The Cleveland Cavaliers lost in the NBA Finals this year despite a number of heroic efforts by LeBron James. After the game, Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, one half of the Splash Brothers, heaped praise on league MVP Stephen Curry and not-so-subtlely dissed LeBron in the process.
After losing Game 5 James said “I feel confident because I’m the best player in the world.” Fast forward to Thompson and Curry in their postgame press conference after winning the title in Game 6, and Thompson said on the podium, “We’re the best team in the world with the best player in the world, and he’s sitting to my right.”
He was referring to Curry, the 2014-15 NBA MVP, who scored 25 points in the series-clinching win and a whopping 37 points in Game 5. For the series, Curry averaged 26 points, 6.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 38.5 percent from behind the 3-point line.
James, however, led all players on both teams in points, rebounds and assists, becoming the first player in NBA history to accomplish that feat. James averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists, and put up a triple-double in four of the six games.
Neither James nor Curry took home the Finals MVP award though. That honor was bestowed upon Andre Iguodala, appearing in his first-ever NBA Finals. He began the series coming off the bench, but earned the award, and a starting nod as the series wore on thanks to timely 3-point shooting, and sturdy one-on-one defense vs. James.
While James was still able to score a ton, he struggled to get good looks with Iguodala guarding him. He scored 25 points to go with five rebounds and five assists in Game 6, and averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and four assists.
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