NBA: Looking Back At The Biggest Basketball Moments From 2016

Jun 16, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) stares at Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) in the fourth quarter in game six of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. Cleveland won 115-101. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

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May 30, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan (left) talks to forward Kevin Durant (35) during the fourth quarter in game seven of the Western conference finals of the NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Thunder 96-88. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

Thunder blow 3-1

Since the 2011-12 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder were a huge “what if” team. What if James Harden wasn’t traded? What if Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook weren’t hurt? The list of questioning continues with that team, but did reach a stale mate when the team had a 3-1 lead on the Warriors during the 2016 Western Conference Finals.

It looked the team would be able to forget all their “what if” scenarios and finally move on and advance to The Finals for the first time since 2012. It looked like a plausible thought until this happened: Klay Thompson, Game 6.

In a game where it looked the Thunder were going to clinch, having led most the game and being up seven with five minutes left and up three with under three minutes left, you’d think it’d be a nice cushion and confidence booster to finish the job at home. Well, that’s why you play the game and don’t count out a team that won 73 games.

Thompson set a playoff-record with 11 three-pointers to go with Curry’s near triple-double performance of 31-10-9 with six three-pointers. It’s hard to stop something no one could virtually do until The Finals. Golden State won Game 5 and 7 by decent sized margins, but Game 6 was OKC’s last hope of advanced and they let it slip away.

Lucky for them, karma is a real thing.

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