The 2016 NBA season was one of the best in recent times. The amazing dunk contest, Kobe Bryant‘s final game, the Stephen Curry led 73-9 Warriors, Russell Westbrook’s triple-double MVP season, and the Cavaliers that came back from a 3-1 lead against the Warriors.
A season filled with so much, that any season after that could never compete. All those amazing feats look impossible to replicate but Richard Jefferson of the 2016 Cavaliers reveals how it did happen the first time.
To face off against the greatest regular-season team in NBA history is no joke. And being down 3-1 to them is the worst thing imaginable. But the Cavaliers pulled off a huge upset and won its first NBA title. This thing was so huge that LeBron considered it the reason he’s the G.O.A.T.
Here’s what the 2016 Cavaliers did to stop Stephen Curry
Richard Jefferson was a member of the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers. After retiring, he became an NBA analyst for ESPN. That means we see him answer and talk in the media constantly. In an interview with Omar Raja, Jefferson said this,
“We could hit Steph right. Like if Steph would be running around you could hip check him, you could do some stuff….. and that was the only way to try and slow Steph down. “
Jefferson admitted that he would go out of his way to shove Steph, not in a dirty way, just a little shove to get him agitated. And it worked when Stephen Curry threw his mouthpiece and got ejected.
Curry in the game 7 of that series scored just 17 points and that tactic by Jefferson and the Cavaliers proved effective. Will current NBA players that are going up against Stephen Curry hear this cheat code and try it against him? Or will this just make the officiating more alert on these things? I guess we’ll get the answer to that when the Golden State Warriors play next.