2016 NBA Finals: Game 6 Recap And Highlights

In a do-or-die Game 6 at home, LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a monumental 115-101 victory to force Game 7 in the 2016 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

Coming off a 41-point performance in Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals, LeBron James needed yet another monster night to stave off elimination and force a Game 7 against a 73-win Golden State Warriors team.

In the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ monumental 115-101 victory Thursday night, King James supplied it and then some.

Finishing with a game-high 41 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks, James was sensational for his second straight Finals game, singlehandedly burying every Warriors comeback attempts and putting his Cavs on the brink of winning their first NBA title.

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Despite Stephen Curry finishing with 30 points on 6-of-13 shooting from three-point range, the league MVP fouled out and the supporting cast failed to step up on the road in the Warriors’ second losing streak of the entire 2015-16 campaign.

Klay Thompson added 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting, while Leandro Barbosa was the only other Warrior to reach double figures with 14 points. Coming off his suspension, Draymond Green finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Kyrie Irving added 23 for the Cavs while Tristan Thompson recorded 15 points and 16 boards.

With the Warriors starting their patented Lineup of Death, the Cavaliers took advantage of a tight whistle early. In the first 1:30 of action, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes had all picked up a foul.

When Kevin Love‘s second foul sent him to the bench immediately after that, Cleveland cranked it up a notch to open the game on an 8-0 run. The Dubs’ offense sputtered early, with the Cavs daring Barnes to beat them and he started the game 0-for-3.

Golden State didn’t score its first basket until the 6:56 mark of the first quarter on a layup by Green. A Kyrie Irving three-pointer and a LeBron James dunk later, the Cavs extended their lead to 13-2 and Quicken Loans Arena was ready to erupt.

With the Cavaliers not having to worry about Love’s defense and Curry picking up his second foul, Cleveland opened up a 31-11 advantage heading into the second quarter, going on an 18-6 run since the league MVP went to the bench with foul trouble halfway through the period.

The Warriors shot an abysmal 5-for-22 from the field and 1-for-9 from three-point range in the first quarter, while the Cavs went 12-for-21 from the floor and out-rebounded the Dubs 16-7.

Golden State’s 11 points were the fewest in a first quarter in NBA Finals history during the shot clock era.

To start the second quarter, the Cavaliers got yet another break when Love picked up his third foul — on an absolutely horrendous call — and had to head back to the bench.

Kyrie Irving God Mode helped the Cavs maintain a 15-point lead, but despite Andre Iguodala‘s rigid back and the Barnes-Thompson-Shaun Livingston trio starting the game 2-for-17, Steph Curry started to heat up.

On their path to trimming the lead back down to eight points, Curry knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the half and found Green for an open layup to put together a 9-0 run in a 2:12 span.

When Curry picked up his third foul, Kerr had a tough decision to make and wisely opted to leave him in the game. Unfortunately for the Dubs, Cleveland responded with an 8-0 run of their own to extend the lead back to 16.

The game started to turn when Dahntay Jones converted a three-point play and then drew Green’s third foul on an over-the-back call, sending him to the line where he made both to extend the lead back to 16 heading into the break.

Curry led the Dubs with 18 points, but no other Golden State player had more than seven. Kyrie led all scorers with 20 heading into the break, while LeBron James added 14 points and six assists and Tristan Thompson had an 11-10 double-double.

The Dubs shot 13-for-44 (29.5 percent) from the field and 5-for-21 (23.5 percent) from three-point range in the first half, getting out-rebounded by four and watching in dismay as Klay, Livingston and Barnes shot a combined 3-for-23 from the floor.

Something had to change in the third quarter, but Curry picked up his fourth on yet another ill-advised foul call as the Cavs quickly extended their lead to 22 right out of the gate in the second half.

Curry’s fifth three-pointer chopped it back down to 19, but the Warriors’ Game 6 hopes were on full life support as Barnes continued to brick every open look he got, starting the game 0-for-8.

The Cavs were ready to pull the plug after a Kevin Love corner three gave the Cavs their largest lead of the night, a 70-46 advantage.

Realizing the game was slipping away, the Dubs responded with a 9-0 run to cut the lead back to 15, capped off by a gorgeous three-point play from the MVP. At that point in the game, Curry had 24 of his team’s 54 points.

If there were ever a third quarter dagger dunk to put an NBA Finals game away before the final period even began, LeBron James tried to supply it.

On a fast break opportunity, J.R. Smith felt the King trailing the play and set him up for a monster slam that put Cleveland up by 19 and ignited the Q.

Unfortunately for the Cavs, the Splash Brothers are impervious to dagger plays, and with Klay Thompson catching fire, the Dubs somehow chopped the lead back down to nine heading into the final frame.

The Warriors closed the third period on a 10-0 run over the final 2:14, with Klay supplying the last eight on two three-pointers and a driving layup that cut the lead to single digits — all with Curry on the bench.

Facing an 11-point deficit, the Dubs suffered a critical blow when Curry’s strip of Kyrie Irving was whistled as his fifth personal foul. Then the league MVP responded with a pull-up three to cut the lead back down to eight.

A three from Leandro Barbosa followed up an offensive put-back from LeBron to cut it back down to seven, but with King James supplying all 10 of Cleveland’s points through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Cavs were able to extend the lead back to 11.

That 10-0 run from the King was actually part of an 18-point spurt from LeBron dating back to the third quarter.

With King James imposing his will on both ends of the court, the Warriors’ comeback attempt died before it could ever really get rolling.

As LeBron surgically picked apart the Death Lineup with turnaround jumpers, driving layups, alley-oop lobs to Tristan Thompson and an emphatic block on Curry, Game 7 began to feel all but inevitable.

With the game all but over, Curry’s sixth foul and subsequent technical foul served as the final nail in the coffin.

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A winner-take-all Game 7 will be played Sunday back at Oracle Arena as the Cavaliers will try to become the first team in NBA Finals history to rally from a 3-1 series deficit.

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