On 19 June 2016, LeBron James kept a promise to his home city. He led the Cavaliers back from a 3–1 Finals deficit against the record-setting 73–9 Golden State Warriors. He won Cleveland its first major title in 52 years and took his third Finals MVP.
A tied game, a fast break, one chase-down
Game 7 at Oracle Arena was tied at 89. Under two minutes were left. Andre Iguodala took a bounce pass from Stephen Curry and raced in for a go-ahead layup.
James, who had scored 41 points in each of the previous two games, had other ideas. He sprinted back at a reported 20.1 miles per hour and rose 35 inches to swat the shot off the backboard. The moment is now known simply as The Block.
Neither team had scored since the 4:39 mark, and the Warriors did not score again. Kyrie Irving then hit a go-ahead three with 53 seconds left. James sank a clinching free throw to win Game 7 by 93–89.
First from 3–1 down, first since 1964
The Cavaliers became the first team ever to come back from a 3–1 Finals deficit. James finished Game 7 with a triple-double of 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Across the series he averaged 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists.
The block stunned the Warriors, the most prolific offence in the league. Andre Iguodala said it felt "like somebody got shot." He called its impact a "sonic boom," he told reporters afterwards.
The title was Cleveland's first major championship since the Browns in 1964. It reshaped how LeBron James was seen at the peak of his career. He would later pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time leading scorer and reach 40,000 points.
