Most of us remember everything about the 2016 NBA Finals because, for the fans who have not watched any of the 90s basketball live, this is the greatest NBA Finals. One of the best highlights of that 7-game series between the Warriors and Cavaliers is LeBron James’ chase-down block on Andre Iguodala towards the end of the 4th quarter.
Advertisement
That series is also arguably the greatest NBA Finals of all time, not just because the Cavaliers beat a 73-9 Warriors team that looked truly invincible until then, it’s because they came back into the series after going 1-3 down.
That had never happened in the NBA before. It surely would not have happened if Iguodala made that shot.
Maybe that’s the reason why, until now, Iggy still remembers it to be one of the loudest sounds he ever heard in his life.
Andre Iguodala is a fan of LeBron James’ chase-down block on him
In a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, the 2015 Finals MVP elaborated on the shot that every journalist, who got the opportunity, must have asked him since it happened.
“It was one of the loudest sounds I ever heard, ‘Boom!’,” Iggy remembered that he didn’t even know LeBron had blocked his attempt but just heard the loud sound behind him and knew it was cold.
He further describes it as going into a fan moment in that very moment because of how amazing it was. Watch the whole bit in the following embed.
The historic significance of the block
The game was all square at 89 a piece, and Iguodala was running toward the basket on a counter to break the scoring drought with Stephen Curry beside him. The only Cavaliers man with them was JR Smith who did well to make Iggy hesitate and do a couple of pumps before laying the easy bucket in.
James came out of nowhere and delivered arguably the play of the century by blocking that shot from behind. What’s more mind-boggling about it was, LeBron had the other side of the rim covered as well, for if the Warriors’ forward had attempted it from the left.
This series finished with James as the top scorer, assist maker, and rebounder, and the player with the most steals and blocks. That also hadn’t happened in any Finals series prior or since. Unreal.
