The Cleveland Cavaliers are the first team to ever come back from a 3-1 series deficit and win the NBA Finals, and it's given the City of Cleveland its first major pro sports championship in 52 years.
Here are three big observations from an incredible Game 7 of the NBA Finals, in which LeBron and the Cavs defeated Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in Oakland.
1. LeBron's legacy is complete.
I didn't originally pick Cleveland to win this series -- but after watching LeBron in Games 5 and 6, I changed my mind going into Game 7. He was a man on a mission, to bring home a championship to Cleveland and his home state.
LeBron averaged a near-triple double throughout the series, and he did it on the defensive end, as well, becoming the first player ever to record at least 15 blocks and 15 steals in an NBA Finals series. He had some huge blocks in Game 7, including a monster one in the final minutes.
??? #NBAVine https://t.co/51svGxeDq8
— NBA (@NBA) June 20, 2016
The rejection! pic.twitter.com/n8nsmBFJeR
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) June 20, 2016
Stephen Curry was the well-deserved MVP of the regular season, but LeBron was the undisputed MVP of this series.
2. Curry doesn't get the job done.
It's not completely fair to rip on Curry, the two-time defending NBA MVP. After all, he did average 22.6 points per game and shoot 40 percent from 3-point range during the Finals, and in a vacuum, neither of those numbers are too shabby.
But the harsh truth is Curry didn't come through in the clutch during Game 7. He scored just 17 points on 6 of 19 shooting for the game and missed each of his final five shots, all of which came in the fourth quarter.
Curry will be back, as will his Warriors -- but he, along with fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson, didn't do enough in Game 7 or throughout the series to deserve a second straight NBA title.
3. Kyrie comes up big.
LeBron didn't do it alone. Cavs teammate Kyrie Irving scored 17 second-half points, including this ridiculous shot in the third quarter and his game-winning 3-pointer with less than a minute to play.
Kyrie Irving is a bad man. #NBAVine #NBAFinals https://t.co/wNsAbN9tZz
— NBA (@NBA) June 20, 2016
Kyrie Irving. CLUTCH. #NBAFinals https://t.co/pIgIA76Itk
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 20, 2016
For the series, Irving actually outplayed Curry, averaging 27.1 points and 40.5 percent from 3-point range for the series. Few people outside of Cleveland predicted that heading into this series.
