The 2016 NBA Finals will be forever remembered.
LeBron James. Steph Curry. The greatness of the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors.
All of those subjects have been deeply touched by a Game 7 that will live in the annals of basketball history long after we are all dead and gone.
For James, he finally proved to be greater than the moment. While he had already secured two NBA titles and a quartet of Most Valuable Player awards, the prevailing narrative was that James wilted under the bright lights of the national stage.
This time, James was flawless down the stretch. He was Secretariat at the Belmont in 1973, gaining steam at each turn. He was brooding and beautiful, powerful and poetic. When the dust finally settled from his personal demolition, James had authored 41-point efforts in Games 5 and 6 before. He then recorded a triple-double in the deciding Game 7, becoming only the third player in NBA Finals history to do so in the ultimate contest.
The argument now is whether James is one of the greatest to ever play. It’s an immature rhetoric. James has been one of the all-time greats for the past five years. Nothing has changed in that regard. What has changed is we now know how we will be remembered.
James will be remembered for chasing down Andre Iguodala and pinning his layup to the glass in the waning moments of his legacy game. That image will endure, and so will the title he just won.
As for the Warriors, nothing will ever be the same. The record-setting regular season is now a footnote to the biggest collapse in Finals history.
Golden State’s postseason run was supposed to be a coronation following its 73-9 run through the regular season. Instead, it turned into a treacherous trip that almost saw the Warriors lose before the matchup with the Cavaliers materialized.
The Warriors won’t be remembered as a dynastic team because they aren’t one. They won’t be lauded as one of the greatest to ever play because they failed. To the victor goes the spoils, always. Golden State came up short, and so will its impact in history.
In the final analysis, the Warriors turned out to be the final villain in James’ story. He was able to vanquish them and with it, his demons.
Long live The King.