The Block. The Shot. The Stop.

The Warriors had won 73 games. The record in NBA history. They had the first unanimous MVP in Stephen Curry. They had rewritten basketball with a deluge of three-pointers.

And they led the Finals 3-1.

No team had ever come back from 3-1 in the Finals. The Cavaliers were supposed to be a footnote, the team crushed by the greatest regular season side ever assembled.

Then something shifted.

Game 5: LeBron and Kyrie combine for 82 points. Cleveland wins.

Game 6: a LeBron triple-double. 23 from Kyrie. A 41-point win in Cleveland. Series level.

Now: Game 7. On the road. Against a 73-win team. Winner takes everything.

Cleveland had not won a title in any sport since 1964. Fifty-two years of disappointment condensed into a single night.

The game was a war of attrition. Neither team could pull away. By the fourth quarter the tension was unbearable. Every possession felt like a playoff series of its own.

Then came the sequence that would define a generation.

1:50 remaining. Tied. Iguodala breaks away, takes the pass, rises for what should be an easy layup. From somewhere near half court, LeBron James is sprinting. Sprinting the way only he can. He meets Iguodala at the rim and pins the ball against the backboard with a ferocity that seemed to stop time.

THE BLOCK.

53 seconds left. Still tied. Kyrie Irving calls for the ball. He is going at Curry. Everyone in the building knows it. Curry knows it. Kyrie knows Curry knows it.

He crosses over anyway. Creates a foot of space. Rises from 23 feet. The shot is perfect.

THE SHOT.

10 seconds left. Golden State needs a three. Curry gets the ball. Kevin Love switches onto him. Love, criticised all series for his defense, contests the shot perfectly. Missed.

THE STOP.

Final buzzer. 93-89 Cleveland.

LeBron James collapsed to the floor in tears. "CLEVELAND! THIS IS FOR YOU!"

The 2016 Finals broke something in Golden State and created something in Cleveland.

For the Warriors, the 73-9 season became an asterisk, the greatest regular season that ended in failure. It led directly to Kevin Durant's arrival, which triggered its own run of titles and controversies.

For Cleveland, this was the promised land. Fifty-two years of agony, erased in a night. LeBron had kept his promise. The prodigal son had come home and made his city a champion.

For basketball itself, the 3-1 comeback became the ultimate reference point for resilience. "They were down 3-1" entered the lexicon of sporting trash talk. Nothing was over until it was over.

LeBron's chase-down block became the image that defines his career, a perfect marriage of athleticism, timing and will that captures everything he is as a player. Not just the scoring. Not just the passing. The relentless pursuit of winning at any cost.