Father’s Day is on Sunday, which always brings up great memories with your dad or the special male figure in your life. But for NBC Sports Bay Area’s Greg Papa, it brought up a recent flashback that perhaps he would like to forget.
During Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, Papa brought his entire family with him to watch the event. An event in which he was sure the Warriors would win it all. Well, that didn’t happen.
“We all thought that day, the greatest team we had ever seen in the history of the NBA, the 73-9 Warriors would complete the last 48 minutes required to win the championship.”
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It was a storybook comeback ending for the Cavs, who completed a three-games-to-one comeback over Golden State, which would end a 52-year championship drought for the city. That comeback was the first time it had ever been done in the history of the NBA Finals.
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The Cavs’ 93-89 victory in Game 7 was highlighted by LeBron James' block on Andre Iguodala and Kyrie Irving hitting the game-winning shot over Steph Curry in the waning minutes. That was a sentence Warriors fans weren’t used to uttering or even thinking about.
So Papa ended up witnessing history, but for the other team.
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“Nobody thought they were going to lose the game,” Papa added.
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The faces his daughters made outside of Oracle Arena after the loss signified that.
“That was a hard Father’s Day,” Papa said. “I mean, it was probably the most memorable game I’ve ever been at, because when I think of that dynastic run, and then I think of Father’s Day 2016, the NBA Finals seemingly -- Game 7, if there is a Game 7 comes up on Dad’s Day or ‘Papa’s Day,’ but I remember that day being LeBron James Day.”