he went down to Miami and tried to
establishmself as a champion, which he did. You know, he
(34:09):
didn't win the multiple championships like he thought he would,
but least he got two under his back. Now to
go home to Cleveland where you know, he where he's from,
where he started his career at at where he went
to his first finals, where he got swept by the Spurs,
and for him to be back in this situation and
to do it in the manner that he did down
three one, winning it on the road. I wonder if
(34:33):
we had a chance to sit down and talk to him,
would this be his Swedish Championship? I had to say yes.
I think he's actually kind of acknowledged that. In fact,
you know, he went as far as he straight out
said he felt like it. You know, this ring, as
you know, regardless of his eventual total, put him in
the conversation for greatest of all time. And you know what,
(34:54):
there's never gonna be a consistent on it. But I'm
actually with him. I'm actually with him. This this ring
is what is what is what put me, is what
put him on my list. You know, for those players
I concur alright, folks, again, we really know for Rob,
you know, we really appreciate you guys tuning into this.
It's a great time each week discussing these series. In particular,
(35:16):
we want to make sure you stick around. You you
want to make sure you join us for next week
because we have another another series just coincidentally that Rob
may have participated with
We are back on the NBA Finals filed Jabari Davis
with seven time champ Robert Ry. Time for Part two
of the STEEN Finals featuring the Golden State Warriors and
the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Warriors are currently up three one
in the series and no one has ever come back
from a three one deficit in the finals before. So
you know, as we kind of alluded to at the end,
nothing to worry about, right, Rob, Nothing at all. Let's
(00:25):
go ahead and jump into Game five because Kyrie and
Lebron they become the founders of a certain club. With
Draymond serving a one game suspension following the league's review
of his backhanded swipe at Lebron's nether region, there's one
flight room foul and two technicals away from being suspended.
It takes a little sleep at missus after we objected
(00:45):
the James stepping over the calves seem to take things
to another level in this series. Two most important end
of your life, it's when you were born and when
you discovered the visa why you were born. I think
we're going to be saving. We got up fold the topic,
but we can do it. Rob. Remembering what you said
about Jalen and how you were actually glad that your
team didn't find out that he may have purposely stepped
(01:08):
under Cope, you know, intentionally stepped under Kobe at that time.
I'm wondering what type of rally cry a situation like
this can be for a squad, you know what it's
It's so weird because it can either be one or not.
And when it comes to Draymond Green, You're like, you know,
this is Draymond this is who he is. I think
the rally cry was, Yo, we're down three one, we're
(01:29):
down three one. We don't want to get embarrassed. Um,
we want to get a win and try to you know,
put some doubt and to go to State warrior's mind.
You know. So any time you win a game, it
puts doubt in the other team's mind. So they needed that.
They needed that win. They needed it bad. Yeah, speaking
of eeding that bad. Lebron and Kyrie were just just
brilliant throughout this game, you know, But it was actually
(01:50):
the third quarter that created separation between the two teams.
As a duo, they combined to go eight for ten
from the floor, including four for four from deep rob Look,
it's still good enough to stop one guy when he's
going nuclear in a game like this, what's it like
with two guys are basically battering you back and forth
like this? You know, I've been involved in a situation
like that with Clyde and Dream with for forty apiece
(02:12):
in a series against the Utah Jazz, and it was
just phenomenal to watch because now you don't know who
to guard. You're sitting here, You're really turning each way,
you trying to say, who do we God, who do
we gard? They both hat and thinking about the forty
one from Irving for the one from James, and they
just dominated. And if you look at the way they
(02:32):
scored their points, you know it wasn't just the three ball.
It wasn't just from their feet through line. It was
a little bit of everything. You know. They they and
they would efficient and they both were more than from
the floor. And that's what you wanted to have from
you your stars. Kyrie was seven, Lebron was from the floor.
And when guys are able to shoot at a high
(02:53):
clip in such an efficient rate, the other team is
in trouble. Irving just twenty four years old, set over
and over again. What he's healthy, a sensational offensive talent.
Nearly falls drives now spence back to fall away shot.
It's good. This to me was the game what Kyrie
had his coming out party. You know, we always weas talked,
(03:15):
We always talked about Kyrie's greatness and how good he is,
and you know how good he was before Lebron got there,
and what we can do. To me, this was his
coming out party where he showed everybody his handles. He
showed it everybody's ability to get to the basket and
his ability to knocked down threes. Because Kyrie was like, oh,
we always knew he had great handled but could he
do it on the biggest stage that there is, the
(03:38):
NBA Finals? And this game, to me, scoring for the
one in an array of shots was and shooting at
such a clip was his coming out party. And to
that point, much like Lebron was seeing different looks and
they were throwing all types of different bodies at them,
same thing with Kyrie, and and really there was just
simply no answer for it once once he got it going.
In this one, Kyrie irving and drows up a left hand,
laugh at off A good to go to stay its
(04:00):
credit Clay actually had his best offensive game at this
point as well as he and staff. They combined for
sixty two points, and they including eleven for twenty six
from deep Thompson what outside Toopson long distance twenty six
first half points. The trouble is, while Lebron and Kyrie
were going off in the third quarter, the Warriors struggled,
(04:22):
missing fourteen of their first twenty shots of the second
half and actually wound up going just seven for twenty
four and the third collectively. Golden State does try to
mount a comeback in the fourth, but they were unable
to get the lead under ten after the midway point.
Sturry on the brake, He goes off in traffic creek
checked by Lebron James, winding up with the Calvs rolling
to a one twelve and nineties seven win to pull
(04:44):
within a three three two deficit in this series. You
just mentioned it with the players. It's just about going
out and getting in a win. But on the other
side of things, you had a three one lead. Are
you a little bit more nervous at this point or
do you still feel like, no, no, we got a
three two lead. World, Okay, as like, okay, you're coming
here with a three one league. Okay, you lose that game,
(05:04):
big deal. We just have to win one. We just
got to win one game out of the next two
to beat the champion. And when you look at this game,
if you go back and really deep dive into this,
like we're doing, what has made the Warriors so successful
has been their bench. We talked about the strength and
numbers that their their model for the season. This is
(05:24):
the one game where the bench really didn't come through
in the clutch, like they know that they only had
fifteen points. I know that might seem a lot, but
it was a lot of those points was in scrub
time and so it didn't mean as much to the
team as it needed during the course of the game.
So even though Clay found his shooting stroke in this game,
mean a couple of those shots he pulled up from
(05:44):
the logo and thinking about it, Clay is one of
the best scores in this game that doesn't dribble, and
he's one of the best catching shoot guys. If you
look at that's what makes separates him and step Claim
might be a better shooter, but Steph is a better
shooter and score because he's able to do it off
the dribble. He can do it and you know, off
balance and Claire has just come off pick shooting. You know,
(06:08):
think about it, he scored He could score so many
points off one dribble, you know. But going back to this,
I think the bench we always want to deep dive
into these games and and give you a little a
little insight. And for me, the bench was a key.
They really didn't step up that big Boget gave him
zero points. Harrison Barnes, who was big and a couple
of other games with knocking down threes, he only had
(06:30):
five points. And sometimes I would like to know because
for me personally, I know, when you're big dogs are
shooting at a high clip thirty seven and twenty five,
it takes away for some of your rhythm that you have.
And I wonder if that had anything to do with
the way Harrison Barnes played, because he did get up
(06:51):
fourteen shots, but he was only able to make two.
You know, it's it's it's an excellent point. And you know,
and and to your point about you know, the their
bench were in fifteen points and this one that was
significantly less than they were accustomed to, you know, not
just on the season, but in this series, I mean
just a couple of games back, they got forty five
points of production from the bench. So no, no, you're
exactly right, and and you just and it is interesting
(07:12):
when you start to figure in, like, you know, our
our guys simply out of rhythm. You know, wasn't a
matter of you know, the looks were slightly different because
you know, the main guys had it going. But either way,
you know, the bench didn't step up in this one
and they ended up losing. That was special. That will
go down in the all time greatest performances in finals history.
By my point guard. He was spectacular. That Irving slides
(07:35):
inside tops the right with him, Irving bat shot has
shut out of foul. To the kid, it's just offensive
brilliance right here, great defense, the fade, the use of
the glass. It feels great, the winner go home situation.
(07:55):
Being resilient. Um, but we're still down in the series.
We understand that still playing against an incredible team. We
gotta come out even better in game six. Going on
the Game six, Lebron stays hot. No surprise, Draymond might
have returned to the action, but it honestly didn't do
much to change the course of this series, you know,
because like I said, Lebron stayed hotter than fish grease
(08:16):
the cat. Hey, look, we were two Southern We two Southerners.
We gotta have a little bit about it, even if
it's just a week. The Calves jumped out to an
eleven to two run to start the game, and honestly
really never looked back in this one. Thompson tumpson at all,
(08:37):
but precisely the third the Cavaleries were looking for. In fact,
the Warriors didn't even reach double figures until the last
second jumper from Iguadala that made it thirty one eleven
at the end of the first quarter. Rob did you
notice did you notice in the early going because bo
get you know, he goes down with injury the game
before now, and I recognize you know Golden State that
you know they made their bones with their small ball lineup,
(08:59):
But did you notice any adjustments to their rotation given
that Bogan simply wasn't available at this stage in this game? Um,
their rotation changed and since that, you know, now they're
gonna go with the small lineup. And even though you
had Festus over there, who could come out and give
you minutes. But you know what he went back to
last year. He says, this is the lineup that took
(09:20):
him to the top with Draymond at the five, So
why not try it again? And I think it's one
of the things that we forget to talk about. Bogan
excellent rebinding, excellent offensive rebinding. And he was really good
at those drop passes in the post, you know that,
which allowed Draymond to free up, you know, and knocked
down some threes like he did in previous the game. Now,
Draymond becomes a facilitator, and he has to be in
(09:42):
that situation when he's getting guys involved and doing things
of that nature. But in the biggest scheme of things,
this is a Golden State Wars. You know, they got
the Splash brothers. They just won a championship. I don't
think anything that was been gonna be thrown at him.
They hadn't seen because they were the number one team
in basketball way every but I was trying different things
to beat them. Let's remember, send me three wins. Clay
(10:05):
does get hot in the third quarter, and you know,
he scores fifteen points on six of eight shooting, helps
bring the Warriors back to within nine, hitting into the
fourth and I'll play pump fake fires a three, got it.
Clay Thompson nailed it down the left sideline. But then
Lebron and Jr. But you know, you know, put him
to bed. They combined for twenty five points on nine
of twelve shooting, and they're able to thwart the comeback
efforts of the Cantalier's long lead pass us come back
(10:28):
to the pod of Note in this one, and I
and I was wondering how you felt about this as
you watched the footage of note. I do want to
mention this because Steph files out with just under five
minutes to go in this game. You know, he gets frustrated,
He screams, He winds up firing his mouthpiece into the crowd.
It strikes a fan out, a foul Ontario curry. He's
(10:50):
gonna get with a sector group. He throws his mouthpiece
after fouling out of the game, first time he's fouled
out since December. And then you got the technical file
with Courts went to the frustration set again. Carry finishes
with thirty points. So let me ask you this the
(11:12):
the act aside, if you're on the other side of
that court. Are you thinking we got him, we got
him right where we want like or is it just
like you know, you understand he's a competitor, and you
know all competitors lose their cool at times. We give
him that look like, yeah, we in your head, and
sometimes that's all you wanna do. You want to get
inside a player's head. That's why you know Draymond does
(11:33):
the little things. That's why you know Lebron does a
little thing. That's why all players due to little antics
to try to get inside other players heads. And you
think Steph is not a player that normally loses his cool.
He's you know, cool hand luke um. But when you
see him fire his mouthpiece out of his mouth and
files out and gets ejected, you know two things, We're
(11:55):
in his head. He's frustrated and that oh it's deep Curry.
Is he gonna use that to be great in the
next day? So those are the things you think about,
but you but the biggest thing is you think about
we in his head, and that's all you want to
do because next game you gotta do whatever you can
to let him know put that little bit of doubt
(12:16):
in his head to let you know that you for real,
absolutely so. Lebron winds up with forty one, eleven and
eight in this one board one again. Yeah. He also
he also throws in four steals in three blocks, just
just for fun. Tristan Thompson, he's with. He was really
good in this one as well. Fifteen points, sixteen boards.
Trist took Tompson with a double double the first half.
(12:37):
Kyrie didn't shoot well, but he spread up. He spread
around his contributions to the tune of twenty three points
four boards, three assists, two steals, two blocks. All right,
So Rob, you know you kind of have this unique
relationship with Steve Kerr in sense that if you weren't winning,
his team was winning winning the title in this situation.
You know, you guys have seen all types of different
(12:58):
situations play out. What do you think is message was
to the team after this one? And what are what
are the guys saying in the locker room? Um? Hey, guys,
you remember that seventy three and nine record that we got.
This is why we're here just in case something like
this happened. Well, have home court advantage. We're going back
to Oracle and we don't lose that oracle. I feel
(13:19):
like we could have closed it out a long time ago,
but here we are. It's tied up three three, and
we're gonna be going back home. So if you told
us to be in your season one game to win
the championship in Oakland, I won't take that any day
of the week. So you try to give him that
speech and tell him that you need to go home,
eat right, rest right, and do whatever you need to
get your mind right, because this is the most important
(13:40):
game that you would ever play. And you have to
tell these guys all these scenarios to get them focused
because it was gonna be a battle because you got
your star player who's frustrated, who just got kicked out
of the the game, you got your other guys who have
been shooting the ball consistent, and your bench didn't show up.
So you need all these things to try to motivate
your players to come out and be ready for Game seven.
(14:03):
Absolutely okay, So the Calves you know, and you know,
as mentioned, they take that one one one oh one,
James finishing touch us one of my neflicent performance, and
there's the buzzer. Game seven Sunday night. You open but
Let's go ahead and take a quick break here because
when we come back, signed for an epic Game seven.
(14:30):
All right, we're back here on NBA Finals file. Let's
jump into it. We got gay I you know, idious cliche,
but there are not better words in sports, and Game
seven with the greatest words in the world is Game seven.
I've never stepped foot in March Madness where it's just
one game and you've done, or one game you win
it all. It was It's like that film and it's
like one game. Yes, gay seven is with the stars
(14:53):
signed the brightest and where how did they say where
superstars become legends? There you go, there you go? Yeah,
so yeah, this is where even this where others step
onto the stage and get nicknames like pitch up out hey,
you know exactly exactly on that on that note, where
was big shot? You know at the time of this game?
(15:13):
I remember where I was. I was watching it intensely,
even though it wasn't your your my team wasn't in it.
Where was I was at home and enjoined this. I
had my popcorn. I'm ready think about this. I really
haven't been involved in that many games sevens in the finals,
so I'm always interested to see how teams react in
Game sevens. Who's gonna come out because a lot of
(15:36):
times when you're at home, that first surge is to
let you know if you're gonna either win it or
lose it. Because home teams have all that energy from
the crowd. We always talk about the crowd, and we
always talk about home home court adventage. This is why
you need to cross. You come out and punch that
team in the mouth early and let them know. Yeah,
you should have fought hard during the regular season to
get home court advantage. But you know, in this game,
(15:57):
I'm like, hold on, what's happening. At first course, this
is a good game, So I was excited about this.
Welcome to the nineteen game seven in NBA history. Well,
tonight be the very night that Cleveland fans have spent
decades dreaming about to be on someone else's home floor,
to be around the adversity and the animosity and the
(16:18):
crowd of someone else's fan base and it's just you
and your fourteen guys and your coaching staff. It's no
better atmosphere than that. Well, no, no, let's go ahead
and jump into it, because at the start of this
it felt, you know, even despite the series turnaround, it
felt like a game where, Okay, the Worriors are gonna
find a way to get one at home. You know
they're gonna find They're just gonna find a way. This
is to your point, This is why they went out
(16:39):
and one seventy three games. This is why they went
out and made sure that they got it, especially especially
when you have Draymond playing his absolute best in the
biggest game of his career to date. He starts off
that first half eight for ten from the you know,
from the floor, including five or five from deep. Draymond's
wide open takes another three, five, five. They keep feeling
(17:00):
it makes this quick move, stops underneath draymond brain has
twenty one points. I always thought those Dubs teams were
all but unbeatable when Draymond is locked in and making threes,
because at a certain point, it really is just a
matter of pick your poison giving all the other weapons, right, Oh,
(17:21):
no doubt. If you look at Draymond when he hit
those five threes in the first half, I'm like, oh,
it's a rap. I'm gonna I'm about to go out
and do something different because they're about to blow them out.
But you know what, sometimes you got to steal weight
to the end of the show because the game ain't
over until the person says it's over, and that and
(17:43):
and that's exactly the case, because the thing is, even
with that unexpected production from Draymond, the Calves kept it
to just a seven point deficit at the half. Then
they had to feel good about their chances. James, but
you don't have to slam what is coach lose message
At that stage, every coach is gonna say, hey, we
survived that first round. We didn't play great because they didn't.
(18:05):
You know, they had spurts where they played good in
the first quarter, but they only scored nineteen points in
that second quarter, so they didn't play great. And said, look,
we didn't play great. Look what Draymond did. He played exceptional.
They're playing exceptional, and we were right here, We're right here.
We can win this thing. We just got to go
out and have a good third quarter. And if we're
able to do that, you know, they put a doubt
(18:27):
and then we scared him a little bit, and then
we can win this thing. You gotta be better. We
gotta pick a fire language up, all right, you gotta
play harder, we gotta be more wrestled, all right, and listen, man,
everything we got is it is so funny that the
third quarter, when it comes to game sevens are the
most important quarter. You know, whoever can come out and
(18:49):
show their dominance is the team that usic comes out
on top. Tend to shoot. Lebron shuff us to his
left because j R. Smithbur contested Tree. He's got it.
Good start here a look heard for the Cavaliers and
for players, they know this. So every locker room is
always preaching third quarter, and win the third quarter, you
(19:10):
win the game. And speaking of that third quarter, Lebron
actually is cold in the third quarter, but he does
dish out five assists as Kyrie j R. Smith and
Tristan Thompson. They got things going for Cleveland outside of
j R. Side step Fox, j R. Smith and Heat
checked back to back freeze. The Cats were able to
cut the depths of down to just one point heading
into the fourth. The entire NBA season coming down the
(19:33):
one final quarter to the side of champions, and and
and as crazy as it is even you even discussing
it right now, I'm back in that mode where it's
just like ramping up and ramping up and ramping up. Because,
to be honest with you, the finale of this quarter,
the finale of this game. While you know, I've been
blessed to see a lot of different you know, a lot,
a lot of great action, a lot of great basketball games,
(19:55):
it might be my favorite. It might actually be my favorite.
Just giving the back and forth that we got, I
totally agree with you, and you know, I think this
game for me um and watching Draymond Green player, I
was like, Okay, he's a good player. Now he's a borderline,
this borderline, but he has a neck for when it's
(20:17):
the big stage. He steps up into the biggest moments
and play really well. Thirty if you to tell me.
Draymond Green scores thirty two points in Game seven of
an NBA. Finally, I'm like with the Splash Brothers, it's
a rap, and I think Draymond Green is that one
guy who went home and looked at h stuff in
the mirror and said, you know what, I laid an
(20:38):
egg by getting suspended for a game, so I gotta
come out and make sure we win this game seven
so I can get my ring. He did what he
could while he was on the court. I will absolutely
give him that. I will absolutely give him that. So
the game is tied at eighty nine, were three thirty left,
and Rob we absolutely get the ultimate showdown that we were.
You know that that that this game was, that series
was promising to be. Let's moving forward just a little
(20:59):
bit in the action because the teams were exhausted and
they're missing a bunch of shots. But Igua Dollar rebounds
a Kyrie attempt at one with one fifty five left
in the game and starts racing up courts. After swinging
at the Curry on the wing, Curry passes it right
back to it, sets up Iguadala for a layup, but
Lebron comes flying in from absolutely nowhere for the ultimate
chase down block. There was a two on one fast
(21:21):
break and uh probably nine nine point nine percent of
time that that's gonna be a Finnish between Stephaniegodala and
j R. Was back Dollar out of the pack. He's
got numbers if he hurries the Curry bounds pass. The
main thing was a new Brown was coming just to
give him a chance. I was just like, I can't
give up on his play. We've come so far, like
(21:42):
a dollar to Curry clock tagger down flock by James Brown,
James with a rejection, James out of nowhere, skies to
the ram. He bats in away, huge, huge defensive play
by the four time m VP man that was so big.
Both teams are clearly exhausted. Coach Louke calls the time
(22:04):
out at the one on nine mark. The Calves come
out of that time out looking, in my estimation, looking
to force a switch of Stephan the Kyrie. Is that
how you read that play as well? Yes, because we
know Kyrie is exceptional when he has the ball in
his hand, and all series we've been trying to get
that matchup, you know, point guard versus point guard, and
(22:27):
stephe Let's be honest, he's not one of the best
defenders in his league and the best defender on the
league is playing next to him, Draymond and his other
splash brother Clay. But they get that switch up and
now he's in the Kyrie goes to work and you
know what we mentioned this earlier about him being on
this big stage, Neibor to step up because as a player,
when you an elite player and you've got other guys
(22:49):
that are considered elite. It brings out the best in you.
And we all know Steph one m v P unitized
that year. So that's motivation in itself. When you one
of the guys that played the same position, it's different
if you say, okay, Lebron wins it and I'm a
point guard. You know, different positions, but it is a
guy that plays your position, you out to try to
(23:10):
show him up and show you should have been m
v P. And that's what this situation presented. And Kyrie
met the moment because he surveys for a brief moment
before pulling up for the dagger three from the right
wing over Curry's outstretched arms. This is a journey I
was preparing for my whole life. I had to be
ready for Irving and Curry one on one. Irvan puts
(23:32):
it up match Tyring Downtown and the Cavaliers by three.
They always say defense wins championships, and obviously, you know,
you know we've got some of that coming up shortly.
But are there moments where incredible offense simply trump's defense
no matter what, even if it's your best defensive effort
every day, every hour, every minute, because as an offensive player,
(23:55):
I know what I'm gonna do. As a defense you
can only guess. And with Kyrie's ability to handling the
rock and hit him with that step back. And as
a defendant, you said, okay, you try to think in
your mind. Okay, the shot clocks running down, which it
was in this situation, when will he shoot it? With
you know, five seconds, three seconds, one second? When will
(24:17):
you shoot it? And Kyrie shot this with three seconds
left to go in the shot class and then by
the bottom of the net. And like I said, Stars
loved those big moments, and this was the biggest moment
for him Game seven. It's a big shot without a doubt,
without a doubt. So the next play down, Steph asked
Kevin Love, isolated on the top of the key with
an opportunity to return the favor. He's made so many
(24:39):
great shots throughout the entire season for them, which was
a historic season, especially at home. Two seconds I got
switched out on the staff, and I knew he was
gonna give me everything that he had in his bag.
I knew that if I was able to stay down
and stay in front of him, that I could, you know,
really force him into a tough contested shot. He gave
(25:01):
the ball up after giving me a few crossover, a
few news and not being able to get a shot off.
Draymond passed it back to him. Curry takes the three
steps back crossover, puts up a three James. It absolutely
felt like he was going to be like and I
was as I was watching it. I know the outcome, Rob,
I know what happens, but it still felt like this
(25:21):
is finally steps moment. Not only you know like this
is this is his opportunity. He you know, I'm i'm, i'm,
i'm i'm. I was pulling for him. While it would
be easy, honestly to point the fingers step for not
being able to get a clear look, I'm actually going
to elect the praise love for what I consider the
best fifteen seconds of defense of his career. I actually
think he would agree with that. It would happen watching
(25:43):
him move his feet and get set. It's it is
so weird in certain moments you go back to childhood
when you talk the techniques on how to play deep,
it's on how to shoot the basketball. It's amazing how
you can pull that in and said, I got to
be pitched perfect right here, I gotta get down, I
gotta move my feet, I gotta stay in front, and
(26:05):
I gotta contest. And for me watching that moment, I
was like, what Kevin Love is moving his feet? What
he is contested? It was. It was a great defensive
moment for Kevin Love. Yeah, so step three is off
the calfs to get the rebound. The Warriors are forced
to foul Lebron on the other end. They actually had
to foil to give so they actually have to file
him one more time. And I and I vividly remember
(26:28):
this play because they found him on a dive to
the basket that almost resulted in one of the best
and ones in finals history. Perfect drives to James, Mrs
John But foul? Do you remember they play? Yes? I do.
But that's the thing about Lebron. He is so strong.
The only other person I can compare him to is
Shaquille O'Neil. You can try to wrap him up, but
(26:51):
the strength and the ability to still get it off,
it's incredible. So you look at this play, was like
did they just file him and not wrap him up?
And next thing you know, he's getting a shutouts. It's
incredible Without a doubt. So Lebron makes one free throw,
putting them up four. Steph comes down, misses another three
on the other end, and the rest is history. That's over.
(27:13):
The Cavaliers are NBA champions. Please, Wan's a city of
champions once again. The drought is over, the curse destroyed,
fifty two years of torment, and English has been washed away.
So Rob, I know we say things like all rings
(27:34):
and titles are equal, but certain wins like this actually
stand out a bit more to someone like you that's
actually one so much. At the highest level, this team
had the best record in basketball, meaning the Golden State Warris.
This team was up three one. Telling about the Golden
(27:55):
State Warriors. This team is trying to cement themselves as
a dynasty by going to back to back because there's
so many times players look at guys or you want
a championship. Oh that's cute, you didn't go back to back.
So this is what the Golden State has on the
table right now. But let's just say Cleveland Cavaliers came
(28:15):
in and wrecked that shot big time. They came in
and destroyed everything they had offered. They set records, you know,
first teamail to come back from three one, you know,
to be the team that you know killed it in
the regular season, and and it kind of said the
pressents like, you know what, it doesn't matter what you
do in the regular season, it's about what you're doing
the postseason. And the way Cleveland Cavaliers came back from
(28:37):
three one deaths that the way Kyrie stepped up into
the moment, and we all know Lebron's gonna do his thing,
but this was to me, like I said, Kyrie's coming
out party. To be able to accomplish something like that
with a group of guys that you genuinely care about
and genuinely love, there's no better feeling in the world
at all. Right here, right right, We're done. We're done.
(29:02):
We did it. We did it, alright, one more break
and when we come back, it's time for our series
awards and of course the all important Big Shot Bob Awards. Cleveland,
this is for you. Congratulations, you're the first team in
(29:24):
the history of the NBA to come back from the
three one deficit and Lebron Most Valuable Player two thousand
and sixteen NBA Finals Congratulations. We're back here on the
NBA Finals Final. Time to wrap it up. Rob, This was,
like you just mentioned, this was a fantastic series, but
(29:44):
now it signed for our Finals File Awards. M v
P I think I can guess it. But who's your
m VP for this series? You know, watching these games, man,
and it really makes you appreciate the fine out of basketball.
It makes sure you really appreciate not just to start players,
but the role players and everything that they have to
go through to win win championships. But there's no doubt
(30:05):
in my mind that Lebron James the m v P
of this series. You know, he should have been m
VP of the series last year, but they lost the series.
This guy seemen in his legacy each and every moment
he stepped on the court. So Lebron James by far,
you know, unimously vote James there. It is. What's going
on right now is still so surreal to me. It
(30:26):
still hasn't hit me what actually happened. I'm nothing without
the city, I'm nothing without y'all. I love all of y'all,
and let's getting ready for next. Serially, I affectionately referred
to this version of Lebron that we saw in the
last three games of this series as terminator Brown And
(30:48):
I'm not joking, like that's what it felt like. Just
you know, just it didn't matter what you throw at him,
It didn't matter what you hit him with, what you
if you let him on fire, he was just gonna
bring it. So I get the whole hardily agreed. You know,
Lebron James was incredible? All right? What about best role
player in this series? You know, it's when you have
series like this, you try to I always try to give,
(31:11):
you know, the role player, someone who comes off the bench.
And if Draymond would have been suspended for a game,
he would have had my award. But I'm gonna have
to I'm gonna have to go with Richard Jefferson. You know,
he wasn't playing very many minutes and he came out
and played a significant role, playing good defense on Clay,
playing good defense on Draymond. It's little things like that
(31:33):
that won't show up in the stat book. But I'm
gonna have to go with Richard Jefferson, not mad if
that r J makes a lot of sense, you know,
Tristan Thompson could have made some sense. But yeah know,
like this is like this, this was a this was
a great series because you've got incredible performances out of
the big dogs, but you also got great performances and
contributions you know, kind of all the round on both teams.
So no no arguments there, all right, what about the
(31:55):
coaching matchup? You know what this this is one time
where you know, if this is a Rookie of the
or we're you know, I can give co rookies of
the year co coaches. I would do that, But think
about this, though you down three one, you have to
get the ear of your team. You have to get
your team into believe in one another. You got to
(32:17):
get the team to play the right way. Think about
you got Kyrie and Lebron who can be like, okay,
in order for us win this, we had to do
it on our own. But no, even though they showed
like they did on their own, but they played as
a team. So my coaching move goes to Tyler down
three one to come back, never done before Tyler gets
my award coach. That honestly, that makes the most sense.
(32:40):
And that's not taking anything away from what Kurr did.
You like the excellent of Steve Kerr, but yeah, this
is Tyler Award. In fact, we might need to rename that,
you know, much like the last award is named after you,
this award should probably be the Tylo for that comeback.
Speaking of that next award, let's wrap it up on
the egg Shot Bob Award. Who was the most clutch
(33:02):
performer Kyrie Irving. Yes, I've been priested in all this series.
He's just coming out party and knowing Lebron in that
last game wasn't shooting it particularly well. Nine for Kyrie
went ten for twenty three, not that much better, but
he was able to knock down that big shot at
the end of the game for his second three or
the game. So Kyrie Irving his big Shot Award. Now,
(33:25):
a Lebron stand would tell you what I mean big
A big play could also be that block. But no, like,
there's no, there's no question like that. That shot is legendary.
He know, he hit big shots throughout the you know,
throughout the series, but in particular, like you just mentioned,
on the biggest stage, in the biggest moments, Kyrie was
that guy. So like, I'm all right, Rob, absolutely fantastic time,
(33:46):
you know, discussing this NBA Finals with you, uh, you know,
one for the Ages one for the record books, you know,
the to say the least Okay, actually, before we wrap
it up, what does it do for Lebron's legacy at
this point when you look at Lebron's legacy at this point,
you know, he went down to Miami and tried to
establishmself as a champion, which he did. You know, he
(34:09):
didn't win the multiple championships like he thought he would,
but least he got two under his back. Now to
go home to Cleveland where you know, he where he's from,
where he started his career at at where he went
to his first finals, where he got swept by the Spurs,
and for him to be back in this situation and
to do it in the manner that he did down
three one, winning it on the road. I wonder if
(34:33):
we had a chance to sit down and talk to him,
would this be his Swedish Championship? I had to say yes.
I think he's actually kind of acknowledged that. In fact,
you know, he went as far as he straight out
said he felt like it. You know, this ring, as
you know, regardless of his eventual total, put him in
the conversation for greatest of all time. And you know what,
(34:54):
there's never gonna be a consistent on it. But I'm
actually with him. I'm actually with him. This this ring
is what is what is what put me, is what
put him on my list. You know, for those players
I concur alright, folks, again, we really know for Rob,
you know, we really appreciate you guys tuning into this.
It's a great time each week discussing these series. In particular,
(35:16):
we want to make sure you stick around. You you
want to make sure you join us for next week
because we have another another series just coincidentally that Rob
may have participated with
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