“You’re talking to someone who was up close and personal on the 2016 Finals. Coming back from 3-0 down, with the comeback within the comeback with the Derrick White tip, it’s very compelling. The Cavs, winning that series against the 73-win team, winning Games 5 and 7 on the road… I’m not in the position to put it past that.”

On one hand, Windhorst isn’t wrong. Those Cavs were essentially run out of their own building after getting blown out by 30 in Game 3 and again in Game 4 thanks to Stephen Curry’s 38-point explosion. It took Herculean efforts from LeBron James and Kyrie Irving (each scoring 41 points) in Game 5 to at least give the Cavs a fighting chance when the series moved back to Cleveland for Game 6. LeBron’s tremendous game in front of the home crowd – along with Curry fouling out of the game – set the stage for the comeback of all comebacks for the final game of the season. Those Cavs took down a team that was essentially gifted a title after a historic regular season.

On the other hand, it’s hard to ignore what an epic collapse this would be for Miami. The eighth-seeded Heat were on the verge of not only making their seventh NBA Finals appearance but doing so in epic fashion after a thorough whooping of the Celtics in Game 3 on May 21. And even while their lead has been wiped out, the lower-seeded team is still a game away from its own unique history as the first to make the Finals from the play-in round.

Miami had just one opportunity to sweep, just like the Denver Nuggets had done to reach the Finals. They also had two more chances to get the Cs off their backs. Yet in just about every way possible, this team wasn’t even supposed to be playing basketball in May. In most people’s minds, as well as Windhorst’s, the even higher stakes of 2016 put those Finals at the top of the NBA’s most improbable yet thrilling event to date.