Kyrie Irving got a moment in the spotlight during the first timeout of Saturday’s game between the Dallas Mavericks (7-5) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (6-7) at Rocket Arena.
The home crowd roared in appreciation as Irving’s step-back 3-pointer to seal the Cavaliers’ Game 7 win over the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals was replayed on the video boards at midcourt.
Irving tapped his chest and thanked the crowd as the Mavs left their huddle to return to the floor with 7:32 left in the first
quarter. He may not have left the Cavaliers on the best terms a season later, but that shot proved to be the game-winner in the franchise’s first and only NBA Championship. He asked for a trade in the 2017 offseason, and the Cavaliers sent him to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Žižić, and a 2018 first-round draft pick.
The Cavs won Game 7, 93-89, scoring just 18 points in the fourth quarter that night. They held Stephen Curry and the Warriors to just 13 points down the stretch. Irving scored five, and someone named LeBron James had 11 as Cleveland claimed the title behind their own version of Batman and Robin.
“I wanted to prove everybody wrong, and I wanted to prove myself right,” Irving said in an interview with NBA.com before the game. “What a time. Shoutout to all of my teammates that were part of that team. It was a hard-fought season. I was coming off injury, going through a lot of emotions throughout the year and just being uncertain whether I could get back to the level I believed I could get back to. After we won, I was still like, ‘Is there more?’ Now when I look at this [shot], there’s just this appreciation of my youth, my fearlessness — things I attribute my success to today. Game 7, NBA Finals — that’s the pinnacle of any player’s career. ”
He rose up over Curry, kept his right elbow tucked and sank one of the most historic shots in NBA Finals history as a 24-year-old that night, just five years into what has blossomed into a 15-year, Hall of Fame-worthy career. He scored 26 points and pulled down six rebounds that night, just two games after putting together a 41-point masterpiece in the Cavs’ win in Game 5.
James, who scored a matching 41 points in Game 5 that year, would win NBA Finals MVP as he and Irving brought a title to his hometown team.
The Cleveland crowd also gave Irving an ovation when his name was called during the pregame introductions for the starting lineups.
