Ranking Best Moments From Cavaliers’ 2016 Championship Season

Ten years ago, on June 19, the Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, giving them their first NBA title and breaking Cleveland's 52-year championship drought in major sports.

Here are some of the best moments from that season.

1. LeBron James block on Andre Iguodala

With 1:55 left in the fourth quarter of Game 7, the score was tied at 89 apiece. Kyrie Irving missed a floater, and Warriors forward Andre Iguodala secured the rebound. Iguodala passed the ball to Steph Curry, who was in a good position. The Cavs only had J.R. Smith back to defend the rim, but everyone knew what was coming next.

"Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection," ESPN's Mike Breen shouted.

LeBron was able to fly from the back and block Iguodala's layup, letting Smith come in and get the board.

If LeBron hadn't blocked the shot, the Warriors would have taken a two-point lead with under 1:50 left to play, and it wouldn't have been good for the Cavs because they had a hard time scoring.

Klay Thompson made a left-handed layup off the glass with 4:38 remaining in the fourth quarter, tying the game at 89. The next basket didn’t come until 53 seconds left in the game when Irving hit a 3-pointer, giving the Cavaliers a 92-89 lead. If LeBron hadn’t blocked Iguodala’s layup, the Warriors could have had all the momentum heading into the last two minutes of play.

2. Irving's shot

As mentioned above, Irving's shot was pretty important. The Cavs were coming out of a timeout with 1:09 left, all tied up at 89. LeBron inbounded the ball and threw to Irving. Irving then started pushing the ball to the right wing, with Thompson guarding him. Smith then came up to set a screen on Thompson to switch Curry onto Irving, and he went right at him. Irving put Curry on skates, did an escape dribble with his right hand, went up for the shot, and the rest was history.

Kyrie's 3-pointer gave the Cavs a three-point lead and essentially secured the win, as the Warriors never scored another point after reaching 89.

3. The Cavs come back from three games to one

Of course, nothing is ever easy with Cleveland teams, including the Cavs' title win. The Cavs were down three games to one against the Warriors and had to win three straight to win the finals.

No team in NBA history ever came back from three games down to win the Finals, and the Cavs were the first team to do it. Cleveland had to win in the Bay Area, twice winning Games 5 and 7, then winning at home in Game 6.

4. David Blatt fired

One thing that people often overlook about the 2016 season is that Ty Lue was not the head coach at the start of the year. David Blatt was in his second season with the Cavaliers, and they fired him at the end of January, even though Cleveland had the best record in the Eastern Conference at the time.

Cleveland promoted Lue from assistant coach to head coach, and he was the main reason why the Cavs won the 2016 title.

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