--- title: NBA Finals Wrap: LeBron James Wins It For BasketBall description: The Cavaliers beat Golden State in a thrilling Game 7, giving Cleveland its first pro title in 52 years. But in fact everyone won. canonical: https://time.com/4374422/cleveland-cavaliers-golden-state-warriors-lebron-james-nba-game-7-basketball/ author: Sean Gregory article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-20T05:51:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:29:03.636Z article:section: Sports og:title: LeBron James Wins For Cleveland and For All of Basketball og:description: In a thrilling Game 7 of the NBA Finals, everyone won og:url: https://time.com/4374422/cleveland-cavaliers-golden-state-warriors-lebron-james-nba-game-7-basketball/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78af4491a3e0587a/698898838e0601aee74665cb/gettyimages-541552834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3922 og:image:height: 2206 og:image:alt: 2016 NBA Finals - Game Seven og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: LeBron James Wins For Cleveland and For All of Basketball twitter:description: In a thrilling Game 7 of the NBA Finals, everyone won twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78af4491a3e0587a/698898838e0601aee74665cb/gettyimages-541552834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LeBron James Wins For Cleveland and For All of Basketball > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: LeBron James fulfills mission, leads Cavaliers to first NBA title [Watch (HLS stream): LeBron James fulfills mission, leads Cavaliers to first NBA title](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UdZFi6YD.m3u8) (1:16)  _Published 2016-06-20. Behind a triple-double from LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers claimed their first NBA title, outlasting the Golden State Warriors in Game 7._  by [Sean Gregory](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory Senior Correspondent Jun 20, 2016 5:51 AM UTC  by [Sean Gregory](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory Senior Correspondent Jun 20, 2016 5:51 AM UTC He’s done it so many times. It’s a signature move. An NBA player drives for easy fast break layup. Then LeBron James, legs chug-chugging like a locomotive, chases the player down from half-court, flies through the foul lane, and smacks the shot against the glass, leaving everyone bewildered once again. How does he keep doing this? Such defensive highlights, SportsCenter regulars, illustrate LeBron in full. They showcase his freakish athleticism, his sheer will, his ability to grab hold of a basketball game. This particular block, with just under two minutes left in Game 7 of this year’s NBA Finals — and with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors deadlocked 89-89 — just happened to help clinch LeBron’s third, and by far most important, NBA championship. Thirty-one years after he was born in Akron, Ohio; 13 years after the Cleveland Cavaliers selected him, the most hyped-up high-school athlete in a generation, with the first pick in the NBA draft; six years after he ditched Northeast Ohio for Miami, leading fans to burn his jersey and his team’s owner to call him a narcissist, selfish, and disloyal in a[ crazed comic sans letter](http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/09/comic.sans.cavs.james/); and two years after he returned to Cleveland, despite any lingering ill-will, James delivered on his promise: to end Cleveland’s major pro sports championship drought, once 52 years running, now over and done. What a sweet thing in sports, to win it all for your desperate hometown thanks to a play you’ve crafted for years. When James blocked Andre Iguodala’s layup to preserve the tie, the championship was far from clinched. But the swat swung the game in Cleveland’s way. For years, [The Drive ](http://www.profootballhof.com/news/the-drive/)and [The Fumble ](http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year%5Fin%5Fsports/01.17.html)tormented Cleveland sports fans. [The Block ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIZqOTIbWDg)did them both a big favor. So did LeBron’s stat-line over these past three Finals games, when Cleveland faced elimination in each: he averaged 36.3 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 9.7 assists. So did [The Shot. ](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/playoffs/2016/06/19/kyrie-irvings-sealed-cavaliers-championship-over-warriors/86126408/) Before Cleveland’s exhilarating 93-89 clincher over Golden State on Sunday night, making the Cavs the first team to ever come back from a 3-1 NBA finals deficit, Michael Jordan made [The Shot ](http://www.nba.com/history/jordancav%5Fmoments.html)that broke the city. On Sunday Kyrie Irving, who scored 26 points in Game 7, sank The Shot that sparked celebrations. With the shot clock ticking away in the final minute, Irving launched a step-back three-pointer, a la Stephen Curry, right over Curry himself. Good. 92-89 Cavs. Curry tried to tie it with a similar move, but did a poor imitation of himself, misfiring. Curry, who topped the NBA in scoring this season with 30.1 points per game, finished with 17 points in Game 7\. Fellow “Splash Brother” Klay Thompson had 14\. Together, the most prolific long-range duo in basketball finished 6-24 from three-point range. The Warriors totally choked, right? The best regular-season team of all-time, with a record 73 wins, didn’t just fail to finish the job. No team in NBA history blew a bigger Finals lead than Golden State. They deserve our righteous scorn, no? Well, no. It’s tough to pinpoint a real loser here in this classic Game 7\. Curry? He won his championship in 2015, and this year gave casual fans a reason to watch regular season games in February, when they’d otherwise be throwing snowballs out back. The Warriors? We’re supposed to rip a team that, for many fans, made NBA basketball fun again? The Warriors earned their 2015 title and went all-out to defend it. Cleveland and LeBron, who [wept](http://hollywoodlife.com/2016/06/19/lebron-cries-nba-finals-win-2016-cavs-video/) on the floor afterwards, got theirs. Basketball wins. What’s so bad about that? ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ APPLAUSE ] I set out a goal so here's, when I came back, to bring a championship to this city, I gave everything that I had. I put my heart, my blood, my sweat, my tears to this day, man. Lebron James did what he set out to do, bringing Cleveland its first championship in 52 years. In winning their franchise title, the Cavaliers pulled off the unthinkable, becoming the first team in NBA history to come all the way back from a 3- 1 deficit in the finals. Lebron picked up his third career final's MVP after a superhuman series In which he averaged nearly a triple double . >> Draymond Green almost matched James in Game 7. Coming up just one assist shy of a triple double himself while chipping in 6- 3. But that effort was not enough and Sunday marked the Warriors ninth loss this postseason after they were handed just nine ells in their historic regular season As for Lebron, this is his third title. 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