NBA Finals 2015: Cavaliers vs. Warriors Recap, Analysis and Best Moments

LeBron James simply ran out of gas. The King is clearly the best player in the world, but the NBA championship is a team award, and anyone who might have forgotten that concept was reminded of it by the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors. The Dubs were too healthy and too deep for James and his undermanned Cavs.

Led by Steph Curry and NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, the Warriors utilized the versatility of their roster to expose the limitations of the Cavs in six entertaining games.

To James' credit, he never gave up and even had us believing an improbable Cavs win was possible. For the series, James averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. I'd challenge anyone to duplicate those stats with his MyPlayer in NBA 2K. ESPN SportsCenter helps put James' performance in better perspective:

James talked about coming up short during the postgame press conference:

On the strength of James' brilliance, the Cavs actually held a 2-1 lead in the series—and it could have easily been a 3-0 lead. Cleveland blew a 10-point lead in the first half of Game 1 and lost star guard Kyrie Irving to injury in overtime. Cleveland would be outscored 10-2 in the extra session, and it ultimately let an opportunity slip away.

While the Cavs would win two straight after this game, the moment Irving went down was the first major turning point in this series.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

The injury took the other dependable scorer off the floor for Cleveland and made the Cavs offense all about James. Granted, James had 40 points in Game 1, but Irving had 23 before being injured. He had also played solid defense on Curry. Irving's play and talent had us prepped for an epic point guard battle for the remainder of this series. Not only could Irving put pressure on Curry with his offense, but he could also make his presence felt on defense.

Matthew Dellavedova gave a valiant effort for two games, but ultimately he turned into a pumpkin—or should I say, he was exposed as a pumpkin—and Curry separated himself from the game.

It's hard to play the "if" game, but you almost have to in this scenario. If Irving doesn't go down, this is a different series.

Iggy's Rise

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made the single biggest adjustment of the Finals when he inserted Iguodala into the starting lineup in place of Andrew Bogut and slid Draymond Green to center in Game 4.

The Warriors committed to going small, and Iggy's march toward NBA immortality was on its way.

It's hard to fathom a guy getting the MVP when his primary defensive assignment nearly averaged a triple-double, but that's what happened. Despite James' historic series, Iggy deserved the honor. There's no stopping James, but Iguodala did everything he could to make sure the world's best player worked for every bucket he got.

Iguodala also made 40 percent of his threes and averaged 16.3 points per game in the series. Those might not sound like stellar numbers, but when you consider the workload he had to endure guarding James, and how many big threes he hit during the course of the series, there's no question he deserved the MVP.

The Best Shooter Ever

Jason Miller/Getty Images

Iguodala won the MVP, but the most indelible non-James-related image will be Curry's behind-the-back, step-back three against a flailing Dellavedova in Game 5.

Curry is the best pure shooter the game has ever seen. How often can a guy make 39 percent of his threes in a series and that be a decline from his regular-season pace? Curry's marksmanship and the many ways he's able to take and make his bombs are what separate him from all the other great long-range shooters from the past.

In that beautiful sequence, Curry highlighted his art and talent and exposed Dellavedova's effort and helplessness. No sequence more typified the entire series. Cleveland had the will, but in the end, the Warriors were just too good.

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