After watching their historic season crumble in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, here are the 5 steps that led to the Golden State Warriors’ disappointing collapse.
Nobody thought it would happen, but it did. In Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors juggernaut sputtered to a stunning home loss against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, squandering a 3-1 series lead and their chance at the title of “greatest team ever.”
It was hard to process what was happening for a team that won an NBA-record 73 games during the regular season. After losing just nine games all season long, the Dubs dropped their ninth game in the playoffs to miss out on making the kind of NBA history they were aiming for.
Instead, they made the kind of history you don’t want to be a part of. They became the first NBA Finals team (out of 33) to drop a championship series after going up 3-1. They lost three straight games for the first time in the Steve Kerr era. They dropped two games at Oracle Arena, where they had been 50-3 heading into Game 5 of this series.
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Make no mistake about it: The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors will be remembered for the greatest regular season ever, but also for the greatest collapse in NBA Finals history.
Of course, none of this is to take anything away from the King James or the Cavs, nor should anyone be making excuses for the Dubs. Cleveland earned every inch of its first championship in 52 years, and if we remember anything from the 2016 NBA Finals, it should be the way LeBron James fulfilled his Herculean task of bringing a title back to “The Land.”
But as the series wore on, it really became a perfect storm for the greatest regular season team in NBA history. There’s a reason the gap in regular season wins between the Warriors and Cavs (16 games) represented the largest underdog victory between two Finals opponents.
As the home crowd at Oracle Arena watched in stunned silence and the Cavs celebrated winning the title on their home court, it was difficult to comprehend how it had come to this, especially after it felt like the series would be over in five games. Here are the five steps to how their historic 73-win season slipped away.
Next: No. 5