The NBA Finals has finished and the 2016 NBA Champions are the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Golden State Warriors gave a gallant effort but this team will always have to live with the jeers that they are "just a regular season team" after a record-breaking 73-9 run ended without the ring to top off the storybook season.
Most pundits would often say that in Game 7, one should always bet on the team that has the best player. It was very clear who that was-the unanimous Finals MVP, LeBron James.
Golden State did not have anyone to match LeBron. Draymond Green was close, Andre Iguodala could competently defend him. The Splash Brothers had their hot stretches, but when they needed one player who could take over the game when they needed it, not even the unanimous regular season MVP could step up the plate.
There will be unfair accusations that last season was a fluke for a "jumpshooting team" but the fact is, the Warriors roster, great as it is, is incomplete.
Perhaps the Warriors' ownership knew it, and that's why Marc Stein of ESPN shared some very ominous statements.
"Warriors owner Joe Lacob, on what's next for his team, said firmly on his way out of Oracle: 'All I can say is I will be very aggressive.'"
Stein also offered his take: "The Warriors will surely be a force in free agency -- and their players and team officials took this disappointment about as well as they could in the circumstances -- but this crash will naturally leave a lasting mark."
The Warriors are still the team that beat Kevin Durant's team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even with two top 5 players in their fold, both of which had better individual performances than Steph Curry, the Warriors played a better team game in Game 7 of their series.
Durant tried to take over the game but he failed-and now he watched LeBron James take over the last three games. Then, suddenly, the Western powers would realize that the Cleveland Cavaliers are the best team because they have the best player.
According to Scott Howard Cooper of NBA.com, even as the Warriors marched on to the NBA Finals, Golden State still had him as a target. No less than Andrew Bogut confirmed that it had somehow affected the team.
"Guys obviously ask questions at certain times," Bogut said. "We've had two good years. Guys definitely find it interesting. But we understand that it's a business and you're not going to be able to stop. If an owner or a GM wants to do something, they're going to do it."
Losing a 3-1 series lead and watching the best player in the world demolish their team may confirm what the front office was thinking of when they flirted with Durant-they still need a superstar.
On the other hand, a superstar would also need to be in the best system to beat the best player who now has the best team. What happens when Durant and the Warriors reach the same conclusion that they need each other?