After 40 years, the Golden State Warriors are finally bringing the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to the Bay Area.
The Warriors sealed the NBA Finals series today in Game 6 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, marking the second straight playoff series that the team has come from a 2-1 series deficit to win three straight games and clinch the series.
Try as they might, the Cavaliers – lead by LeBron James – simply ran out of puff, with an injury ravaged roster proving too great an obstacle to overcome.
Though a last minute comeback breathed some small modicum of hope into proceedings, it mattered little as the Warriors produced a dominant second half of basketball to clinch game 6 by a margin of 105-97.
Whilst Steph Curry again put forth a highly productive game, draining 25 points off of 8 for 19 shooting, and Draymond Green etched his name in the record books by registering a Finals triple-double, it was again the coaching masterstroke of starting Andre Iguodala that proved the difference maker.
Iguodala’s outstanding two-way basketball has been the standout performance of the finals, having started the last three games in succession after coach Steve Kerr made a rare change to the starting 5 in game number 101 for the season.
Iguodala’s efforts in the Finals were rewarded with the Bill Russell Finals MVP award – becoming the first man ever to be named Finals MVP after having zero starts during the regular season.
The inclusion of Iguodala in the starting five came at the expense of Australian centre Andrew Bogut – who, for his team sacrifice, now becomes the fifth Australian player to earn an NBA Championship ring, following in the footsteps of Luc Longley in the Chicago Bulls second three-peat, Andrew Gaze for the San Antonio Spurs in 1999, and Paddy Mills and Aron Baynes again for the Spurs last year.
The win by the Warriors caps off a dominant season, in which they logged an incredible 67 win regular season, and established a home record at the Oracle Arena the likes of which has rarely been seen; only losing 2 games on home soil during.
The trophy now returns to San Francisco and Oakland for the first time since 1975, and in doing so they become the first Western Conference team that’s neither from Texas nor named the Los Angeles Lakers to win the title since 1979.
For LeBron, and the city of Cleveland – some small solace can be taken from another championship-less year from the fact that a year that started 19-20 wound up with them pushing the league’s clear best side as far as they could in the NBA Finals. And for his individual efforts, Matthew Dellavedova is sure to reap some significant financial rewards in the near future.
But for Curry, Iguodala, Bogut, and the rest of the Warriors – it’s party time. First, in away soil in Cleveland, followed by what’s sure to be a loose flight back home, before the notoriously raucous Warriors fans greet them through the streets of San Francisco.
A more deserved champion side there has hardly ever been.
Photo: Ezra Shaw via Getty Images.
