GOLD STANDARD
Durant leads Warriors back to top of NBA
Kevin Durant lets out a scream after propelling Golden State over Cleveland, 129-120, in Game 5, helping the Warriors reclaim the title the Cavs took last season. Durant, the Finals MVP, and Steph Curry (inset) combined for 73 points.
OAKLAND, Calif. — The journey began here one year ago when the Warriors slumped in stunned disbelief as their historic 73-win season ended in bitter failure. The Cavaliers became the first Finals team ever to rally from a 3-1 deficit.
So the Warriors rearmed in nuclear fashion adding Kevin Durant to a core that compiled the greatest single season in the history of the NBA. They marched through all contenders and met up again with the Cavs and LeBron James. They went up 3-0, then lost Game 4.
Don’t think of a pink elephant. Don’t think of last year.
It’s sort of what the Warriors were doing at selected points Monday night even after they unloaded a terrifying second quarter and seemed unchallenged. But the Cavs refused to die. A 17-point lead eventually became three.
But this is why the Warriors added Durant. This is why the Warriors preach “Strength in Numbers.” With Finals MVP Durant scoring 39 and the Warriors bench outscoring the Cavs’ reserves by 28 points, Golden State won the rubbermatch series and the fifth title in franchise history, overcoming the individual brilliance of James with a 129-120 Game 5 victory at Oracle Arena.
“Winning is fantastic. I’ve been so lucky to be part of so many championship teams as a player and now as a coach, and it never gets old,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
“I couldn’t sleep for two days,” Durant said in a TV interview. “I was anxious I was jittery and I just wanted to leave it all out there.”
Consider everything left. And the Warriors showed just what they have — and will have.
“One of the best teams ever,” said Andre Iguodala, the Finals MVP two years ago, who arose with 20 points and played stunning defense.
What did that Durant move mean?
“Finals MVP and we’re champions,” Draymond Green said.
Durant, who scored 30 points or more in all five games, put in the dagger with a drive from the top at 5:01 for a 118-106 lead. Even with James averaging a triple-double, and finishing with 41 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in Game 5, and Kyrie Irving, playing with an apparent lower back injury, scoring 26, the Cavs were overmatched. Kevin Love scored six and did not get his first basket until the third quarter. For James, it was his seventh straight Finals, eighth overall. He was swept with the Cavs in 2007 by one of the Spurs dynasty teams.
Cleveland was the only team in postseason to beat the Warriors, who finished the playoffs 16-1 and forged four-game sweeps of Portland, Utah and San Antonio in the West.
“I left everything on the floor every game, all five games. So for me personally I have no reason to put my head down. I have no reason to look back at what I could have done or what I shouldn’t have done or what I could have done better for the team,” said James, who became the first player to average a Finals triple-double. “I left everything I had out on the floor every single game for five games in this Finals, and you come up short.”
And the future really has a giant cloud — one of gold and blue.
“They assembled a great team. We were able to get them last year, and they went out and got one of the best players that this league has ever seen, so they did a good job,” James said. “Their front office and their players, by doing that recruiting, the things that they did in the summertime, and obviously it paid dividends.” And will continue to do so. All the members of the Warriors’ Big Four are under 30 years old. Durant is 28, defensive studs Green (10 points, 12 rebounds) and Klay Thompson (11 points) are both 27 while Stephen Curry (34 points) is the old man at 29.
And Monday, there was help everywhere.
After taking a sledgehammer right to the jaw when the Warriors blitzed them with a 38-23 second quarter, the Cavs simply would not just go away and die. James above all would not let them and almost inexplicably, the Cavs were within five points, 98-93, entering the fourth quarter. It really looked like all drama had died in the second quarter. Hey, it really looked like Hillary was going to win too.