Basketball pundits will point to every glaring failure in this series. The Warriors will have to ask what went wrong. That his misses were at the rim and high percentage shots will only make it harder to reconcile in the post-game analysis, of which there will be plenty. He was 0-3 in just the first five minutes of the game and never found his footing. Bogut’s replacement, Festus Ezeli, had about as painful a game as one can have in these kinds of moments: zero points on 0-4 shooting in 11 minutes of action, with one rebound and one assist. Kevin Love, the third member of the Cavs’ Big Three who never figured out his offensive game, brought down 14 vital rebounds to lead his team’s interior dominance.Ĭleveland controlled the paint with Andrew Bogut missing for the Warriors, outscoring the 2015 champions 48-28 inside the lane.

With 53 seconds left - after both teams failed to grab hold of the game late - Irving buried the three that would give them the advantage for good. That should end now, with Irving’s 26 points and six rebounds and knack for making momentum-turning shots. The 2016 finals will be remembered partially as the coming out party for Kyrie Irving, a player who’s been much maligned for his inability to function effectively as James’s sidekick. But as we learned from years past, as transcendent a player as LeBron is, he can’t do it alone.

Lebron james 2016 world series game 7