Alright y’all, buckle up. This one still kinda stings, but we gotta talk about it. Back in 2016, everything felt like magic. Seventy-three wins. Seventy. Freaking. Three. Broke the Bulls’ record. Steph was pulling up from the damn logo, Klay raining fire, Draymond was everywhere doing everything. We were crushing teams, cruising.
Then came the Finals. Cavs. LeBron and Kyrie breathing fire. We went up 3-1, right? Celebration plans were basically getting made. Felt inevitable. Then… yeah. It all went wrong. Fast.
The Downward Spiral Starts
First, Bogut goes down. Big blow. Him anchoring that defense, setting those bruising screens? Huge miss. We had to throw Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao out there against Tristan Thompson, and LeBron attacking the rim non-stop. Not good, not good at all.
Then, the suspension. Draymond getting that flagrant in Game 4? Sitting out Game 5? That changed EVERYTHING. We felt his energy vanish. Our defensive identity, our anger, our heart – it dipped. Cavs smelled blood and came roaring back at home. Losing that game felt like someone punched our gut.
Game 6: The Klay Show & The Desperation
Tried to rally. Klay went absolutely NUCLEAR. Remember? Eleven threes! Kept us alive single-handedly. But everyone else… felt off. Steph couldn’t quite find his rhythm consistently, the ball movement wasn’t crisp like before, and defensively? We were scrambling. LeBron and Kyrie just wouldn’t miss. Lost it back in Cleveland. Momentum totally shifted.
Game 7: The Pain
Back in Oakland. Oracle was shaking. Heavyweight fight. Both teams giving everything. Brutal defense, bricks flying. Our offense stalled BIG time in the fourth quarter. Overpassing, forcing tough shots against that set Cavs D, panicking. Remember that Draymond lookaway when Steph missed that last three? Ugh. And Kyrie… that dagger three over Steph. Silence. Still haunts me. Then LeBron’s chase-down block on Iggy. Just felt like every little mistake we made, every inch we gave, got exploited. Lost by four. Season over.
So What Went Wrong? Where’d We Fumble?
Looking back, raw and painful:
- Depth disappeared: Bogut down left a hole. Ezeli tried hard, but made mistakes at crucial times.
- Missing Draymond in Game 5: His suspension? That was the turning point. We weren’t the same without his chaos.
- LeBron and Kyrie went Supernova: Seriously. Couldn’t stop them. We switched everything, doubled LeBron, but they still scored relentlessly. That Finals series was insane.
- Panic Set In: After losing Game 5 and 6, the doubt crept in. That composure we had all year? Faded. Offense became rushed, frantic.
- Over-Reliance on the Three Ball Saved Them: Went ice cold when it mattered most in Game 7. Forgot to attack the paint consistently.
- Chasing Rebounds Instead of Sticking to Shooters: Big time. Cavs killed us on second-chance points.
The Lessons Stuck
Yeah, it hurt. Badly. But man, we learned. That pain fueled everything afterward.
- Health is EVERYTHING: You can be the best, but injuries derail trains. Learned to manage minutes smarter, rest key guys when possible.
- Controlled Aggression: Draymond found that line. Still played angry, still pushed boundaries, but smarter. Kept himself available.
- Championship Caliber Response: When KD came? Amazing. But the core? They remembered. The hunger after 2016 was scary. They played like every possession was life or death.
- Never Assume Anything: Up 3-1? Means jack squat until the last buzzer. Learned to respect every single game, every single possession.
- Embrace the Grind, Not Just the Glory: Winning 73 felt incredible, but it was exhausting. Learned that Finals wins are the only thing that truly matter.
So yeah. 2016 Finals. Worst sting ever. But without that collapse? I genuinely don’t know if we find that relentless, almost scary, focus that brought us the next couple years. We never forgot the feeling of watching the Cavs celebrate on our floor. Never. Again.
