LeBron James Breaks Down Cavs' Historic Comeback vs. Warriors in 2016 NBA Finals
In the midst of an NBA postseason that has already seen six historic comebacks within the course of an individual game, LeBron James break down the essence of erasing a huge deficit within the context of a playoff series using the 2016 NBA Finals as the example.
On the latest episode of the Mind the Game podcast (starts at 36:34 mark), James started by explaining the message he delivered after the Cleveland Cavaliers' Game 4 loss to the Golden State Warriors:
"I told the guys before we left, I was like, 'listen, we're gonna win Game 5. I can feel it. We're gonna win Game 5. I know you guys are upset about losing Game 4 at home. But whatever you got, just bring it with you to Golden State. I promise you if we get back to Cleveland for a Game 6, there will be a Game 7, and I'll take it from there. I just need y'all to lock in. I know y'all not gonna have much sleep. You're not gonna sleep after losing Game 4 because we had our chances.'"
It has long been suggested that Game 5 was the pivot point in the series. That was the game Draymond Green served a suspension for accumulating too many flagrant foul points.
Green himself has said his absence in that game cost the Warriors a championship. The Cavs rode a huge second-half wave in Game 5 to a 112-97 victory to keep their hopes alive.
James explained on the podcast that winning a game like that in Oracle Arena shifted the tenor of the entire series.
"We broke through a new ceiling," said James. "And I think that's the momentum I felt when we won Game 5 in Oracle."
Interestingly, James said he felt like the game without Green available was going to be "even tougher because role players play even better at home."
Even though the Cavs still had to win a Game 7 in Oracle to complete the comeback, James noted his teammates "believed that what I was saying" prior to Game 5 was "f--king coming true."
James did acknowledge the Warriors were "the better team" in the series, but the Cavs "hit a momentum pop" and there was "nothing (Golden State) could do about it" once the ball started rolling down the hill.
Cleveland looked hopeless early in the series. The Warriors won the first two games at home by a combined 48 points, including holding the Cavs to 77 points in Game 2.
After the Cavs got on the board with a 120-90 win in Game 3, they were outscored by 16 in the second half of the next game in a 108-97 loss.
Game 7 was a slugfest between two teams that looked like they had thrown every haymaker their body could muster. They combined for just 31 points on just 3-of-15 three-point shooting in the fourth quarter.
One of those threes was Kyrie Irving's go-ahead shot with 53 seconds remaining to put Cleveland up 92-89. That came less than one minute after James' iconic block on Andre Iguodala's layup attempt when the score was tied.
James finished the game with 27 points, 11 assists, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals in 47 minutes. The Cavaliers remain the only team in NBA history to erase a 3-1 deficit in the Finals.
