#CavsRank Moments: 8-7 (Stops Along The Way)

The next stop on our #CavsRank Moments countdown features a couple of actual stops. One of such magnitude that it deserved to have a “The” preceding it, and another that put a stop to a bullish stampede. One a stellar defensive stand from an unlikely source, and another on an unlikely shot from a stellar offensive source. One stop in the name of Love, and one where a royal leader decreed that the buck stops with him. It’s time to pull out all of the stops and get to it…

8. The Stop

Kevin Love is not known for his defense. Okay, that’s an understatement… If anything, Kevin Love’s defensive ability (or general lack thereof) which was an acceptable accessory during his tenure as a Timberwolf, has been placed under a microscope of scrutiny in his two seasons as a Cav. In fact, there have probably been enough Vines, memes and video clips demonstrating Kev’s defensive deficiencies (either via malaise or misfortune), that it’s almost surprising there isn’t a website dedicated to the topic. Perhaps that’s what makes this particular #CavsRank Moment stand out. Because so much has been made of Love’s inability to get stops… when he actually succeeds, it’s a very big deal. And, as it turns out, no stop in Cavalier history was bigger then “The Stop.”

The stage was set with under a minute to go in Game 7 of The Finals. Golden State was trailing by three when they got the most ideal one-on-one matchup they could ask for: Steph Curry, perhaps the greatest off-the-dribble shooter the league has ever seen, isolated on Kevin Love, arguably the worst defender on the Cavaliers roster. However, Love did almost the unthinkable when he suddenly transformed into a lockdown perimeter defender, hounding Curry for nearly 10 seconds and forcing the back-to-back MVP into a difficult shot. It didn’t matter how sub-par Love’s defense had been during the regular season, or that he had been exposed routinely by the Warriors. It didn’t matter how often Stephen Curry had decimated opposing defenders off-the-dribble for the kind of hero three he was hunting for, or that Love should have had no reasonable chance to defend against it.

The moment could have easily gone the other way to become a grace note that summed up Love’s relatively sub-par Finals. He had struggled mightily in his attempts to guard the ubiquitous Steph/Draymond pick and roll all series, that is when he wasn’t concussed and on the sidelines (as he was for Game 3), or coming off the bench (which he did in Game 4). Heading into Game 7, he was averaging only 8.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and one assist in just 25 minutes per game. While LeBron and Kyrie were carrying the team out of a 3-1 deficit, Love was shooting a mere 37% from the floor and 31% from downtown. Despite the outside noise, Kevin tried to keep things in proper perspective…

“Well, I never got really trapped by the dogma and living with the results of other people’s thinking,” Love said. “I just continue to fight through it, and knew that tonight I just had to have one great game.”

From an offensive angle, it may not have been an outstanding game (Love scored nine points on 3-9 shooting), but he did pull down 14 boards including one assertive rip job on a bewildered Festus Ezeli. He added three assists, two steals and just one turnover in 30 minutes… and the Cavaliers were at their best when he was on the floor. They outscored the Warriors by 19 points with Love in the lineup — no other Cavs player finished with a better plus-minus. And, of course, Love turned in the defensive play that would add his fingerprints to those of LeBron’s and Kyrie’s on this historic masterpiece. On the same kind of play that made him a notorious Vine and meme victim back during the MLK Day Massacre, Kevin Love finally got the stop that he and the Cavs so desperately needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbMS1rcaNR0

Here’s how it happened…

Moments after Kyrie drilled his own version of “The Shot” in Steph Curry’s grill to give the Cavs a 92-89 lead with 53 seconds remaining, Steve Kerr chose not to call a timeout, a move lauded at the time by announcer Jeff Van Gundy. This prevented the Cavs from getting into their half-court set, as Kyrie hustled to pick up Curry. With Steph dribbling at the top of the arc, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green executed a quick off-ball screen to force Love to switch off of Iggy and onto Draymond. That opened the door for Green to set a high screen for Curry, forcing a second switch that put Love one-on-one with the unanimous MVP nearly 30 feet from the hoop, with nothing but space and opportunity to attack.

But, instead of letting Curry dictate the action, Love aggressively attacked the screen by hustling out to take away Curry’s room to maneuver, tracking Steph almost back out to the halfcourt logo. Curry briefly cleared some space with a behind-the-back dribble that seemingly caught Love off-balance, but Kev kept moving his feet to recover. He stayed on Curry’s left hip as he dribbled right, sticking with him enough to prevent him from pulling up at the top of the three point arc. Love forced Curry to put the ball back on the deck, and eventually pass it off to Green on the right wing. Draymond, covered by Kyrie, kicked it back out to Curry at the top.

There was no question that Steph was looking to pull the trigger at this point, but instead he tried to pump and go, heading back to his left before another crossover to try to shake free. Again, Love hung tough and stayed with him, heavily contesting a 26-foot heave by Curry with 4.6 seconds left on the shot clock.

It was a shot Steph made countless times before, but this time he came up short… just as the Warriors did on their bid to become back-to-back NBA Champions. Curry talked about the sequence after the game…

“I was searching for a three and rushed and didn’t take what was there, which was probably better to go around him and try to get into the paint,” Curry told reporters after the game. “That’s basically it.”

Regardless of Kevin’s defensive shortcomings, the bottom line is that when the Cavs needed it most, in the biggest of moments, he rose to the occasion, and got “The Stop” of his life.

“I knew it was a big possession for us,” said Love. “I knew if we were able to get the stop, that was going to put us in a great position to win the game. […] I had to do my part, and this was a big possession for us, and I was able to force a very tough contested shot.”

Half a minute later, Love and the Cavs were NBA Champions. “The Stop” became part of the trifecta (along with “The Block” and “The Shot”) that helped finally put an end to Cleveland’s long title drought… and cemented Kevin Love’s place in franchise lore.

7. LeBron’s Shot That Stopped The Bulls

It was three days past the 26th anniversary of Michael Jordan’s infamous iteration of “The Shot” that he perpetrated on Craig Ehlo to end the Cavaliers’ post season (and begin his Airness’ playoff legacy in earnest), when LeBron James finally delivered a measure of revenge. Granted, it didn’t have the same effect of knocking the Bulls out of the playoffs, but it certainly marked the beginning of the end for Chicago, and gave Cleveland the jolt needed to continue their march through the 2015 post season.

On May 10th, 2015, LeBron brought about as dramatic an end possible to the waning seconds of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Bulls, when he hit an unbelievable shot to win the game and even the series. It was an incredibly high degree of difficulty corner shot that LeBron took almost off of one leg while fading back and out of bounds, and it came with all of the pressure that accompanied the prospect of being down 3-1 if the shot went awry. Fortunately, for James and the Cavs (and probably especially David Blatt), the shot was true. But, it almost didn’t happen…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdKCUpQg-sU

Prior to the shot, during a stoppage the Cavs only got because the officials were reviewing another play, Blatt designed an inbounds play that had James taking the ball out. The four-time NBA MVP has been in enough pressure situations that he vetoed his coach and drew one up of his own.

LeBron on the last play: "To be honest, the play that was drawn up, I scratched it. And I just told coach, 'Just give me the ball.'"

— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) May 10, 2015

With the game tied at 84, and just 1.5 seconds remaining on the clock, Blatt had originally planned for LeBron to inbound the ball to try and get it to one of the Cavs cutting to the hoop. But, LeBron wasn’t going to let it play out that way.

“I was supposed to take the ball out,” James said. “I told Coach there was no way I’m taking the ball out unless I could shoot it over the backboard and go in. So I told him, ‘Have somebody else take the ball out. Just give me the ball. We’re either going to go into overtime or I’m going to win it for us.'”

Though LeBron overruling his coach got scrutinized after the fact, it was hard to argue with the final result as James drained a jumper from the corner at the buzzer to give the Cavaliers an 86-84 victory to send the series back to Cleveland at two games a piece. It was part of a rough final few minutes for Blatt, who also nearly cost the Cavs dearly by trying to call a timeout when they had none. The Cavs had previously called a timeout with 21.2 seconds left and burned two more timeouts trying to inbound the ball afterwards. They finally got the ball to a double-teamed James, who got called for an offensive foul after elbowing future teammate Mike Dunleavy. Derrick Rose then tied the game with 9.4 seconds left, and Blatt tried to call a timeout that he didn’t have. Fortunately, his future replacement, Tyronn Lue, restrained him, preventing a technical.

“Yeah, I almost blew it, to be honest with you,” Blatt said.

Lue and James made sure he didn’t.

“Players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes and we have to be able to cover for one another,” James said.

What made the challenge even greater for James, was that he played the final quarter on a sprained left ankle. He rolled his left ankle in the third quarter when he stepped on Rose’s foot and was called for a charge in the process. Though he wound up scoring 25 points, he was again uncharacteristically inefficient hitting just 10-30 shots while committing eight turnovers. But, he also had 14 rebounds, eight assists and a shot that gave Cavs fans some comfort after Rose broke their hearts on Friday night. Yes, though the spirit of MJ’s shot probably still lingered in the minds of most Clevelanders, the fresher wound existed from Game 3, when Derrick Rose did his best “like Mike” interpretation, banking in a game-winning three pointer at the buzzer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GJkIjXrCn0

Despite being the hero in Game 3, Rose could only tip his cap to the King’s retort in Game 4…

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” said Rose. “He hit a great shot. He’s a hell of a player. We just have to make sure that if we’re in that position again, just make sure that we force him out a little bit more or make someone else get the ball.”

It was yet another signature moment in the storied career of LeBron James, and it was one that his team desperately needed to infuse them with confidence given the injuries to Kevin and Kyrie and the suspension of J.R. Smith. Without this game winning shot, the Cavs go down 3-1 to a tough Bulls team, and (even though we know what they can do now on the brink of elimination) who knows if they could have overcome that. Given the injuries they had, it’s entirely possible that they would not have made it to the next round, and even if they had, they may not have been fresh enough to sweep the Hawks.

Even though this shot may have only gone part of the way to eclipsing MJ’s “Shot,” at the time, it elevated LBJ to a remarkable 6-10 on go-ahead shots in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter and overtime in the postseason. For comparison, Jordan himself went 5-for-11 in such situations in his career. LeBron’s shot was certainly the biggest one to that point in Cavs history… at least until a certain other “Shot” replaced it the following year.