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Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry remains in awe of the performances by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as the Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA title.
Curry discussed his team blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals on The Old Man and The Three podcast (1:05:00):
“I’ve never seen two guys play at that level for three straight games,” Curry said. “It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Bron and Kyrie were just on…I mean we played well, they just played better.”
The Warriors had a chance to close out the Cavaliers at home in Game 5 of the series, but James and Irving each scored 41 points in a dominant showing to keep the season alive. James scored 41 again in Game 6, while the two stars combined for 53 in the Game 7 win. James had a triple-double in the final game, and Irving hit the go-ahead three in the last minute of the fourth quarter.
Cleveland earned its first championship with the come-from-behind victory, while the Warriors wasted their all-time great 73-9 regular season. The two teams faced off in every NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018, with Golden State winning three of four titles in that stretch—the loss in 2016 was the only blemish.
Six years later, Curry can only tip his cap to James and Irving for helping pull off the upset.
