LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the Cavaliers made history in Oakland by beating the seventh and final game of the finals against the Warriors by 89-93 to win the championship ring. It is the first title for Cleveland since it was founded 45 years ago and the first time a 1-3 team comes back in the history of the NBA Finals. 32 times that such a situation has happened in the past and 32 times the team with the early advantage has won.
The title reinforces the legend of LeBron James, he adds his third ring in his seventh final. This is probably the most emotional, because it gets for the home team, Cleveland, near Akron, where he was born 31 years ago. He left the team in which he debuted in the NBA, with 19 years in 2003 to play four finals and won two rings in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (2012 and 2013). But he returned to the franchise in Ohio as the great redeemer, in the hope to put the city at the forefront of world sport. He got it.
Finally he is a prophet in his own land. And of course, he was named the MVP of the finals, in which he did not fail and returned to star in a colossal performance with a triple-double: 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, two steals and three blocks.
The Cavaliers needed that and more to crush the Warriors, the champions, the team that this season has made history by overcoming with 73 wins in the regular season the historical record held by Michael Jordan’s Bulls since 1996.
The immense talent of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Splash Brothers, the pair of hitters has opened a new dimension in handling the ball and that has flooded the season triples, did not work in the last game of the season. They joined 6 triples in 24 attempts. Curry stayed on 17 points and Klay Thompson in 14. But even so, the game was very even. Draymond Green, awesome, pulled his team with 32 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists. The duel came equalized at the end after both teams recover from their small bumps.
The Warriors, always with their signature playstyle aimed at the open shots and this time they noted the absence of their starting center Bogut, open vacuum in the middle of the third quarter (54-46). But the Cavaliers, who strongly attacked inside the rival area, turned the scoring board around with a partial 7-22, thanks to the work of Irving, LeBron and his superiority in rebounding (61-68).
Green and the triples again equalized the contest in a tense last quarter, full of faults, which barely moved the score. It came with a tie at 89 points the last four minutes. And in that agonizing and tense finale, the Warriors were completely lost.
They were not able to score, while the Cavaliers decided thanks to a triple from Kyrie Irving with 49 seconds left. LeBron James, who shortly before had put up a big block on Iguodala, established the final 89-93 with a free throw. The Cavaliers, with the contribution of Kevin Love, with 9 points and 14 rebounds, were particularly higher in rebounding (32-48) and totaled 21 points from the free throw line for only 10 of the Warriors. Steve Kerr team suffered a string of problems along the playoffs. They had to overcome in the West finals 1-3 against Oklahoma. Stephen Curry, then injured and missed some games. In the final against Cleveland, Draymond Green was suspended one game for flagrant fouls accumulation, Bogut was injured and Iguodala also suffered some physical problems. Last year the opposite happened.
The Cavaliers were without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving was injured in the middle end. This time, the Cavaliers, who mediated the season relieved by Tyronn Lue David Blatt in the technical, have managed to perform at a great level and LeBron James, the King finally can bring the title home.
GOLDEN STATE 89; CLEVELAND, 93 (3-4)
Golden State Warriors: Curry (17), Klay Thompson (14), Barnes (10), Draymond Green (32), ezeli (0) -Starting Team; Iguodala (4), Varejao (1), Livingston (8), Barbosa (3) and Speights (0).
Cleveland Cavaliers: Irving (26), JR Smith (12), LeBron James (27), Love (9), Tristan Thompson (9) -Starting Team; Jefferson (2), Shumpert (6) and M. Williams (2).
Quarters: 22-23, 27-19, 27-33 and 13-18.
Oracle Arena in Oakland. 19,596 spectators.
