History · NBA
LeBron James’ 2016 Finals Block: How Cleveland Kept Game 7 Level
James preserved the late tie before Irving supplied the lead in Cleveland’s first championship finish.
LeBron James’ block of Andre Iguodala preserved an 89–89 tie in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.1 Cleveland still needed to score. The defensive stop kept that opportunity open without putting the Cavaliers ahead.
Kyrie Irving’s three-pointer with 53 seconds left supplied the lead.4 Cleveland won 93–89, the contemporary Associated Press account recorded.3 The two possessions served different purposes in the same championship finish.
The route to a deciding game
The Cavaliers had trailed the series 3–1 before winning the next two games. Case Western Reserve University’s Encyclopedia of Cleveland History records that no previous team had overcome that deficit in the Finals.2 Reaching Game 7 therefore required two elimination-game wins before the tied fourth-quarter possession.
The championship also completed a second attempt against Golden State. Cleveland lost the 2015 Finals after injuries left it without Irving and Kevin Love. The following January, Tyronn Lue replaced David Blatt as coach, and the Cavaliers finished the regular season 57–25. They then eliminated Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto to reach the rematch.
A preserved tie and a later lead
A block does not add points to a team’s score. At 89–89, its immediate value was preventing Golden State from converting that possession into an advantage. Irving’s later basket then changed the score in Cleveland’s favor.
That sequence belongs within a broader franchise history. Cleveland joined the NBA in 1970, and James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 after his period in Miami. The 2016 championship was the franchise’s first. The block was one decisive contribution to that result, alongside the offense that followed and the victories that brought Cleveland to the deciding game.
Sources and notes
1. Official retrospective, September 14, 2021, for the tied-score defensive action.
2. Case Western Reserve University, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, for the franchise and series chronology. Later historical synthesis, distinguished from the contemporary account below.
3. Associated Press contemporary report, published June 20, 2016, via Fox News. Used narrowly for the final result.
4. Official account of the later basket, September 14, 2021, for its timing and scoring function.
