Subscribe
Follow Us
The Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been bitter rivals since both teams met in the 2015 NBA Finals. The two teams just don't like each other, and that's because of some tense battle the Warriors and Cavs engaged in over the years. For the most part, the Warriors have dominated their matchups against the Cavs, beating them in two of their three Finals meetings. Overall, the Warriors are the better team. They simply have too much talent for the Cavs to defeat them any time soon.
However, the Cavs are still a great team, and they have showed glimpses that they can be unbeatable too. Here are five moments where the Cavs have looked better than the Warriors.
5. 2016 NBA Finals Game 7
The 2016 NBA Finals featured one of the most competitive duels between the Cavaliers and Warriors to date. The Cavs mounted an incredible comeback to win the series from a 3-1 deficit. It was history in the making, and was the only time that these two teams seemed equal. Perhaps the most memorable moment of the series was when Kyrie Irving hit the game-winning 3-pointer in the face of Stephen Curry. The Cavaliers pulled out all stops to beat the Warriors in Oracle Arena. They executed brilliantly, while Kyrie Irving and LeBron James played extraordinarily well. For that moment, it seemed like the Cavaliers were unstoppable.
Now, one can argue that the Warriors had injuries to Stephen Curry, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala, but these still don't explain how they lost in Game 7. They were simply outplayed and outperformed by the best Cavs team we have seen in a long time. Not only did the Cavs deny Curry the ball and took him out of the game, they were monsters in an offense that proved to be too much even for Golden State.
4. 2017 Playoffs Second Round
In the 2017 NBA Playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers were destroying their Eastern Conference rivals in the Toronto Raptors. This was due to the excellent play of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Basically, the Cavaliers dismantled the Raptors in the second round of the playoffs. They had no answer for LeBron James, and the Raptors didn't get significant performances from their two All-Stars. The series was disappointing at least, but it proved that the Cavs were nothing to mess with. Around this time, many people started to speculate that the Cavs and Warriors were going to meet for the third straight Finals — which eventually happened.
The Warriors dominated their Western Conference match-ups, but there was something different with how the Cavs steamrolled past their foes. They simply made their competition look helpless. The Raptors were the third seed in the Eastern Conference, and they were soundly swept by the Cavs. How does a third seed get swept in the playoffs? It's bizarre, but the Cavaliers made their demise look easy. Again, they played like they were better than the Warriors, planting seeds in the minds of fans that maybe the Cavs could defeat the Warriors again, even with the addition of Kevin Durant.
3. 2016 Christmas Day game
The 2016 Christmas day game was one that everyone wanted to see. The basketball world wanted to see if Golden State's addition of Kevin Durant would actually turn the tides in the Warriors' favor. To everyone's surprise, it seemed like it didn't. The Cavaliers won the game after another timely game-winner by Kyrie Irving. Many people believed that the Cavaliers would again beat the Warriors in a seven-game series, mainly because the Cavaliers played better than the Warriors in that game. The Warriors performed brilliantly, but the Cavaliers got stops and proved that if the game is within reach during the final stretch, they could win with a few smart decisions by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as the team's go-to assassin.
It worked. That win silenced Warriors fans who believed, at the time, that the Warriors would be better than the Cavaliers with Kevin Durant. This proved that even with Durant, the Cavs still had a juggernaut on their hands. It even surprised people. How could a superteam like the Warriors lose to the Cavaliers again? The Game 7 win wasn't just a fluke. At this point, the Cavaliers were better than the Warriors for a change.
2. 2017 NBA Finals Game 4
The 2017 NBA Finals were dominated by the Golden State Warriors, of course. That still doesn't mean that the Cavaliers didn't have any special moments in the series. In Game 4, the Cavaliers torched the Warriors from the 3-point line and suffocated them on defense. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were denied touches, which made the Cavaliers win easily. The Warriors were also put into foul trouble because of their failure to contain the Cavalier's red-hot offense. It looked like the Cavaliers were set to make another 3-1 comeback after destroying the Warriors at home. This was the first time the Warriors lost in the post season, so the Cavaliers let the whole world know that they could go toe-to-toe against the NBA's best team.
Although the Cavaliers would lose the next game, this game showed that with the right circumstances, the Cavaliers would be better than the Warriors. Because of this, the NBA Finals was definitely a memorable moment for Cavaliers fans as well.
1. 2017 Christmas Day game
Who would've thought that the second consecutive Christmas Day game between these two teams would go down to the wire. In the defense of the Warriors, Stephen Curry wasn't able to play and their offense suffered as a result. Still, the Warriors had Thompson, Green, and Durant to pick up the load. The Cavaliers were broken. Their star point guard, Isaiah Thomas, was injured. Also, the Cavaliers have had problems making all of the pieces of their roster work, while the Warriors are perfectly in sync. Nonetheless, the Cavaliers gave the Warriors a glimpse of greatness during most of the game. In the final minutes, there were a few controversial calls that could have went in the Cavaliers favor, but that's just the game of basketball. You can't get every call to go your way.
But, in this game, the Cavaliers played with some poise and grit, giving the Warriors a reminder that they weren't about to go down so easily. This performance and the others are key reminders that the Cavaliers were better than the Warriors at some points. This may not be the case now, but it's definitely something to point out for Cavaliers fans and the rest of the NBA.
