June 19, 2016. Oracle Arena is shaking. The air feels heavy, like you could reach out and grab a handful of the anxiety floating around the rafters. It’s Game 7. The score is deadlocked at 89-89.
For nearly four minutes, nobody has scored. Not LeBron. Not Steph. Not Klay. It was ugly basketball, honestly. Just a bunch of exhausted superstars clanking shots off the rim and turning the ball over. Then, Kyrie Irving decided he’d seen enough.
The kyrie shot over curry wasn’t just a bucket. It was the moment the Cleveland Cavaliers finally broke a 52-year curse. It was the dagger that ended a 73-9 season for the Golden State Warriors. If you were watching, you remember exactly where you were when that ball left his hands.
The play that changed everything
Tyronn Lue calls a timeout with 1:09 left on the clock. The Cavs need a play. Everyone expects LeBron to take it, right? But the play is actually designed to get the switch. JR Smith sets a ghost screen on Klay Thompson, forcing Stephen Curry onto Kyrie Irving.
That’s what Kyrie wanted. He’s said it in interviews since—he wanted that matchup.
Kyrie starts his dance at the top of the key. He’s got the ball on a string, just like always. A little rhythm dribble. A crossover. Curry is playing him tight, sliding his feet, doing everything a back-to-back MVP is supposed to do on defense.
Then comes the side-step.
It’s a tiny bit of space. Maybe six inches. Kyrie rises up from the right wing, fading slightly to his right. Curry lunges, hand in the face, but it doesn’t matter.
"Swerve." That’s what Kyrie supposedly whispered to himself.
The ball stays in the air forever. When it finally snaps through the net with 53 seconds left, the entire vibe of the building shifted. Cleveland was up 92-89. They wouldn’t trail again.
Why Steph couldn't stop it
People love to debate Curry’s defense here. Was he too slow? Was he injured? Honestly, Steph played that about as well as you can. He didn't bite on the initial moves. He stayed in front.
The problem is that Kyrie Irving is arguably the most skilled isolation scorer we’ve ever seen. When he gets into that "Avatar" state, your defense is basically a suggestion.
The numbers behind the magic
- Time remaining: 53 seconds.
- Distance: 25 feet.
- The Drought: 3 minutes and 45 seconds of scoreless basketball preceded the shot.
- Series Deficit: The Cavs were once down 3-1. No team had ever come back from that in the Finals.
Most people forget that the possession before this was "The Block." LeBron pinned Andre Iguodala’s layup against the glass in a play that defied physics. But the block only kept the game tied. The kyrie shot over curry is what actually won the game. Without that triple, we might still be talking about LeBron’s 2-5 Finals record at the time.
The fallout at Oracle
The aftermath was pure chaos. I remember the camera cutting to the Warriors bench. They looked shell-shocked. This was a team that had won 73 games in the regular season. They were "Light Years" ahead.
And then a kid from New Jersey hit a contested three in their house to take it all away.
Kevin Love gets a lot of grief, but he played the defensive possession of his life right after this. He switched onto Curry and forced a wild, contested miss. But let’s be real: the psychological damage was done the second Kyrie's shot hit the bottom of the net.
The Warriors were rattled.
What most people get wrong about "The Shot"
There’s this narrative that it was a lucky heave. It wasn't. Kyrie had been practicing that exact shot—the side-step to the right—all season. He told his teammates in the huddle he was going to "get to his spot."
Another misconception? That LeBron was mad he didn't get the ball.
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LeBron actually told Kyrie to "be great" during that timeout. He knew he was gassed. He’d spent the last three games carrying the entire city on his back. He trusted the 24-year-old kid to finish the job. It was a passing of the torch moment that, ironically, led to Kyrie wanting his own team a year later.
Why it still hits different in 2026
We've seen a lot of big shots since then. Ray Allen in 2013 was legendary. Kawhi’s bounce in 2019 was cinematic. But the kyrie shot over curry carries a different weight because of who it was over and what it represented.
It represented the end of the "Cleveland is a loser city" era. It represented the ultimate "What If" for the Warriors. If that shot misses, do they still go out and get Kevin Durant? Probably not. The entire landscape of the NBA shifted because of one 25-foot jumper.
Honestly, the league hasn't been the same since. We’re in 2026 now, and fans still argue about it on social media every single day. It’s the definitive "clutch" moment of the modern era.
How to study this play if you're a player
If you're a young guard trying to learn from this, don't just look at the shot. Look at the setup.
- Manipulate the switch: Kyrie didn't just attack Klay. He forced the mismatch he wanted.
- Rhythm is everything: Notice his feet. He doesn't rush. He stays on balance even while moving laterally.
- Confidence: You can't hit that shot if you're worried about missing. Kyrie played like he already knew it was going in.
You should go back and watch the full final five minutes of that game on YouTube. It’s a masterclass in tension. Watch the way the crowd goes silent the moment the ball leaves Kyrie’s fingertips. It’s eerie.
Next time you’re on the court, try that right-wing side-step. It’s harder than it looks. Most people lose their power when they step away from the hoop like that. Kyrie didn't. He stayed pure. That’s why he’s a champion.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Check out the NBA Mini-Movie for Game 7 on the official NBA app to see the floor-level angles of the shot.
- Compare Kyrie's 2016 stats to his 2024 Finals run with Dallas to see how his isolation game evolved over a decade.
- Look up the "Thinking Basketball" breakdown of the Cavs' defensive switches in the final two minutes to see how they set Kyrie up for success.