Speaker 1: Dubbed Dynasty as a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
Speaker 2: Drayvon Green drives ahead finishers nicely three long break, Etchcott,
Speaker 2: cracking on great from forty down, chow ravon Green, Oh
Speaker 2: brain down for another, He's got thirty seven.
Speaker 1: Those were some of Draymond Green's better moments from Game
Speaker 1: three in a twenty sixteen second round series against the
Speaker 1: Portland Trailblazers. Pick any catch all advanced stat and it
Speaker 1: would likely list this game as the second best playoff
Speaker 1: game of Green's career, Thus far minor issue though Golden
Speaker 1: State lost that game. I'm Israel Gutierrez and this is
Speaker 1: dubbed Dynasty. Draymond finished that Game three with a playoff
Speaker 1: career high thirty seven points, including eight three pointers, nine rebounds,
Speaker 1: eight assists, a steal, and a block. It was a
Speaker 1: game without Steph Kirk, who was recovering from his sprain
Speaker 1: knee suffered one series earlier. Despite it being the only
Speaker 1: loss in the series, Green put on display why he's
Speaker 1: more than just the relentless defensive minded soul of the team.
Speaker 1: His best career playoff game also came this twenty sixteen postseason.
Speaker 1: It would also come to loss, a much more meaningful loss,
Speaker 1: not just for the twenty sixteen playoffs, but for the
Speaker 1: course of NBA history. It would be Draymond's summoning all
Speaker 1: of his powers to help his team overcome what had
Speaker 1: been the most costly mistake of his NBA career.
Speaker 3: Well, the thing with Draymond is that he's the ultimate
Speaker 3: competitor and winner, and he's loyal. And I will go
Speaker 3: to war with that guy forever. I mean, I just
Speaker 3: I will I do. That's how much I believe in him.
Speaker 3: But with that passion, with that edge that he carries,
Speaker 3: that chip on his shoulder, comes a fury inside of him.
Speaker 1: Steve Kerr would know best about how Green channels that
Speaker 1: anger into outstanding performances. Draymond was about to do that
Speaker 1: once again on the NBA Final stage. Last we left you,
Speaker 1: The Warriors and Cavaliers were about to engage in their
Speaker 1: second straight NBA Finals, a much anticipated series where the
Speaker 1: Warriors look to close out the best season in league history,
Speaker 1: while the Cavaliers were looking to avenge the twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: Finals loss and bring the first pro sports championship to
Speaker 1: Cleveland in fifty two years.
Speaker 4: Seventy three wins taking their place in the endows of
Speaker 4: the NBA well, the.
Speaker 1: Greatest regular season r time. If there was going to
Speaker 1: be a foil to this Golden State Dream season, it
Speaker 1: would have to be the two time champion and four
Speaker 1: time MVP Lebron James.
Speaker 5: Deep down, it was only right there we got an
Speaker 5: opportunity to play coach State after wave the last year.
Speaker 5: Me personally, I wanted to see go State again.
Speaker 1: As Rachel Nichols explains, the Warriors had to go through
Speaker 1: the final boss if they were going to stake their
Speaker 1: claim to NBA history.
Speaker 6: I think, especially as they were going along the twenty
Speaker 6: sixteen season, it became clear that they were on a
Speaker 6: pace to, if not set, at least come close to
Speaker 6: and ultimately they did set that win record. I think
Speaker 6: there was a feeling, Man, this team is rolling. This
Speaker 6: is incredible. Step feels unstoppable. They don't even need to
Speaker 6: coach X y Z. But until you play Lebron James
Speaker 6: in the NBA Finals with his full team, I don't
Speaker 6: think anyone thinks they're rolling at that point. Lebron was
Speaker 6: the only conversation happening in the NBA when you got
Speaker 6: to who's the best player overall. Sure, we might have
Speaker 6: other MVPs, but you know the old Bill Simmons, the
Speaker 6: Aliens came to Arke and said, you had to play
Speaker 6: a basketball game to save the planet. Who's your first pick?
Speaker 6: At that point, it was still Lebron James. For people,
Speaker 6: it was still this is the best player. We all
Speaker 6: know he's the best player. So the fact that the
Speaker 6: best player by consensus that people had at the time,
Speaker 6: the most dominant, the most physically gifted player in the
Speaker 6: league in a stretch where a guy already at that
Speaker 6: point we were saying, is Lebron going to be better
Speaker 6: than Michael Jordan? Is he going to go down in
Speaker 6: history as the number one player.
Speaker 7: Of all time?
Speaker 6: The fact that that guy was not on the Warriors
Speaker 6: team made the fact that even though the Warriors were
Speaker 6: winning at a historic pace, it did not feel, at
Speaker 6: least to me inevitable that they were just going to
Speaker 6: go win another title. I want to see it, man,
Speaker 6: I wanted to see the Royal Rumble. And I was
Speaker 6: so excited when we got eight in the finals in
Speaker 6: twenty sixteen because that's what it felt like. It felt like, Okay,
Speaker 6: lebronze teams at full strength, this Warriors team is record setting, historic.
Speaker 6: Stepcourry is playing like we've never seen before. He's shooting
Speaker 6: threes from the locker room, and here we go.
Speaker 1: Here we go, with a lot of help from Kevin Love,
Speaker 1: the Cavaliers forward had missed the previous finals with a
Speaker 1: shoulder injury, but he was familiar with the Warriors just
Speaker 1: from watching in twenty fifteen. This time, he'd play his part.
Speaker 8: We were well versed in what they were trying to
Speaker 8: do on both sides of the ball. And at the
Speaker 8: same time, I know they had Steph who was the
Speaker 8: unanimous MVP that year, but we felt like we had
Speaker 8: the best player in the game that could lead us
Speaker 8: to the Promised Land, and so we felt very comfortable
Speaker 8: and confident coming out. But again in those first four games,
Speaker 8: it didn't go in our direction for a number of reasons,
Speaker 8: and it was because they were historically great.
Speaker 2: The Warriors have six players double figures, and Carrie and
Speaker 2: Thompson are not those Squivingston.
Speaker 1: Again, it was Sean Livingston who led the Warriors in
Speaker 1: scoring in that game one with twenty, but six other
Speaker 1: Warriors also scored in double figures. That included Draymond Green
Speaker 1: with sixteen. Points, eleven rebounds, seven assists, four steals and
Speaker 1: a block shot.
Speaker 2: I speeded side with Draymond Green all the.
Speaker 9: Pants for like a dollar.
Speaker 1: The Warriors outscored the Caps by seventeen points. When Green
Speaker 1: was on the floor, No other starter had a plus
Speaker 1: minus better than seven. The Splash Brothers barely made a
Speaker 1: ripple with twenty points combined.
Speaker 2: Warriors take Game one, Curtesy out there, betch.
Speaker 1: Game two might have been even stranger. Lebron had nineteen
Speaker 1: points and seven turnovers, Kyrie Irving added just ten, and
Speaker 1: the Cavaliers as a whole shot thirty five percent from
Speaker 1: the field.
Speaker 9: Now the Warriors have set a new NBA record.
Speaker 2: They have outscored the Cavaliers life forty eight in the
Speaker 2: first two.
Speaker 1: A lot of that was due to Draymond who also
Speaker 1: led the Warriors in scoring in this game with twenty eight,
Speaker 1: including five more threes. Kevin Love suffered a concussion in
Speaker 1: that game too, keeping him out of the next game,
Speaker 1: but the Cavaliers didn't seem to miss him, with Richard
Speaker 1: Jefferson stepping in and playing thirty three minutes and Cleveland
Speaker 1: running away by thirty.
Speaker 10: Hey, that will do it.
Speaker 11: The Cavaliers playing Game three by thirty points.
Speaker 1: They'd been undefeated at home in the postseason to this point,
Speaker 1: so it was no surprise Cleveland rebound in Game four,
Speaker 1: though finally Curry erupted. After averaging just sixteen through the
Speaker 1: first three games, Steph had thirty eight, twenty four of
Speaker 1: those coming in the second half.
Speaker 2: Shot buck up seventh Curry fakes poked up a great
Speaker 2: sorry Jefford Curry from downtown at the ten point games.
Speaker 1: And with just under three minutes left, the Warriors were
Speaker 1: effectively coasting up ten and with possession, possession of the basketball,
Speaker 1: but also possession of the series, on the way to
Speaker 1: leading three games to one. Teams holding that lead in
Speaker 1: a seven game series go on to win it ninety
Speaker 1: five percent of the time in NBA history, but with
Speaker 1: just under three minutes for me, an exchange between Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Draymond Green would provide the ultimate UNO reverse
Speaker 1: card for the series.
Speaker 2: Green and James joying at each other wall play for
Speaker 2: ten years the Gazala to pull off that at a
Speaker 2: double Bowl, It's gonna be called.
Speaker 1: After setting a screen on James and getting tangled up
Speaker 1: with him at the top of the three point arc,
Speaker 1: Green fell to the floor in an attempt to get
Speaker 1: back into the play, James stepped over Green. You could
Speaker 1: say it was an unnecessary path for Lebron, given how
Speaker 1: easily he could have stepped around Green, and in the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals in particular, the stepover summons an iconic level
Speaker 1: of disrespect, famously or infamously if you're a Lakers fan.
Speaker 1: Alan Iverson stepped over Tyron Lu during the two thousand
Speaker 1: and one finals after hitting a shot father by.
Speaker 11: Lou How about that steps Toronto.
Speaker 1: With Lou now watching as the Cavaliers head coach Draymond
Speaker 1: was not about to let that type of disrespect fly
Speaker 1: without retaliation, so he swiped up with his right hand
Speaker 1: as he was attempting to get back on his feet.
Speaker 1: That swipe made contact with Lebron's groin, and a second
Speaker 1: backhanded swing in James's direction missed and tired. James and
Speaker 1: Green had to be separated afterwards, as Green was letting
Speaker 1: his feelings about James be known.
Speaker 2: Green and James joying at each other, walk place to
Speaker 2: tenures like a dollar.
Speaker 4: The pull off that one.
Speaker 2: Goal and a double fowls gonna be called channing cry.
Speaker 2: Getting in between Lebron James of six. Green starting to
Speaker 2: walk away, and he does four words. Remember Raymond, Green's
Speaker 2: one flagrant foul and two technicals away from being suspended.
Speaker 1: To this point in the postseason, Draymond had already accumulated
Speaker 1: three flagrant fouls. One more and it would mean an
Speaker 1: automatic suspension. One of those three flagrant fouls came in
Speaker 1: the previous series when Green kicked Stephen Adams and the groin.
Speaker 1: Many argued that foul deserved a suspension as well, but
Speaker 1: none King.
Speaker 11: Putting a move on Adams, and here is how come
Speaker 11: down goes out once again. Washed the way, Oh I
Speaker 11: don't follow through on the foot gets you in trouble
Speaker 11: every time.
Speaker 2: That's the second time. But three have let's say, Bronwood
Speaker 2: luck without it.
Speaker 12: You did it in Game two and the officials were
Speaker 12: going to take a look at him.
Speaker 1: The judgment on this foul against Lebron wasn't whether by
Speaker 1: itself it was suspension worthy, but whether or not it
Speaker 1: was a flagrant foul. It was called as much during
Speaker 1: the game and it could have, in theory, been reversed
Speaker 1: between Games four and five by the League office. There
Speaker 1: was no reverse and the suspension stood The Warriors were
Speaker 1: still leading three games to one and were in great
Speaker 1: position to win the series, but after Lebron was literally
Speaker 1: poked by Draymond during the game, Clay Thompson gave the
Speaker 1: bear a figurative on the postgame podium.
Speaker 7: I don't know how the man feels or.
Speaker 13: But obviously people have feelings, and people's feelings get hurt
Speaker 13: even if they're called a bad word. I guess his
Speaker 13: feelings just got hurt. I mean, we've all been called
Speaker 13: plenty of bad words in the basketball court before.
Speaker 1: That message was relayed to James once it was his
Speaker 1: turn on the podium.
Speaker 12: What did you say?
Speaker 5: Clay said, Play said, I guess he just got his
Speaker 5: feelings hurt.
Speaker 12: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 9: The transcript will support that.
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna comment on what Clay said because I
Speaker 5: know where it can go from this sit in. It's
Speaker 5: so hard to take the high road. I've been doing
Speaker 5: it for thirteen years. It's so hard to continue to
Speaker 5: do it, and I'm gonna do it again.
Speaker 1: Quite the drama for a series that appeared over and
Speaker 1: done with. Even if the Warriors were to drop Game
Speaker 1: five without Draymond, there still wouldn't be many people believing
Speaker 1: the Calves can come all the way back, not with
Speaker 1: the potential Game seven in Oracle Arena. The had chances
Speaker 1: of winning this series is zero as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 5: Everybody is saying that we can't get this done and
Speaker 5: it's over.
Speaker 1: Rachel Nichols was at these finals and she did send
Speaker 1: some belief from the Calves and some doubt from the Warriors.
Speaker 6: So much in the twelve hours after that game ended
Speaker 6: seemed to be hinging on what is the League office
Speaker 6: going to do about Draymond? Would they really suspend him?
Speaker 2: How is this going to go?
Speaker 6: And so much import was put on that, and it
Speaker 6: was such a twenty four hour news environment between sort
Speaker 6: of the way the Internet had sort of changed things
Speaker 6: for us getting news in the news cycle and again
Speaker 6: kind of being the height of NBA Twitter that that
Speaker 6: ball rolling down hill was so heavy that it almost
Speaker 6: became oh, he's not playing, Oh man, now the Cavaliers
Speaker 6: have a shot. And I think there was belief on
Speaker 6: the cab side that they did have a shot, partly
Speaker 6: thanks to that, partly thanks to what Ty and Lebron
Speaker 6: were doing behind the scenes, and I think frankly there
Speaker 6: was a belief on the Warriors side of Oh, we're
Speaker 6: in a little bit of trouble here.
Speaker 1: While Lebron announced to everyone he was taking the high
Speaker 1: road regarding Play's comments, James chose a much more private
Speaker 1: setting to announce to his team the road it would
Speaker 1: take to come back from this three to one deficit.
Speaker 1: On the team bus heading from their team hotel in
Speaker 1: San Francisco to Oracle Arena before Game five, James gave
Speaker 1: a rousing speech that mapped out the path to victory.
Speaker 7: When we were going over the Bay Bridge.
Speaker 8: I just remember being on the back of the bus
Speaker 8: with all our guys and you know, Lebron speaking that
Speaker 8: it's already written. Man, They've opened up the door. They've
Speaker 8: given us more than enough reasons. I see it right now.
Speaker 8: We're going to win Game five. We're not losing at home,
Speaker 8: and like everybody says, too bad Wars Sports. Game seven,
Speaker 8: we felt like anything could happen.
Speaker 7: At that point.
Speaker 8: We just needed to win this game and get it
Speaker 8: back home. We said we're not losing at home, and
Speaker 8: then in game seven, hey, let's roll the dice and
Speaker 8: see what happens.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just motivation that would help the Cavaliers get
Speaker 1: back in this series. The Warriors, after all, would be
Speaker 1: without Draymond Green for Game five, and Draymond wasn't just
Speaker 1: enough play. At this point in his career, Green was
Speaker 1: building a resume to where he could be considered the
Speaker 1: best defensive NBA player ever, and through these first four games,
Speaker 1: he was establishing himself as the likely Finals MVP should
Speaker 1: Golden State close it out. So the Cavaliers had a
Speaker 1: decided edge in Game five without Green on the floor
Speaker 1: to defend James or to protect the paint. Kevin Love
Speaker 1: had the assignment on Green the entire series. He felt
Speaker 1: the flagrant foul and ensuing suspension were warranted, and he
Speaker 1: knew the Cavs would benefit because Green had been giving
Speaker 1: him work all series.
Speaker 8: It's those antics and those you know, whether he's consciously
Speaker 8: or subconsciously doing it, you know, it's obviously just something
Speaker 8: that you know you can't do, So you know, that's
Speaker 8: just it's it's.
Speaker 7: Part of the game.
Speaker 8: There was so much at stake, and whether it was
Speaker 8: the right call or not, it was just the situation
Speaker 8: that we found ourselves in. Like, like I say, I
Speaker 8: was indifferent about it, but I did feel like we
Speaker 8: were going to find our way, and we still had
Speaker 8: that belief system whether he was playing or not. But
Speaker 8: just saying, you know, didn't help us on the other
Speaker 8: side would be alive.
Speaker 1: It's not just the defense that suffers when Green is
Speaker 1: out either.
Speaker 6: You can say all the things you want about Draymond Green,
Speaker 6: but Steph Curry plays better when Draymond Green is in
Speaker 6: the lineup. We have numbers, we have stats, we have
Speaker 6: the emotional weight of watching them together and the eye
Speaker 6: test and all of that, but it's just it is
Speaker 6: an irrefutable fact. Steph plays better when Draymond is next
Speaker 6: to him, and the energy and the bravado of that
Speaker 6: team is different when Draymond Green is on the court.
Speaker 6: And so I think even before they tipped ball in
Speaker 6: Game five, there was a real feeling of oh, things
Speaker 6: are changing here.
Speaker 2: Irving, just twenty four years old, set it over and
Speaker 2: over again. When he's healthy, a sensational offensive talent nearly
Speaker 2: falls drives now spins back to fall away shot.
Speaker 7: It's good.
Speaker 2: Games against rush Leans in trying to draw the foul
Speaker 2: got him up count it handle one forty points for
Speaker 2: Lebron James and the lead Balloons to fifteen as Cleveland
Speaker 2: force is a Game six What a road victory for
Speaker 2: the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the NBA Finals will return to
Speaker 2: Cleveland on Thursday night.
Speaker 6: And I think we saw that in the result and
Speaker 6: through the Cavs just walked through Game six and then
Speaker 6: Game seven of course went.
Speaker 7: Back to game dog fight.
Speaker 1: The Cavaliers didn't walk through Game six in Cleveland, they strutted.
Speaker 1: In fact, Game six might have featured the most confident
Speaker 1: James has ever looked in any singular moment. With less
Speaker 1: than five minutes remaining and the Cavaliers looking to blow
Speaker 1: the game wide open, James blocked a driving Steph Curry
Speaker 1: at the rim, sending the ball out of bounds on
Speaker 1: the baseline. After the block, Lebron started to walk away,
Speaker 1: but then looked back at Curry with a few choice words.
Speaker 12: It's pebble of hair and playbook hyry.
Speaker 11: Block by James, making a statement of both sides of
Speaker 11: the floor says to the two time MVP, get it
Speaker 11: out of here, not a bar washing.
Speaker 1: That meant game set on the Warriors home floor. Normally
Speaker 1: that would be an automatic Golden State win, although sportsbooks
Speaker 1: at the time had the Warriors as just a four
Speaker 1: and a half point favorite, and where's the buzzer?
Speaker 2: Game seven Sunday night, It'll look you feel like we.
Speaker 7: Could have closed it out a long time ago.
Speaker 2: But here we are.
Speaker 3: He's tied up three to three and we're going back home.
Speaker 13: So if you told us to UNI season one game
Speaker 13: to win a championship in Oakland, I won't take that
Speaker 13: any day of the week.
Speaker 1: But a quick glance at the Warriors going into that
Speaker 1: Game seven should have given an indication and upset was
Speaker 1: on the way. Andrew Boget wasn't happy about his team
Speaker 1: extending itself in the regular season to reach those seventy
Speaker 1: three wins, and now he was part of the group
Speaker 1: either not playing at all or not playing like their
Speaker 1: usual selves. There was Steph still not moving laterally as
Speaker 1: well as normal with the spring knee, and Andrea Aguadala
Speaker 1: was suffering from back issues that wouldn't let him play
Speaker 1: close to the level he did the previous year in
Speaker 1: winning finals MVP. Here's both.
Speaker 14: Game five. I go down. I think in the first
Speaker 14: half block jaw Smith shot. He does a cannon ball
Speaker 14: right into my knee. I'm like out, I'm out eight weeks.
Speaker 14: Can't move my knee like just blows up swollen. It
Speaker 14: was a massive bone bruise and a tour actually tore
Speaker 14: my fear behead, which I didn't know at the time,
Speaker 14: but tore my. If you have a ligament off that
Speaker 14: so couldn't even attempt to rehab back. So then you
Speaker 14: lose that interior piece, you lose. And I felt like,
Speaker 14: coming from that previous finals roles bench, I thought I
Speaker 14: was having a really good impact on that final series,
Speaker 14: blocking shots, rebounding, doing what I do. Drayone as well.
Speaker 14: So now you go to Game five, we lose that one.
Speaker 14: I mean, there's Champagne getting ready in the back. We
Speaker 14: lose that one. Now you're like, okay, now momentum starting.
Speaker 14: You can feel it starting to shift. We have to
Speaker 14: go to Cleveland. We didn't expect to go to Cleveland.
Speaker 14: We thought it'd be over. Draymone comes back in the lineup.
Speaker 14: Now the rotation is a bit different. I'm out, we're
Speaker 14: going to start differently. We go to the small ball lineup.
Speaker 14: That's not as efficient because Andre literally can't move, So
Speaker 14: now other guys I need to play more minutes, and
Speaker 14: it kind of you know, things change along that way.
Speaker 14: And give credits to Cleveland. That's why there were seven
Speaker 14: game series. You know, they just completely took momentum back.
Speaker 14: We couldn't salvage, you know, just trading water, trading wader,
Speaker 14: and by game seven Olephants was spottering. It became for
Speaker 14: your isolation based especially in that second half.
Speaker 1: The Warriors and Cavaliers were two great teams, but neither
Speaker 1: was immune to the stress of a game seven. In
Speaker 1: the previous series against the Thunder, game seven was easily
Speaker 1: the lowest scoring game of the series, and the finals
Speaker 1: Game seven, with the ring on the line, would match
Speaker 1: that energy. In the eyes of many an Oracle Arena
Speaker 1: that night, the only reason the game was being played
Speaker 1: was because Draymond Green delayed the inevitable by getting suspended
Speaker 1: for Game five. But if anyone could summon the type
Speaker 1: of effort to make up for his mistake, it would
Speaker 1: be Draymond. He's an absolute dog in big moments and
Speaker 1: he would certainly be in this huge game. Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: has clashed with Green several times throughout their time to
Speaker 1: get it, but he's well aware that the positives of
Speaker 1: Green far outweight the argumentative.
Speaker 7: Was sometimes that that anger comes out and in some
Speaker 7: ways we're similar in that regard. You know, I always
Speaker 7: think about this quote my wife read to fitting.
Speaker 1: By the way, the dog is barking now we're talking
Speaker 1: about Draymond.
Speaker 14: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 7: But my wife was reading a quote one day and
Speaker 7: she said, oh my god, this is you. And I said,
Speaker 7: what is it?
Speaker 3: She said, Beware the fury of a patient man. And
Speaker 3: that's me. I'm a very patient man. But if there's
Speaker 3: a fury inside me, every once in a while, I
Speaker 3: just blow over. And so Draymond and I have had
Speaker 3: some real doozies over the years where we battled, but
Speaker 3: it always came from a place of desperately trying to win,
Speaker 3: and we always got over that stuff quickly and realized
Speaker 3: he was part of our teams need for what he brought,
Speaker 3: you know, amidst this culture of joy and fun, A
Speaker 3: big part of it too, was our competitive spirit and fight,
Speaker 3: and he represented that part of our culture and our team.
Speaker 1: Whether Game seven was a rock fight or a dog fight,
Speaker 1: Green was the perfect player to have on your side,
Speaker 1: and he delivered with the aforementioned greatest playoff game of
Speaker 1: his career.
Speaker 9: If Raymond's wide open takes another three, five.
Speaker 1: Five, Wow, I keep feeling it, attempting to make the
Speaker 1: game five suspension a mere footnote in Warriors history. Green
Speaker 1: finished with thirty two points, including six of eight from three,
Speaker 1: fifteen rebounds, nine assists, and two steals. Green missed four shots,
Speaker 1: he had two turnovers, he missed zero free throws, and
Speaker 1: he helped hold the Calves to forty percent shooting and
Speaker 1: Lebron to just thirty eight percent with five turnovers. It
Speaker 1: was practically two games worth of production in one crucial
Speaker 1: forty eight minute span, and yet somehow this game would
Speaker 1: come down to the final minutes with only one made
Speaker 1: field goal in the final four minutes and fourteen seconds
Speaker 1: of action. Mike Green remembers how thick the tension was
Speaker 1: from the start.
Speaker 15: Well, the first thing is it seemed and there are
Speaker 15: a lot of games like this, but I don't remember
Speaker 15: one that was quite this emphatic in terms of every
Speaker 15: single possession seemed to matter from the opening tip. I
Speaker 15: mean every single possession, and if you would lose, make
Speaker 15: a bad turnover and they'd score easily down the other
Speaker 15: end in the middle of the first quarter, you could
Speaker 15: imagine that could cost them the game. That's how intense
Speaker 15: it was from start to finish, and that's what made
Speaker 15: that game so dramatic. And there were stretches where there
Speaker 15: was great basketball, and there were stretches where between the
Speaker 15: pressure and the defense, it wasn't great. It was hard
Speaker 15: to get accomplished what you wanted to go get accomplished.
Speaker 15: And that's because, again, is that the ultimate playoff game
Speaker 15: where every possession matters. And then down the stretch, you
Speaker 15: knew the history that was involved, both for the two
Speaker 15: franchises and for the individual players as well, and that's
Speaker 15: what made it so intense, and you knew that somebody
Speaker 15: was going to have to make a big player to
Speaker 15: win it.
Speaker 1: With one fifty five left in the game, Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: missed the jump shot that ended up in Andrea Wodala's hands.
Speaker 1: He raced up the court, passed it to Curry, then
Speaker 1: got the ball back for what looked like an easy
Speaker 1: bucket in a fourth quarter that was starved for any offense.
Speaker 1: After a twisting J R. Smith made a Guidala double clutch,
Speaker 1: a force of nature named Lebron quickly timed his steps
Speaker 1: as he approached and blocked the shot millimeters before it
Speaker 1: hit the back flip, practically pinning it to the glass.
Speaker 2: Bigodala to Curry Black black back James, Lebron James with.
Speaker 11: A rejection dam not of nowhere, Sky's to the ram
Speaker 11: eight backs in a.
Speaker 1: Way huge, huge defensive plate, but a four time MVP.
Speaker 1: The ball then fell into j R. Smith's hands and
Speaker 1: the Caves headed the other way. Kevin Love had a
Speaker 1: perfect view trailing the play.
Speaker 8: I just remember how fast paced that play was from
Speaker 8: in front of their bench going all the way down
Speaker 8: and Andre is an incredible athlete, Like, let's not get
Speaker 8: it twisted. Like he's one of the better athletes that
Speaker 8: we seen, especially from that era. And you know at
Speaker 8: the time, there's the reason he's getting this jersey retired
Speaker 8: by the team, right, Like he was that good and
Speaker 8: for him to get out in transition, he's putting you
Speaker 8: again in a tough spot. He was one of those
Speaker 8: guys that was a Swiss Army knife. It could do
Speaker 8: a lot for him. So when he got that ball
Speaker 8: and you know, you see Lebron starting to track him.
Speaker 8: It wasn't until after I had seen the replay that
Speaker 8: and so many people have broken it down now. But
Speaker 8: if it wasn't for that swipe over the top from
Speaker 8: you know Jr. And made Andre bring the ball down
Speaker 8: and try and lay it up off the glass, and
Speaker 8: it gave Lebron just that split second of enough time
Speaker 8: to come there and block the shot.
Speaker 7: Hopefully this isn't hyperbole.
Speaker 8: I don't mean to make it sound like it is,
Speaker 8: but I mean it has to be the greatest defensive
Speaker 8: play maybe in the history of basketball, considering coming back
Speaker 8: from three to one, a historically great team, time and score,
Speaker 8: what the championship meant to Cleveland as a fifty two
Speaker 8: year drought. I mean, there's so many things that factor
Speaker 8: into that, and that play in particular, I think will
Speaker 8: go down as I mean potentially his number one right
Speaker 8: that he'll be most remembered for.
Speaker 7: It certainly iconic.
Speaker 1: You know, the play itself is iconic when the call
Speaker 1: of the play is just as iconic. All hurry.
Speaker 11: Block by James, Bron James with the rejection.
Speaker 1: Google block by James, And of course you'll find this play.
Speaker 1: But the reason it's called that is the memorable words
Speaker 1: of Mike Breen, who sounded just as shocked as that
Speaker 1: crowd when it happened.
Speaker 15: You just knew that that was one of the most
Speaker 15: spectacular plays in the heat of the moment, at the
Speaker 15: most critical moment that I've ever seen. And you know,
Speaker 15: we all love the dunks and the three pointers. A
Speaker 15: block shot has always been one of my favorite. And
Speaker 15: to make a block shot that wins you a championship,
Speaker 15: that to me is again the beauty of basketball. There's
Speaker 15: a lot of ways to win a game, and that's
Speaker 15: certainly one that not only won a game, but won
Speaker 15: a championship. There's nothing more exciting than big in a
Speaker 15: score and then all of a sudden it doesn't happen,
Speaker 15: and you could almost steel the Cavs.
Speaker 7: You know that we're not going to lose this game.
Speaker 15: After that, And not that the Warriors felt that they
Speaker 15: were going to lose after what a deflating block shot.
Speaker 15: They still think they're going to win the game, but
Speaker 15: it was clearly one that changed everything. And the way
Speaker 15: Kyrie Irving played in that series, sometimes he doesn't get
Speaker 15: is enough credit into how spectacular an individual talent he is,
Speaker 15: and you didn't get any there was no feeling whatsoever
Speaker 15: that he was going to miss that shot.
Speaker 1: That shot by Kyrie, the three pointer that gave the
Speaker 1: Caves the league, the one NBA fans remember as among
Speaker 1: the biggest shots in the league's history. That happened a
Speaker 1: whole minute later. It was the one shot hit in
Speaker 1: that final four minutes and fourteen seconds. Irving had gotten
Speaker 1: the necessary switch and had Curry defended. Kyrie sized up
Speaker 1: Curry with eight dribbles before finally taking that right sidestep,
Speaker 1: slightly fading three pointer that hit the back of the
Speaker 1: rim and went through the net. Irving is Curry one
Speaker 1: on one, Irving puts it up, catch God, Kyrie, Irvi
Speaker 1: cut down. Kevin Love was on the left wing, spot
Speaker 1: it up and watching Irving take that shot. Love crashed
Speaker 1: the paint once the ball was in the air, but
Speaker 1: there would be no offensive rebound opportunity.
Speaker 8: He's shown you time and time again that that shot
Speaker 8: for him again, iconic shot in Cleveland sports history and
Speaker 8: for Kai and he you know that step back, you know,
Speaker 8: going to his right and kind of like doing that
Speaker 8: little slight fade. He had done that time and time
Speaker 8: and time again. So it wasn't surprising that he had
Speaker 8: taken the shot, and that shot in particular. I think
Speaker 8: he wanted that moment. He lived for that moment, and
Speaker 8: he was you know, he's such a cerebral guy. He
Speaker 8: thinks the game, He understands where he can get to
Speaker 8: his spots. And again, like so I spoke about ty
Speaker 8: Lu and everybody knows Lebron has made for those moments.
Speaker 7: He's shown you that time and time again.
Speaker 8: But Kyrie is.
Speaker 15: Not.
Speaker 1: Many would argue that Kyrie Irving is built for big moments.
Speaker 1: He's widely considered one of the most skilled players to
Speaker 1: ever play, so muscle memory often takes over regardless of
Speaker 1: the stakes of the game. Even less folks would argue
Speaker 1: that Kevin Love is built for perimeter defense. The power forward,
Speaker 1: known for owning the boards and scoring from various spots
Speaker 1: on the floor, was not a particularly nimble defender, especially
Speaker 1: not out on the perimeter. So with the championship on
Speaker 1: the line and his team leading by three, naturally it
Speaker 1: would be Kevin Love stuck guarding the world's greatest marksman
Speaker 1: thirty feet from the basket.
Speaker 8: You know, you know I have to like I still
Speaker 8: have PTSD, like being on an island against stephf I know,
Speaker 8: like everybody likes to make a big deal about the
Speaker 8: stop that I had. I forced him into a tough shot.
Speaker 8: I mean, for me, I wanted to keep my feet
Speaker 8: down and at the very least like if I was
Speaker 8: compromised that I wanted to send him into the paint,
Speaker 8: draw another defender and force him into a really tough
Speaker 8: shot or make him kick it really to anybody but
Speaker 8: play right. And we had gone over that play time
Speaker 8: and time and time again. And when we switched and
Speaker 8: he got the ball, I had stayed down. He'd given
Speaker 8: the ball up to Draymond, who was guarded by Jr.
Speaker 8: And I was actually supposed to deny that ball back.
Speaker 8: We had went over that play their Endo game play
Speaker 8: more than any other play, and all of our walkthroughs,
Speaker 8: in all of our film sessions, time and time again.
Speaker 8: We had talked it out, and in that moment I
Speaker 8: just kind of got caught ball watching and wasn't able
Speaker 8: to deny that ball back because of that. And when
Speaker 8: Steph had received the ball, I thought, okay, just got
Speaker 8: to lace them up and force him into a really
Speaker 8: tough shot again, stay down, and worst case like just
Speaker 8: fun of.
Speaker 7: Them into the paint.
Speaker 8: And Steph has been on record saying it too that
Speaker 8: it's very likely that I could have just drove past
Speaker 8: him and tried to create and again forced him into
Speaker 8: a really tough shot that he's made many, many times.
Speaker 8: It was just considering the time and score, the gravity
Speaker 8: of the moment. It just so happened that the ball
Speaker 8: bounced my way and I was able to force him
Speaker 8: into a heavily contested shot.
Speaker 2: Curry thanks to three steps back cross over, what's up?
Speaker 2: A three?
Speaker 1: James Curry missed, Lebron rebounded, and just one more point
Speaker 1: was scored in the game, a James free throw that
Speaker 1: gave us the final score ninety three to eighty nine.
Speaker 1: Just like that, Lebron James was yelling, Cleveland, this is
Speaker 1: for you. Just like that, the Warriors seventy three and
Speaker 1: nine season was rendered empty, incomplete, and just like that,
Speaker 1: Draymond Green would be blamed for losing a championship. Maybe
Speaker 1: no other player gets as much direct blame for losing
Speaker 1: a title. Draymond would get plenty more chances to redeem himself,
Speaker 1: but this one would sting for quite a while, and
Speaker 1: it sucks.
Speaker 10: Obviously, you hate to lose. Being we had a three
Speaker 10: to one lead, you know, so you think about all
Speaker 10: that stuff. You think about, you know, what if what
Speaker 10: if I would have done this, What if I would
Speaker 10: have done that? All that stuff we're playing your head,
Speaker 10: but you gotta get him a lot of credit. You know,
Speaker 10: they were down three to one, they continued to battle,
Speaker 10: and you know they never quit their leader's lad Lebron
Speaker 10: put the team on his back, Kyrie put the team
Speaker 10: on his back, and everybody follows suit, you know. So
Speaker 10: Trishan was amazing, you know, throughout the course of this series,
Speaker 10: and like I said, everybody else follows suit. So I'm
Speaker 10: not sure if it's more so about what we did,
Speaker 10: then you just gotta get them credit. They battled and
Speaker 10: they deserve to win it.
Speaker 1: If block By James felt like a bomb inside Oracle
Speaker 1: Arena that night, the aftershocks might have been even more intense.
Speaker 1: After the break, A somber FaceTime between rivals turns into
Speaker 1: much much more. In the NBA, at least over the
Speaker 1: last thirty years or so, the compelling drama isn't limited
Speaker 1: to the ninety four feet apart. In fact, over the
Speaker 1: last couple decades, even the NBA Finals in late June
Speaker 1: have served almost as an appetizer to the anticipated smorgasboard
Speaker 1: of player movement that begins in free agency in early July.
Speaker 1: No one knew it at the time, but the historic
Speaker 1: Cavaliers win that broke a fifty two year Cleveland championship
Speaker 1: drought would serve as a precursor to the offseason move
Speaker 1: that shocked the entire league. That's because after the Warriors
Speaker 1: Game seven loss, Draymond Green and sat in his team's
Speaker 1: locker room, assessing the entire situation. He'd FaceTime a friend
Speaker 1: who was recently an opponent, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City thunder Now. For some time, this exchange was reported
Speaker 1: as Green speaking with Durant in the parking lot after
Speaker 1: the game. It was even suggested the discussion got emotional.
Speaker 1: Green and Durant have since clarified that it was a
Speaker 1: locker room FaceTime, but the message was clear. This was
Speaker 1: a painful finish for Golden State, and maybe Durant, a
Speaker 1: free agent in just a couple of weeks, can keep
Speaker 1: this feeling from ever repeating itself by joining the Warriors
Speaker 1: in the same way that not many believed Lebron James
Speaker 1: would lead Cleveland in twenty ten, there was a strong
Speaker 1: feeling Durant would re up with Oklahoma City an attempt
Speaker 1: to complete a title run with Russell Westbrook and new
Speaker 1: coach Billy Donovan, but the Warriors losing and doing so
Speaker 1: in the heart wrenching fashion that they did, left the
Speaker 1: possibility over for an earth shattering move. Anthony Slater writes
Speaker 1: for The Athletic but was a beat reporter for the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma at the time, covering the Thunder team that had
Speaker 1: gotten to four conference finals and one NBA Finals with Durant.
Speaker 1: Slater was following Durant especially closely this offseason, given that
Speaker 1: it was the largest free agency decision in Oklahoma City's history.
Speaker 1: Slater recalls the first moment a Katie returned to OKC
Speaker 1: wasn't as certain as many belief. It happened in the
Speaker 1: city where Durant attended college, Austin, Texas, weeks before free
Speaker 1: agency open.
Speaker 9: So this is twenty sixteen free agency. So like late June,
Speaker 9: I went down to Austin, Texas because at the time,
Speaker 9: obviously all the Oklahoma cared about was this impending Monster decision.
Speaker 9: You sensed the level of optimism, but like kind of
Speaker 9: scared optimism from the Thunder at that time, which was
Speaker 9: late June, and I went down to Austin, Texas because
Speaker 9: he was doing a shoe release, you know, on the
Speaker 9: campus of the University of Texas. And this is at
Speaker 9: the same time the finals that he believed he should
Speaker 9: have been playing in was going on. It was I
Speaker 9: remember Game seven was the night before his shoe release,
Speaker 9: and now here in retrospect, I was not in the
Speaker 9: room at the time, but Rich climb and his agent
Speaker 9: and him were watching Game seven where the Warriors lose,
Speaker 9: which I think is a very important factor here. The
Speaker 9: Warriors win that title, they've won two in a row.
Speaker 9: I'm not sure Kevin goes there. You know, some people
Speaker 9: might tell you differently, but anyway, the Warriors lose, and
Speaker 9: within that apparently in that room, he kind of mentioned
Speaker 9: to his agent at the time, Rich Climben, that you know,
Speaker 9: I'd be like, I could help these guys. That's the
Speaker 9: kind of style I want to play. And then I
Speaker 9: also from that trip, remember when I was around him,
Speaker 9: especially that next day and there was a thunder. There
Speaker 9: was a few hundred people down there too. But I
Speaker 9: was starting to get the vibe that it's not as
Speaker 9: sure a thing that he's going back as I thought
Speaker 9: it was. You know, his eyes seemed to be wondering,
Speaker 9: and it was like, oh, he's going to take meetings
Speaker 9: he's going to do this Hampton thing that I working
Speaker 9: on the thunderside of it. That's and I started to
Speaker 9: get an idea, but he could actually.
Speaker 1: Go that's right, Kevin Durant might actually change teams. And
Speaker 1: where will the former MVP make this incredibly difficult life
Speaker 1: decision that can impact the lives of so many in
Speaker 1: a place that screams elite vacationing more than any other
Speaker 1: place in America. The Hampton's Durant and his team met
Speaker 1: with the Thunder in Oklahoma City before leaving for the Hamptons,
Speaker 1: where he met with the Spurs, Heat Clippers, Celtics, and Warriors.
Speaker 1: The Warriors contingent included Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson,
Speaker 1: and Andrea Woodalla GM Bob Myers was there as well.
Speaker 1: If Durant were to join the Warriors and replace Harrison Barnes,
Speaker 1: who didn't play well in the twenty sixteen finals, those
Speaker 1: five would be the new version of the Warriors deathline.
Speaker 1: Given where this group first met, the nickname of that
Speaker 1: even dead lane closing lineup would be ironically called the
Speaker 1: Hamptons Five. The Thunder would also be granted a final
Speaker 1: meeting with Durant after all those other teams had made
Speaker 1: their pitch. Okay, see, thought they'd built just the right
Speaker 1: team around Durant going full As Slater tells it, the
Speaker 1: Warriors offense intrigued Durant more so than upgraded personnel did
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 9: Steve Kerr loves to call it like the democratic, egalitarian offense,
Speaker 9: where everybody's sharing it. He felt he could grow his
Speaker 9: game that way. And also, and again he saysn't something
Speaker 9: he necessarily directly got into, but I think he was
Speaker 9: ready for a lifestyle change and ready to move from
Speaker 9: Oklahoma City to the Bay Area. I mean, it's just
Speaker 9: a very very different place to live and he wanted
Speaker 9: to experience that, and it was different and he had
Speaker 9: the success he wanted to. But obviously other stuff came
Speaker 9: after that. I think because it was such a tough
Speaker 9: decision at the end that I think every factor does
Speaker 9: kind of matter in here, including like the Thunder. The
Speaker 9: Thunder had basically a commitment from Al Horford. The time
Speaker 9: that he was gonna come over, they had just traded
Speaker 9: Serge Ibacca to Orlando for Victor Oladipo in the draft
Speaker 9: pick that was demonis a bonus, they were gonna have
Speaker 9: the starting lineup that was russ Oladipo, kd al Horford
Speaker 9: in emerging Steven Adams, and I think that pitch maybe
Speaker 9: would have got them over the finish line if also
Speaker 9: it was like, hey, the one team you were thinking
Speaker 9: about going to. Yes, they won seventy three games, and
Speaker 9: you know, in a lot of ways, he faced the
Speaker 9: wrath of that, Hey, you just joined the seventy three
Speaker 9: win team. But I just think it would have been
Speaker 9: harder for him if it was you just are joining
Speaker 9: the seventy three win team who's also a two time champ.
Speaker 9: You could at least spin it in. Hey, they failed,
Speaker 9: they lost in the finals. Joe lacob is leaving the
Speaker 9: arena in Oracle after Game seven upset, saying, you know,
Speaker 9: I'm gonna go fix this. We're gonna go get Kevin Durant.
Speaker 9: We're gonna be super aggressive. You have the entire Warriors
Speaker 9: conglomerate going to the Hamptons, and look, they if they
Speaker 9: won two titles and they were back to back, they
Speaker 9: may have done that anyways, but they more more desperately
Speaker 9: seeking him out, saying you're a missing piece.
Speaker 1: By the time the Thunder got to the hamp didn't.
Speaker 1: For their second meeting with Durant, circumstances had changed. No
Speaker 1: longer did they feel confident that their original pitch went
Speaker 1: over Durant.
Speaker 9: They walked into the Hampton's mansion and it was like
Speaker 9: something changed here.
Speaker 7: They hadn't.
Speaker 9: They were not told that night that Kevin was gone,
Speaker 9: But when you were talking to people around it, they
Speaker 9: were leaving that mansion in the Hamptons like pretty much
Speaker 9: knowing they had.
Speaker 7: Lost it.
Speaker 1: On the next dub Dynasty.
Speaker 3: So we would wrap up practice and I would go
Speaker 3: to the side of the court and at one end
Speaker 3: was Steph went through his routine. At the other end
Speaker 3: was Kevin going through his routine. And you know, it's
Speaker 3: like we're watching Mozart and Bach, you know, at the
Speaker 3: exact same time composed music. He was stunning.
Speaker 12: I can tell you how like how mad I was
Speaker 12: when Katie signed with the Warriors, breaking breaking news. I
Speaker 12: was so mad. I said, who's gonna beat them? I said,
Speaker 12: this is not fair. My wife, my kids, like Dad,
Speaker 12: why are you angry? I said, it's not fair.
Speaker 9: So much of the Durant backlash felt like you're you're
Speaker 9: going to the enemy, like the team that just kind
Speaker 9: of slayed you essentially, and like there was a I
Speaker 9: think there was a lot of people at the time
Speaker 9: that really wanted to see Thunder Warriors again the next year, right, and.
Speaker 4: I approached Pop always kid kidding and me being young,
Speaker 4: being competitive. It didn't matter who was where. We always
Speaker 4: thought they were vulnerable or they had vulnerable spots, and
Speaker 4: nobody was invincible to us. You know, they're not these
Speaker 4: guys from Boston back in the other Lakers back in
Speaker 4: the day. He's like, well, Michael Jordan's and Chicago Bulls,
Speaker 4: they're not that good. So he was putting in our
Speaker 4: minds like they're beatables.
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