Cleveland Cavaliers: Top 10 Moments of 2016

Jun 19, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) celebrates with the Larry O

The Cleveland Cavaliers did miracles in 2016, and they made memories that shouldn’t easily be forgotten.

The Cleveland Cavaliers made history several times in 2016, and it should always be remember. From LeBron’s block to Kyrie’s “Shot”, we will breakdown and rank every special moment that the Cavaliers had in 2016.

The Cavaliers ended the 2015-2016 season 57-25, and led the Eastern Conference. They entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the East and did not disappoint. With a couple easy sweeps to start the playoffs against the Pistons and Hawks, the Cavaliers tore right through every opponent outside of Golden State.

After the notorious blown lead (secret: its a top moment later on), the Cavaliers entered into free agency relatively quiet and left the offseason with the addition of Kay Felder in the draft. Now the Cavaliers sit at 23-7 with the majority of the same team that won last years Championship.

This calendar year has seen a lot of up’s and down’s, and without further ado we will breakdown the top 10 moments of this renown organization.

Nov 11, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue (R) talks with Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) against the Washington Wizards in the fourth quarter at Verizon Center. The Cavaliers won 105-94. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

#10- The promotion of Tyronn Lue was crucial for the Cavs.

News leaked on January 22, 2016, about the shocking news that left some Cavalier fans dumbfounded. After a 30-11 start, the Cavaliers decided to fire their Coach David Blatt, a famous overseas coach.

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported this back in January:

“In a news conference announcing the firing later Friday evening, Cavaliers general manager David Griffin cited the team’s inability to develop a true identity as a reason in making the coaching change.”

Want your voice heard? Join the King James Gospel team!

LeBron James was a big advocate of Lue’s, and the switch obviously paid off. Lue has had succeed in every aspect. He did his job and guided the Cavaliers to a Championship in his first stint as the Cavaliers Head Coach.

This was a huge move in 2016, and it helped kick off several of the other top moments. Lue continues to excel as the Cavaliers coach, and he will continue to excel as they chase another NBA Championship in 2017.

Nov 18, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Channing Frye (8) warms up before the game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

#9- The trade for Channing Frye was underrated.

GM David Griffin and the Cleveland Cavaliers organization while under the on-court leadership of LeBron James have always found a way to help the King win games. The addition of Channing Frye in February of least season was another huge help to the King.

The Cavaliers landed Channing Frye in a three-team deal that involved several players along with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Orlando Magic. All-in-all the Cleveland Cavaliers basically gave up a first round pick for Frye which has certainly worked in their favor.

Per 36 minutes of the 2016 Finals, Frye scored 17.3 points and snagged 6.2 rebounds. That is not even close to his specialty though. In those Finals, per 36 minutes, Frye averaged a HUGE 3.9 threes. Frye’s ability to spread the floor greatly helped Cleveland as they were searching for ways to space the floor for King James.

Frye and the Cleveland Cavaliers have both flourished from this trade, and this was a huge win for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

May 4, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dahntay Jones (30) reacts after hitting a record breaking three-pointer during the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 123-98. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

#8- The Cavaliers broke the playoff three point record.

Game 2 of the 2016 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals. I was at a Max & Erma’s watching the game with a huge Hawks fans- we assumed everywhere else would be packed.

The game was over well after half time. According to the official NBA.com, Kyle Korver said this after the game:

“When they put those shots down, I don’t know if anyone can beat them, to be honest,” said Atlanta’s Kyle Korver, one of the game’s deadliest shooters. “We were hoping that they’d start missing at some point.”

Are you serious?

J.R. Smith led the was as he converted seven of his thirteen attempts from behind the arc. The Cavaliers hit an incredible 18 3s to start the game and continued to strike from downtown after halftime. The 18 3s was not just a postseason record but also a regular season record for the 3s in a half.

The big 3 including J.R. Smith combined for 18 of the 25 3’s. This was just excellent shooting by an excellent team.

Jun 22, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; The crowd in Mall B before the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA championship parade in downtown Cleveland. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

#7: The streak was broken, and the parade followed!

According to Wikipedia (I know not the most credible source), the Cleveland curse is described like this:

“The Cleveland sports curse was a sports superstition involving the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and its major league professional sports teams, from 1964 to 2016.”

The curse was lifted as the Cavaliers hoisted the trophy, and LeBron James was finally able to sleep at night after bringing his elusive Cavaliers a title. But the parade that followed the Finals may have even been more exciting than the actual Finals were.

Then, this happened.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have officially laid claim to some of the NBA’s best fans, and after the Finals performance, they deserved it.

The streak ending and the parade were huge, but so was 2016 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. As you sit there and read, how can this get any better? Just wait for the last six.

#6- J.R. Smith and his shirtless saga was a hit.

Please watch that whole YouTube video and realize the passion that J.R. Smith put into everything. The first time I watched that interview, I almost cried. J.R. Smith, who is known for not backing down from anything, broke down and it was incredible.

According to SB Nation, this is how J.R. Smith’s timeline went. The Cleveland Cavaliers took off to go to Las Vegas on their way home from their championship parade, and at that time, J.R. Smith still had a shirt on. Sometime while in Vegas, the shirt came off.

He was then spotted multiple times flying home after the flight home without a shirt. The incident started to receive national attention. Most fans, including me, were waiting anxiously to see if J.R. Smith were to ever put a shirt on.

As the hype calmed down, it is assumed the Smith eventually put a shirt on as some early non-picture claims said that he did (no worries, we don’t HAVE to believe then). The J.R. Smith interview and saga were a huge emphasis and showed the fans exactly what they wanted from their starting shooting guard– a real human.

#5: Kyrie Irving was the Cavaliers savior yet again.

Desperation mode was activated as the Cavaliers were down 14 points in the fourth quarter on their Christmas Day game against the Warriors.

Kyrie ran the ball down the court as Klay Thompson guarded him and Stephen Curry sat on the bench. Kyrie drives hard into Klay on the right side of the floor, he made a spin move, faded away and scored. At that moment, every NBA fan with 3.4 seconds left in the game went simultaneously berserk.

Want your voice heard? Join the King James Gospel team!

The Cavaliers went on to win this crucial game 109-108. This game was important to the Cavaliers for several reasons. For starters, it proved that they could beat this Kevin Durant-led Warriors team. Secondly, it again solidified Kyrie Irving as their go-to player when the game is on the line.

This was huge, and the only thing that could have made it better was if it was on a bigger stage. Christmas day was watched by millions, but at the end of the day, it was just a game. With that said, it seemed just to put this insane shot as number five.

#4: Yes, Kevin Love is amazing- sometimes.

If you remember back in January of 2015, after halftime Klay Thompson did what we thought was impossible. He rained in 37 of his 52 points in the third quarter to set an NBA record. He went 13-13 in this quarter.

More from King James Gospel

While Kevin Love did not quite reach 37, his 34 points against the Blazers on November 23rd was just as impressive. The 34 points was the second most scored in a quarter, and it was done in an insane fashion.

According to ESPN.com, Love was on even more fire than you may have thought.

“Love’s 34 points in the quarter matched the most he scored in a game since joining the Cavaliers. He outscored the Trail Blazers by himself in the quarter 34-31. He made his first seven shots of the game, and he finished the quarter 11-for-14 from the field and 8-for-10 from beyond the arc.”

This was insanity, and it is clear that if this was number four, the next three will only be that much more incredible.

#3: LeBron James block transcended his greatness.

The Cavaliers went through a traumatic series against the Golden State Warriors in last years finals, and one of the most crucial points of the game was LeBron James’ chase down block on Andre Iguodala.

While LeBron James did triple-double and play 47 minutes, this was still not one of his most impressive offense games. His 9-24 shooting and 1-5 from deep was not enough to grow a sizable lead over this historic Warriors team.

But then in crunch time, LeBron James delivered with this block which was bigger than all his offense feats that game.

LeBron James helped prove his dominance in this game as the Cavaliers eventually won the game and won the series. This block transcended his game and sent the Cleveland fans a memory that they wouldn’t soon forget.

Jun 16, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; A view outside the arena before game six of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

#2: The Cavaliers came back from down 3-1.

The Cleveland Cavaliers got in the hole, and then they did the impossible. After losing three of the first four games by double figures and winning one by +30, the Cavaliers found themselves in an awkward hole.

More from King James Gospel

Then the Cavalies and their King answered. LeBron James scored 41 points in back-to-back games and posted huge amounts of rebounds en route to making NBA history. Before last season’s playoffs, only nine teams have ever came back from a 3-1 lead, and none of them were in the Finals.

That playoffs, the Golden State Warriors also came back from a 3-1 lead as they were down to the Oklahoma City Thunder, led by Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, in the Western Conference Finals. Then after the Cavaliers pulled off this insane comeback, they made history as the first team to every comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals.

This was the insanity that the city of Cleveland needed after such a drought, but it debatably could not have happened if it was not for No. 1.

#1: The Kyrie Irving shot that killed all Warrior fans.

With 53 seconds to go, Kyrie Irving sent Oracle Arena silent. As the game was tied at 89 only a couple of moments after “the Block” by King James, all Dub fans were on the edge of their extremely expensive seats as both teams exchanged intense empty possessions.

Until Kyrie Irving broke that streak. After playing exactly 43 minutes, Kyrie hoisted up this shot. He ended with 26 points on 10-23 shooting.

Kyrie Irving was created this series. After scoring 20+ in six out of seven games and 30+ in three of the seven, Kyrie Irving solidified himself as a superstar.

The Cavaliers had a, dare I say it, legendary 2016 calendar year, and all Cavaliers fans hope that this was just the beginning of another Finals berth and Finals victory.