The Parade College Writing Workshop – James Dunse: NBA Finals Game 7, 2016

 

by James Dunse

 

It was June 19, 2016.  Game 7 of the NBA finals was on at the Oakland Arena (the Golden State Warriors’ new arena) in San Francisco. The Golden State Warriors (GSW) were playing the Cleveland Cavaliers. Going into the playoffs, the Warriors made history, winning 73 games and losing just nine. This broke the previous record of 72 wins and 10 losses held by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in 1996. During the NBA Western Conference finals, the Warriors were down 3-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had  Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

 

In the 2016 NBA finals the Cleveland Cavaliers found themselves down 3-1 against the Warriors. They managed to come back down to tie the series 3-3. This forced a Game 7. Cleveland were trying to win their first title and the Warriors were trying to go back to back after they won the previous year against Cleveland. The two teams had a big rivalry. I was watching the match at school during lunchtime and I was nervous, as I wanted the Cavs to win. Everyone else in the class wanted the Cavs to win except for a couple GSW supporters.

 

Cleveland star LeBron James had a great game. He ended with 27 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds.

 

LeBron also had one clutch block on an Andre Iguodala shot in the last quarter. LeBron started from one end of the court, passing everyone to do his famous chase down block off the backboard. LeBron James also scored a clutch free throw to seal the deal. LeBron was coming off a 41-point Game 6 to push it to Game 7.

 

Kyrie Irving had a good game, scoring 26 points with an assist and 6 rebounds.

 

The moment of the game came a few plays after LeBron’s block on Iguodala. Kyrie was isolated on the wing with Stephen Curry guarding him. Kyrie Irving stepped back and knocked a fade away three point shot in Steph’s face. This shot pretty much decided the game.

 

Draymond Green was surprisingly the Warrior’s best player on the day. He finished with 32 points, 9 assists and 15 rebounds.

 

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson choked and had poor games, Curry scoring only 17 points and Klay scoring 14 points.

 

The final score was 89 to 93 in the Cavs’ favour. Cleveland won their first championship. LeBron James won his third title and LeBron also won the Finals MVP award, which was his third. LeBron averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.6 steals and 2.3 blocks throughout the finals. It was also Kyrie Irving’s first title of his career. It was a very emotional post-game celebration with everyone crying and LeBron happy on court.

 

 

 

Join The Footy Almanac’s AFL tipping comp (Title: ‘Footy Almanac 2020 Tipping’) HERE

 

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.