NBA Finals: Top 10 Moments of the Warriors-Cavs Rivalry 

7. Warriors go small with Iggy in starting line-up from Game 4 of 2015 Finals

Andre Iguodala gets inserted into the starting lineup for the first time

The Warriors were facing an uphill task ahead of them entering into Game 4 of 2015 NBA Finals and desperately needed to win on the road to keep their hopes alive of winning their first championship. Everybody on the Warriors staff was looking for answers to help the team get even with the Cavaliers, even the special assistant to the head coach who’s responsible for putting together videos for team film sessions.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins, Nick U’Ren was the person who sparked the idea of inserting Andre Iguodala in the starting lineup for Game 4. U'Ren drew inspiration from Game 3 of the of 2014 NBA Finals when San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich made the unorthodox decision to replace Boris Diaw for Tiago Splitter in the starting lineup and decided to go small which turned the series around.

Andre Iguodala puts up 25/5/5 to earn #NBAFinals MVP for the @Warriors! #DubNation https://t.co/Q1MAV0cTii

— NBA (@NBA) June 17, 2015

Head Coach Steve Kerr took his advice and decided to insert Igudola into the starting lineup and start with the then dreaded small ball death lineup. Igudola, who had never started as a Warrior, came up big as he went for 22 points and 8 rebounds while shooting 44% from three-point range and 53.3% from the field. To add to that, he put his maximum effort on the defensive end of the floor as he was given the toughest assignment of trying to slow down LeBron James.

This move by Steve Kerr turned the series around as the Warriors would win the next two games to finally win the championship. Iguodala became the closer for this team and ended up with 16.3 points,5.8 rebounds, and 4 assists while knocking down 52%of his shots per game in the Finals. He was declared the 2015 Finals MVP for his spectacular performance.