Kasler: Win or lose, Cavs haven't failed

Just more than 10 hours remain until the Cavaliers and Warriors tip off the final game of the 2015-16 NBA season.

Tonight, the longest road arrives at a dead end. And like every Cavs fan, I’m grappling with the challenge of striking a balance between two schools of thought: simply appreciating the Cavs’ journey to Game 7 and wondering if the season is a failure should they lose.

I've been writing some final thoughts after all of the Cavs’ postseason games but ceased once the Finals started. Probably much the same as the eight or 10 of you who read my posts, I’m born and raised in Cleveland.

So what was already a huge challenge to stay objective in sharing insights after each game became an impossibility once the Cavs made the Finals.

I didn’t feel like I had anything to offer on this series other than the emotional takes of a Cleveland fan.

Tonight’s game won’t be any different. If the Cavs pull this off, well, I’ll be doing what you’re all going to be doing. If they lose, what will be left to say, really?

So this quick pre-Game 7 note is about the best I can do.

The Cavs are on the verge of making history in the grandest of fashions.

Ending Cleveland’s title drought is certainly one piece of that. But doing so against the greatest regular season team ever . . . while overcoming a 3-1 deficit . . . on the road in Game 7 . . . against the two-time reigning league MVP . . . who also doubles as the de facto face of the league . . . who also seems a bit unwilling to lose with any grace . . .yeah, winning Game 7 would catapult the Cavs and LeBron James into a fairy tale with layers of fantasy.

But what if they lose?

The obvious answer is, hey, it’s just a basketball game.

There’s a more nuance than that, though. Until the Cavs pulled even this series, I probably would have looked at a Finals loss as a failure.

Maybe that’s not fair, but falling behind 3-1 and then quickly succumbing to the greatness of the Warriors would have ended the season with the softest whimper.

But instead the Cavs went into Oracle for Game 5 with the world expecting them to lay down. They didn’t. Back to Cleveland for Game 6, and the Cavs again showed up to play.

Facing two elimination games against a pre-ordained champion, James and Kyrie Irving took hold of the series.

They’ve pushed the Warriors to the brink of what would be an epic letdown for Bay Area fans. If the Cavs fall short tonight, I won’t see it as failure.

Cleveland heartbreak is littered with episodes of the home team imploding when the stakes are highest. Not this Cavs team, who anted up when the odds were longest.

The Cavs have acquitted themselves as more than a collection of highly paid talent. They've become a team without fear.

And they’ve pushed themselves to the cusp of history.