Andre Iguodala believes that LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from 3-1 down in 2016 because of some ‘external factors’.
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The 2016 NBA Finals were by far the most-viewed matchups for any basketball game in the past decade. It was a true clash of titans – the league’s best player in LeBron James against historically the best regular-season team ever.
Most of us know what happened in that series and how Kyrie and LeBron’s heroics got Cleveland an unlikely championship. It is indeed a tale for the ages – a team coming back from the brink for the ultimate championship glory.
But perhaps being on the other side, blowing a 3-1 lead, wasn’t exactly to Iguodala’s taste. And he’s seeking to remind everyone of some of the events that shaped that series.
Many people continue to asterisk LeBron James’ 2016 NBA title because of injury to Andrew Bogut and the suspension of Draymond Green for Game 5 of the series due to an accumulation of flagrant fouls.
Andre Iguodala takes shots at LeBron James’ Cavaliers 3-1 NBA Finals comeback in 2016
Iguodala may not necessarily come out and talk about asterisks – he did win Finals MVP in another asterisked series himself. But he definitely needs some healing on the wounds of the Warriors’ 2016 Finals loss.
Iguodala was on the Breakfast Club talking about his time with the Warriors recently. Among the topics that came up during the show was how the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in 2016. It’s clear that he still has some getting over to do, judging from his comments on their loss:
“There were some external factors, if y’all want some, some tea. You know, I mean Draymond got suspended during the series for some odd reason.”
“He missed Game 5. And that was a home game, we’re going back with a 3-1 lead, you know. And that changed the whole series right there.”
Did the NBA rig Games 5 and 6 in order to facilitate a primetime Game 7 that year? Did they retroactively change a foul called on Draymond in Game 4 to a flagrant to do this? They probably didn’t. Look at the footage to judge for yourself. Draymond deserved that flagrant.
And what’s more, Iguodala owes at least one of his titles to injury himself. Perhaps he shouldn’t be sounding like sour grapes after that run with Golden State.