LeBron James and the Cavs were in a bad spot down 3-1 heading to Golden State, but help from Savannah James and Eddie Murphy may have saved them.
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The 2016 NBA Finals goes down in NBA history as one of the greatest finals of all time. The Cavaliers completed a 3-1 comeback to beat the record-breaking 73-9 Warriors, the only team to do that in Finals history.
It took some great basketball to do it, but the comeback also represented a huge shift in attitude on behalf of the Cavaliers. Down 3-1, you can only imagine how horrible everyone must have been feeling. However, LeBron, as the leader of the Cavs, took it on himself to rally the troops and get them in the right headspace.
2016 NBA Finals Mixtape 🔥 pic.twitter.com/89YCb0l1CA
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) April 30, 2020
LeBron James and Savannah James shared an interesting night with Eddie Murphy which fueled a game-changing group-text
Game four of the 2016 NBA Finals was a tough pill to swallow for the Cavaliers. They were up by eight in the third quarter before Curry and Thompson got loose and wound up winning the game for GSW by 11 points.
It was even rougher because that was a home game for the Cavs, and so now, they’d have to start their 3-1 comeback on the road in one of the toughest atmospheres to play in at Oracle Arena. Before the flight out to California, LeBron was relaxing a bit, watching Eddie Murphy with his wife Savannah James.
They were watching his 1987 comedy special, Eddie Murphy: Raw, and having a good time, trying to get in a better mood for game five. It was in that moment where James had a sudden rush to text his teammates and make sure they were all doing alright.
“I just felt the need before we got on this plane to go out there, to send them a text message and just let them know that, ‘Listen, whatever y’all got to do, however y’all feeling, it’s cool. Feel as s—ty, feel as bad as you want to, but leave it here. Leave it here and don’t bring it on that plane because we got work to do. And if y’all trust me, as y’all leader and y’all feel that, then I’ll make sure when we come back home for a Game 6.'”
The text clearly worked as the Cavaliers would go on to win the next three games, including perhaps the greatest game seven in NBA finals history, to upset the Warriors and complete their comeback. Game five in particular was great as the Cavs trashed Golden State 112-97 with LeBron and Kyrie going off for monster 40 point performances.
It all may never have happened without Eddie Murphy.
“It just happened to be on. It’s one of those movies, one of those stand-up shows that if it’s on, you stop and you watch it. And it just happened to f—ing be on at that point and time. It was like, it was the perfect timing.”
