Mighty Warriors champions again
Curry and Durant rise to the occasion against Cavaliers
The Golden State Warriors were the prohibitive favourites to win a second straight championship entering these NBA Finals. After completing a four-game sweep, they proved why.
The Warriors were dominant on Friday night, routing the Cavaliers 108-85 to claim their third NBA crown in four years — all with Cleveland as their opponent. It was a performance befitting a team that will go down among the greats in the history of the sport.
A team that appears to be in the early stages of a dynasty, Golden State was ferocious on defence and seamlessly smooth on offence. The Warriors produced seven steals and 13 blocks while defending and 14 3-pointers, 25 assists and just eight turnovers when they had the ball — evidence of what the team is capable of when focused, which Golden State clearly was in the clincher.
Most importantly, the Warriors’ two former MVP winners, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, were locked in. Curry had 37 points, making 7 of 15 shots from 3, while Durant followed up his 43-point performance in Game 3 with his first triple-double — 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — in an NBA Finals game en route to being named the series MVP.
LeBron James, meanwhile, had 23 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in 41 minutes as his incredible playoff run came to a quiet end. He checked out for the final time with 4:03 remaining to a standing ovation, as well as an MVP chant from the fans inside Quicken Loans Arena.
The question now is whether it was James’ final home game for Cleveland, with free agency looming this summer.
For Golden State, though, Friday night’s victory moved the franchise into rarefied air. The Warriors’ successful title defence marked the 13th time in NBA history a team has won at least two in a row, and they became the seventh franchise to do so, joining the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons.
Claiming a third title in four years puts the Warriors in even rarer company. It’s only happened six other times in NBA history — the last being when the Lakers won three titles in a row from 2000 to 2002.
Still, the air of inevitability that came with this championship made for a different feeling than, say, how the Washington Capitals celebrated winning the Stanley Cup the previous night. While that was a joyous celebration after decades of heartbreak, the Warriors getting the result they were always expected to felt more like a relief after a long slog of a season, a result long expected and predicted by many before the season tipped off.
The weight of expectations have hung over this team from the moment the Warriors added Kevin Durant to a team that won an NBA-record 73 games two years ago.
The Warriors were dominant on Friday night, routing the Cavaliers 108-85 to claim their third NBA crown in four years.