1-3 in 2016, the Cavaliers finally won the championship, and James averaged 36+11+9 in the last three games. How did Irving perform

The most important reason why the NBA playoffs are so charming is that anything can happen here. Because of this, we have seen too many upset cases in NBA history, such as the Heat's Black Eight in 2023, the Warriors' return to the top in 2022, etc. The final results of these teams are obviously far beyond people's expectations for them at the beginning. Moreover, in the NBA playoffs, even if a team leads their opponents 3-1 in the series, it does not mean that they are already sure to win. 13 teams in history have completed the final big reversal while falling behind 1-3.

When it comes to 1-3 reversal, we have to mention the Cavaliers in 2016. Before them, all the teams that were behind 1-3 in the finals were eliminated without exception, but they eventually succeeded in making history. So why did the Knights achieve this feat back then? In the last three games, their boss James averaged 36.3 points, 11.7 rebounds and 9.7 assists per game. What kind of performance did the second boss Irving perform? Let’s review this round of the series together!

The first four games were out of control and the attack and defense were beaten to the point where the Warriors had no power to fight back

First, let's first review why the Cavaliers fell into a desperate situation of 1-3 behind. Facing the Warriors' lineup, the Cavaliers seemed to have no solution. As soon as G1 came, the Warriors had a full playing time of five small players. Starting center Bogut only played 15 minutes, while Iguodala, who came on the bench, played for 36 minutes. Under his defense, James contributed 23 points in this game of 9 of 21 shots. In addition, under the encirclement of the Warriors, Irving only had a shooting percentage of 31.8%. However, compared to not scoring goals, the Cavaliers' mistakes are the most fatal. They made 15 mistakes in this game, which allowed the Warriors, who were very good at playing fast, to dominate the game without any effort. Therefore, even though they only scored 9 three-pointers with a shooting rate of 33.3%, they still beat the Cavaliers 15 points in the end.

The defense of the G2 Warriors still defended the Cavaliers to a very ugly situation. The team's overall shooting percentage was only 35.4%, and they only made 5 three-pointers with a shooting rate of 21.7%. The most important thing is that their mistakes were more than the previous game, with James 7 times and Irving 3 times, and the rest of their teammates also had 7 times in total. Such offensive level allowed the Warriors to play a lot of defensive counterattacks. In addition, their feel was warming up in this game, and the team made 15 three-pointers with a shooting rate of 45.5%. Therefore, the game ended with the Warriors defeating the Cavaliers by 33 points.

G3 returned to home court, the Cavaliers' control mistakes were actually not ideal. Although James was a big core with the ball, and he also scored 32 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, five mistakes still gave the Warriors a lot of opportunities to counterattack. In addition to James, Irving also scored 30 points, and he was much clearer in this game than James. He made 8 assists in the whole game and made only 2 mistakes. However, even if it is not counted as Zhan and Ou, the other Cavaliers still made 6 mistakes. Fortunately, their touch was warmer in this game, and the Warriors made frequent mistakes. They made 18 mistakes in the game, so the Cavaliers finally got the game back.

However, the Cavaliers failed to continue their performance in G3, and the G4 Warriors were obviously more cautious in handling the ball. Therefore, their team had only 8 turnovers in this game, and 6 of them came from Curry and Green who had to deal with the ball in large quantities. On the other hand, the Cavaliers themselves still made double mistakes, and their three-pointers dropped sharply to a 24% shooting percentage, and the Warriors finally got the match point.

Jian Ou broke out and led the Cavaliers to reverse

When lagging behind 1-3, James and Irving naturally have to bear the greatest responsibility, especially James. His offensive performance as the team's first core of the ball was completely failed. Even though his defense reached the DPOY level, his mistakes often put the team in a situation where they had no time to return to defense. Therefore, if the Cavaliers wanted to reverse at the time, they had to look forward to James' state being able to quickly pull back.

Sure enough, when it arrived at G5, James finally broke out. In this game, he played for 43 minutes, made 16 of 30 shots, scored 41 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. While he played dominantly on both ends of the offense and defense, he only made two mistakes. However, Irving's performance in this game was even more amazing. He made 17 of 24 shots and scored 41 points with a shooting percentage of 70.8%, and he also scored comprehensive data with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

With both James and Irving both exploded, the Warriors' offense could not respond. In addition, the Cavaliers, who fought back, played harder on the defensive end. Therefore, under their pressure, the Warriors made a total of 17 turnovers and their shooting percentage was only 36.4%. After the start of G6, Green, who was suspended in the front, made a comeback. This was originally a great opportunity for the Warriors to end the series, otherwise if he was dragged into the tiebreak by his opponent, his momentum would be all on the Cavaliers. As a result, the Warriors G6 was stunned as soon as they came up. After playing against the Cavaliers in the first quarter, they were already leading by 20 points. In this quarter, James and Irving dominated the game on both offense and defense. James made 4 of 5 shots in a single quarter and scored 8 points, 4 assists and 2 steals, while Irving scored 7 points, 2 assists and 2 blocks in a single quarter. In contrast, the Warriors only had 11 points in this quarter and made 4 mistakes. Curry broke out in the second quarter and scored 15 points in a single quarter to help the Warriors start a counterattack, but Irving's performance was no less than the former. He made 3 of 5 shots in a single quarter and 6 of 6 free throws, and also scored 13 points. With his help, the team stabilized the situation and still led by 16 points after halftime..

It became James's personal performance in the second half, especially when the Warriors once closed the score difference to 8 points in the last quarter, he took over the game directly. In the end, the Cavaliers completely scored 24 points during the period when the game was completely broken, and James scored 13 points alone, while his assists scored 10 points. In the end, he also scored 41 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 1 mistake, with a shooting percentage of up to 59.3%. As the second in command, Irving contributed 23 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

After the Cavaliers dragged the series into tiebreak, although G7 was not their home court, they had already overwhelmed their opponents in terms of momentum, so they became the leading side after the first quarter at the beginning of tiebreak. However, the Warriors are still the defending champions after all. They did not panic because of a temporary backwardness. In the second quarter, they regained the rhythm of the game and scored 27-19 in a single quarter, taking advantage of the Warriors to win the lead after the half.

The two teams began to attack in the third quarter. The Cavaliers' three-pointer broke the deadlock with JR Smith's two consecutive shots. You should know that they only made 1 of 11 three-pointers in the first half, so his recovery is very critical to the Cavaliers. However, the Cavaliers' best performance in the third quarter was Irving. He scored the highest 12 points in the game through 4 of 8 shots in a single quarter. Finally, with his help, the Cavaliers narrowed the gap to 1 point after playing in the third quarter. At the final quarter, James stood up and started the harvesting game mode. The Cavaliers scored 18 points in the last quarter, while James scored 11 points alone. At the critical moment, his foul + three-pointers helped the team take the lead when they were four points behind in the fourth quarter. After the tie at 89, both sides began to make a constant blow. At this time, the Warriors ushered in a counterattack opportunity. If they were to make the momentum, they would come to their side. In this round, James contributed the greatest hit in NBA history, and the Cavaliers remained firmly in the situation.

When there was only more than one minute left in the end, the Cavaliers called a timeout. During this period, James signaled to Tyron Lue that the attack would be ended by Irving. Later, when he returned to the game, the Cavaliers helped Irving get a single chance to play Curry, and he did not disappoint the team. He used a three-pointer to retreat and directly helped the team get the final lead. After Love defended Curry, the game was basically the winner. In the end, James' free throw completely established the victory. In the end, they successfully completed the big reversal with a score of 94-89 and won the first championship in the team history.