The Cleveland Cavaliers used to be at the top of the world.
With Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and LeBron James at the helm, they were almost a lock to make the NBA Finals every single year.
The only problem was that the only team significantly better than them was also repeatedly in the Finals.
The Golden State Warriors and Cavaliers met on the biggest stage for four years, with the Warriors getting the best of the Cavaliers three times.
Looking back, LeBron James thinks it was like a rap beef.
Talking to ESPN, the franchise legend compared it to when hip-hop legends 2Pac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. used to beef.
LeBron James with KD and Steph on the Cavaliers-Warriors rivalry of the 2010s 😂
"Those four straight years, Cleveland versus Golden State, … It was like a rap beef." 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ycTg7m5Q1z
— ESPN (@espn) December 24, 2024
One was on the West Coast, and the other was on the East Coast.
Some argue that this wasn’t a good thing for the NBA.
For starters, the Warriors weren’t very popular before that surge, and the Cavs being a small-market team, some stated that the fans wouldn’t be interested in watching.
That wasn’t the case at all; it was the actual opposite.
Watching Stephen Curry going toe-to-toe with LeBron James was all the marketing they needed.
And while the Warriors were the better team and even swept the NBA Finals series once, the Cavs can still hold bragging rights over them until the end of time.
They spoiled their record-breaking 2016 season and became the first and only team to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals.
NEXT: Analyst Reveals Why Cavs Have Increased Three-Point Percentage
