CLEVELAND
— The Golden State Warriors launched some 8,900 shots this season.
They attempted layups and 3-pointers, runners and elbow jumpers. They
dazzled fans and overwhelmed opponents. But every time the ball left
their fingertips, the Warriors seemed to be building toward something
bigger and better, toward the brightest stage and the grandest prize.
The Warriors were chasing history, a journey they completed Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena with a 105-97 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the N.B.A. finals.
Golden
State celebrated its first N.B.A. championship in 40 years when the
final buzzer sounded, the players forming a frantic mob at center court
as silence fell over the sellout crowd. The Warriors won the final three
games of this best-of-seven series, countering every move that the
Cavaliers made — and all the points, rebounds and assists that LeBron James could produce.
“Pure
joy,” said Steve Kerr, the coach of the Warriors, who showed up to his
news conference soaking wet, fresh off a champagne shower in the locker
room.
Stephen
Curry and Andre Iguodala, who was named the finals’ most valuable
player, scored 25 points each to lead the Warriors, who ensured that the
pain in this championship-starved city will linger for a while longer.
Cleveland has not won a major pro sports title since 1964, when the
Browns won the N.F.L. championship by upsetting the heavily favored
Baltimore Colts.
“Not
every story has a happy ending,” said David Blatt, the coach of the
Cavaliers. “It doesn’t mean it was a bad story. It was not. It was a
good story.”
LeBron
James, who returned to the Cavaliers last summer after four seasons
with the Miami Heat, finished with 32 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists.
He averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the series.
He seldom sat, supplying at least 45 minutes in five of the games. (He
played 41 in the other.)
“LeBron doesn’t have any weaknesses,” said Iguodala, who was his primary defender.
But
after Cleveland seized a 2-1 series lead behind James’s brilliance, the
Warriors made adjustments to uncork their offense, opting for smaller
lineups. The Cavaliers stalled. James was operating without Kyrie
Irving, who fractured his kneecap in Game 1, and Kevin Love, who
dislocated his shoulder in the first round, and James received scant
assistance from his supporting cast.
"We ran out of talent," James said.
Tristan
Thompson finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for Cavaliers, and
Timofey Mozgov added 17 points and 12 rebounds. But Matthew Dellavedova
scored 1 point in 26 minutes, and J.R. Smith, who had a horrendous
series, finished 5 of 15 from the field.
“We had 14 assists and I had 9 of them,” James said. “I don’t enjoy that. That’s not winning basketball.”
The
Warriors led by just 2 at the half before they began to pull away in
the third quarter. After Shaun Livingston scored on a drive, Iguodala
dunked in transition for a 61-51 lead. Later, Festus Ezeli got inside
for a dunk and a foul, his 3-point play pushing the lead to 14.
Photo
Stephen Curry with LeBron James as the Warriors closed out the Cavaliers.
Credit
Larry W. Smith/European Pressphoto Agency
The
Cavaliers showed life in the fourth. James intercepted a poor pass by
Draymond Green and soared for a fast-break dunk that cut the lead to 7.
But Curry came out of a timeout with a 3-pointer, and Iguodala later
connected on one of his own to preserve a 10-point lead.
The
Warriors endured some nervous moments in the final minute. After James
scored on a driving layup, Smith hit a 3-pointer with 33.2 seconds left
to cut the lead to 4. But the Warriors made enough free throws down the
stretch. James checked out of the game to an ovation with 10.6 seconds
remaining. He hugged Curry and shook hands with Kerr.
“If I could’ve gave more, I would’ve done it,” James said.
It
was Warriors’ 83rd victory dating to the start of the regular season,
and in many ways, it felt similar to the other 82: the same uptempo
offense, the same defensive intensity.
Only
the circumstances were different, as the Warriors sought to overcome
their postseason futility — and found James, the best player on the
planet, trying to impede their path.
If
the result came with a small asterisk, given the Cavaliers’ depleted
roster, injuries are an inescapable part of the N.B.A. The Warriors,
though, somehow managed to remain healthy, their rotations intact, their
bench playing well.
“We were fortunate in a lot of ways this year,” Kerr said, “and maybe No. 1 was health.”
But
Kerr was careful with his players — and with the 31-year-old Iguodala,
in particular, limiting his minutes in the regular season so he would be
fresh for the team’s playoff push. Iguodala, whom Kerr inserted into
the starting lineup for the final three games, was a force. Responsible
for defending James at one end, Iguodala provided timely offense at the
other.
Throughout
the season, the Warriors made basketball look fun, turning many of
their games into performance art: part competition, part dance recital.
The chief choreographer was Kerr, who guided the Warriors to a title in
his first season with the team.
Kerr
listened and delegated, constantly weighing the advice of his
assistants and soliciting comment from his players. Indeed, it was
Kerr’s personal assistant, Nick U’Ren, who suggested in the middle of
the series that Kerr go small against Cleveland. And when the strategy
worked, Kerr gave U’Ren the credit.
“He was very humble about how he was going to approach his job,” Curry said.
The
Warriors made a habit of warming up for practice by launching
court-length shots. Kerr pumped up the energy by filling the team’s
practice facility with music. And there was a rhythm to the way the team
toyed with opponents, the quick beat set by Curry, who pirouetted past
screens and bounced around defenders, his buckets punctuated by yelps
from his teammates on the bench. Curry connected on countless daredevil
shots, but each somehow felt fresher and more inventive than the last.
Curry
obliterated a league record by sinking 98 3-pointers in the playoffs as
the Warriors marched to the title. (The old record was held by Reggie
Miller, who made 58 3-pointers for the Indiana Pacers in 2000.)
No
champion in the league’s history so effectively, and so frequently,
used the 3-point shot. The Warriors attempted 2,217 of them during the
regular season, the fourth-most in the N.B.A. But their approach was far
from pure gluttony from beyond the arc. They blended quality with
quantity, making a league-leading 39.8 percent of their 3-pointers.
Still,
Kerr said it always bothered him that people paid so much attention to
his team’s gaudy numbers on offense. The Warriors also had the league’s
top-ranked defense.
“When
you get that combination, then you’re going to be pretty good,” Kerr
said. “Whether you’re shooting 2s or 3s, it’s about the balance.”
When
Kerr joined his players and staff members on a stage at midcourt for
the postgame press conference, he could hear the chants from 500-odd
Warriors fans who had made the trip to Cleveland, he said. The sound
traveled throughout an emptying arena.
But the Warriors remained, on top until the very end.
Source : nytimes.com
No comments: