NBA CHAMPION CAVALIERS

The Cleveland Cavaliers are 2015-16 NBA Champions and no one is happier about it than this writer.

When Cavs GM David Griffin fired coach David Blatt at the mid-way point of the season, the team had a record of 31-11 but was coming off a 30 something point shellacking at the hands of the defending champion Golden State Warriors. No time to panic, right, one loss is merely one loss.

Well, incredibly Griffin thought otherwise and with the blessing of owner Dan Gilbert he fired David Blatt ! The same coach who had led the team to within two wins of a championship last season despite the loss of both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving to devastating playoff ending injuries. Ya know, two of thee big three.

From the viewpoint here it seemed like who in their right mind would fire a head coach in the middle of the season with such an impressive record ? The only person who immediately came to mind was former brash New York Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner. Either him or crazy Ted Stepien who practically single-handedly destroyed the entire franchise in a relatively short stint as Cavs owner back in the 80's. That fiasco got so bad the league had to award the team extra draft picks just to remain somewhat competitive.

Back to the present championship winning season.

So, Griffin makes the bold move(a huge understatement) of replacing Blatt with top assistant Tyronn Lue who had absolutely 0 head coaching experience in the league. Naturally, there was the usual media speculation(it's never ending) that LeBron James more or less dictated the decision which he subsequently denied. Who knows when we'll ever know the truth on that one.

Anyway, Lue takes over the coaching reigns and after approximately 20 games which seemed to be a reasonable number of games on which to start formulating judgments, it really didn't seem like there was a whole lot of difference in either results or style of play. The Cavs had basically the same winning percentage as they had under Blatt. Lue had stated when he took over that he wanted the team to run and push the ball more and that they were 'out of shape.'

Out of shape ? It seemed like a ludicrous thing to say from this vantage point. There didn't seem to be any real understanding from other other so-called media experts either on that one. One has to wonder how any NBA team could be out of shape after 40 games unless you're referring to several bench warmers who rarely if ever played. Oh well.

Furthermore, Mr. Cavalier himself, Austin Carr, Cavs legend and current team broadcast analyst out of the university of Notre Dame observed during one less than stellar performance that the team appeared to be going, 'backwards.' Yes, backwards. Specifically, most observers agreed they lacked consistent focus and intensity for stretches during games particularly on the defensive end. Kyrie Irving, coming off his broken kneecap in the early stages of the finals last year at times struggled to consistently regain his shot and rhythm. One had to wonder what the playoffs would bring.

Another factor was Lue, by design, alternately resting James and Irving. How were they going to be ready to play together come playoff time if they weren't given ample time by the coach to form the necessary cohesiveness to perform at a maximum level. It's well known that Western conference teams were overall superior to the Eastern Conference, particularly the Warriors, Spurs and Thunder.

Obviously, the Cavs managed to obtain home court advantage through the Eastern Conference playoffs by a mere one game advantage over the Toronto Raptors with a 57-25 record. Not so impressive when comparing it to the incredible record setting mark of 73- 9 by the defending champion Warriors over in the West.  Yet, those who know the game knew if the Cavs could consistently get it together they could play with anyone. James, Irving, Love, Smith, Thompson and co. just had to put it all together at the right time.

Everyone knows the Cavs swept both the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks 4-0. Next were the Raptors. Cleveland won the first two games of the series relatively easily but then seemingly ran into a buzz saw named, DeMarre Carroll. For two entire games this guy looked like a poor man's reincarnation of all-time great rebounding machine, Moses Malone.

Obviously, the Cavs weathered the storm and rebuffed Toronto winning the series 4-2. Lo and behold, on to the finals. The Warriors managed to come back to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder and star Kevin Durant in 7 games. The Cavs got a finals rematch with MVP Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Co. By now, anyone not living in a deep hole somewhere knows the result.

The nerve wracking 4th quarter seesawed back and forth and at the midpoint mark the Warriors clung to an 87-86 lead. At 4:45 left to go in the game, the Cavs hit a 3-pointer to go up 89-87. Undaunted, Golden St. tied it at 89 all 15 seconds later. Those were the last points they ever scored.

The game remained tied for several nail-biting minutes until KYRIE IRVING buried a 3 beyond the arc near the right wing right over league MVP, Stephen Curry with .53 to go making it 92-89 Cavaliers ! LEBRON JAMES had a spectacular block in the waning moments soaring through the air like Superman. Then, with 10 seconds left to become champions he sunk 1 of 2 foul shots to put the Cavs up 93-89.

The Cleveland Cavaliers in an epic comeback for the ages, after being down 3-1 defeated Curry and the 73-9 defending champion Golden State Warriors in front of the Warriors' stunned fans and a national TV audience in one of thee all-time greatest game 7's in NBA history.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are NBA Champions !

DAVE BURKEY
daveywriter@yahoo.com