LeBron James and Kyrie Irving led the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA Finals victory in 2016 under Tyronn Lue’s guidance, making history by overcoming a 3-1 deficit to win the championship. Lue, now coaching the Los Angeles Clippers, believes the duo could have added more titles to their resumes if they had remained in Cleveland.
The 2016 Finals showcased the potential of the LeBron-Irving partnership. The Cavs became the first team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win the Finals, and both James and Irving became the first teammates to score 40 or more points in the same Finals game.
In a recent appearance on The Stephen A. Smith Show, Lue was confident about the pair’s future success if they had stayed together. “No question, no doubt,” Lue said when asked if they could have won another championship. “It did become harder once Golden State acquired Kevin Durant… Once they got KD, that was tough, but I thought after we won the championship in 2016, we kind of had the blueprint of how we wanted to attack Golden State. How we wanted to guard and defend them.”
“Like I said, they are a great team and Steve Kerr is one of the top coaches in the NBA as well, so it’s gonna be a tough task, but we thought we figured [them] out after Game 2 in 2016,” Lue continued. “We figured out how we wanted to guard them, how we wanted to defend them and I thought definitely, Kyrie and LeBron would have won more championships.”
LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers holds the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after defeating the Golden State Warriors 93-89 in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Irving admits his mindset may have cost the Cavs another title
In an appearance on the I Am Athlete podcast, Kyrie Irving reflected on his “immature” mindset and how it may have cost the Cavaliers another NBA championship alongside LeBron. “If I was in the same maturity line and understanding of who I am, and I look back, we definitely, definitely would’ve won more championships,” Irving said.
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“Because there would’ve been a better man-to-man understanding about what I’m going through. I didn’t know how to share my emotions. I didn’t know how to do that,” Irving explained.
“So instead of sharing, I isolated myself. I just started pouring myself more into the game,” Irving continued. “I had one of my better seasons but I wasn’t connecting with everybody as much during the championship year. So 2017, it was a different year for us.”
“We went against Golden State, we went against a great team,” Irving added. “When you’re not a great team and not clicking on all cylinders and together, you’re easily defeated. You’re defeated before you can get to the arena.”
