Everyone talks about the 2016 comeback, but honestly, the 2014-15 NBA Finals was where the league actually changed forever. It was weird. It was gritty. It was the moment LeBron James basically tried to fight an entire army by himself while Steve Kerr was reinventing how basketball is played on the fly.
If you look at the box scores now, they don't tell the full story. You see the Golden State Warriors winning in six games. You see Andre Iguodala getting a Finals MVP. But man, the atmosphere in that series was heavy. It was the first time in forever that the NBA felt like it was shifting under our feet. The "old way" of doing things—big men, slow paces, isolation ball—was dying. The Warriors were the future, even if we didn't quite know it yet.
The King Without His Court
LeBron James returned to Cleveland to win a title for the "Land." He had Kyrie Irving. He had Kevin Love. Then, everything fell apart. Love’s shoulder got yanked out of its socket by Kelly Olynyk in the first round. Then, in Game 1 of the 2014-15 NBA Finals, Kyrie Irving fractured his kneecap.
It was brutal.
Imagine being LeBron and looking at your starting lineup for the rest of the series. You have Matthew Dellavedova, Tristan Thompson, Timofey Mozgov, and Iman Shumpert. That is not a championship-caliber supporting cast in any era. Yet, somehow, Cleveland took a 2-1 lead. LeBron was playing at a speed that didn't seem sustainable. He was averaging nearly 36 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists for the series. He was the entire offense. He was the entire defense. He was the coach on the floor.
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People forget how close the Cavs were to actually pulling this off. If a few shots fall differently in Game 4, we might be talking about the greatest carry-job in the history of professional sports. But fatigue is real. You could see it in LeBron’s eyes by the fourth quarter of every game. He was gassed.
The Move That Changed Everything
Steve Kerr was a rookie coach, but he didn't act like one. Down 2-1, he made the gutsy call that essentially birthed the "Death Lineup." He benched his starting center, Andrew Bogut, and moved Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup.
This was the birth of small-ball as a dominant philosophy.
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By playing Draymond Green at center, the Warriors forced Timofey Mozgov—who was actually playing great—off the floor. Cleveland couldn't keep up with the pace. The Warriors started zipping the ball around, finding open shooters, and making the Cavs' defense look like they were running in sand. Iguodala wasn't just there for the offense, though. He was the "LeBron Stopper." Or, at least, as close as anyone can get to stopping him. He made LeBron work for every single inch of hardwood.
It’s actually kinda crazy that Steph Curry didn't get a single vote for Finals MVP that year. He averaged 26 points and 6 assists. He hit the dagger in Game 5 that basically ended Cleveland's hopes. But the narrative was all about Iggy. People felt that his defense on LeBron was the only reason the Warriors survived.
The Matthew Dellavedova Phenomenon
We have to talk about Delly. For about three days in June 2015, Matthew Dellavedova was the most famous person in Australia and Northeast Ohio combined.
He was an undrafted guard who played like a man who didn't care if he survived the game. In Game 2, he held Steph Curry to 0-for-8 shooting when they were matched up. After Game 3, he literally had to be taken to the hospital because he was so dehydrated from cramping. He gave everything. It was the peak of "grit and grind" basketball.
But that’s the thing about the 2014-15 NBA Finals. It was a clash of styles. Cleveland tried to turn the series into a mud-fight. They wanted to slow the game down, use the shot clock, and let LeBron bully people. Golden State wanted a track meet. Eventually, the track meet won.
Why the Stats Lie
- LeBron's Efficiency: People point out that LeBron shot under 40% from the field. Who cares? He was taking 33 shots a game because there was literally no one else to pass to.
- Mozgov's 28 Points: In Game 4, Timofey Mozgov scored 28 points. It was the highest-scoring game by a Cavalier not named LeBron James in the series. It also showed how desperate Cleveland was for offense.
- The Warriors' Bench: Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa were huge. They provided the depth that Cleveland just didn't have after the injuries.
The Warriors finished the regular season with 67 wins. They were a juggernaut. But because they were "jump shooters," the old-school analysts like Charles Barkley didn't think they could win a ring. This series proved them wrong. It proved that if you have enough shooting and enough versatile defenders, you can overcome a legendary individual performance.
The Aftermath and Legacy
Looking back, the 2014-15 NBA Finals was the start of a four-year war. It set the stage for 2016, which was the greatest comeback ever, and the KD years that followed. But this first one felt the most "pure." It was before the super-team era really kicked into high gear. It was just a great team versus a great player.
If you're trying to understand modern basketball, you have to watch the tape of Games 4, 5, and 6 of this series. You can see the exact moment the league realized that "going small" wasn't just a gimmick—it was a cheat code.
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What you should do next:
Go back and watch the "Delly Game" (Game 3). It’s a masterclass in how a role player can impact a series through pure effort. Then, look at the transition the Warriors made in Game 4. If you’re a coach or just a fan of strategy, pay attention to how Draymond Green functions as a "point center." That specific tactical shift is what allowed the Warriors to win three more titles over the next decade.
Also, check out the shooting splits for Stephen Curry in the fourth quarters of those games. Despite the lack of an MVP trophy, his gravity is what opened the floor for Iguodala and Livingston to look like stars. The 2015 rings weren't just a win for a franchise; they were a win for a brand new way of playing the game that we still see in every arena today.