Golden State Warriors Advance to 1st NBA Finals Since 1975
The Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 104-90 on May 27th, winning the best of seven NBA Western Conference final in five games and sending the Warriors to their first NBA Finals since 1975.
Golden State was led by 2015 NBA MVP Stephen Curry with 26 points, and Harrison Barnes added 24. Klay Thompson, who was limited to 22 minutes due to early foul trouble and also from taking a knee to the head, still scored 20 points. Dwight Howard had 18 points, 16 rebounds, and four blocked shots for Houston. James Harden had an uncharacteristically awful game, with an NBA playoff record 13 turnovers. He scored 14 points, mostly on free throws as he was just 2 of 11 from the floor.
So now Golden State and the Cleveland Cavaliers will play for the NBA title. The Finals open in Oakland on June 4th. LeBron James is four victories away from fulfilling his mission to return to Cleveland and win a championship there. Both teams are playing very well right now; Cleveland swept Atlanta in four to reach the finals and is 12-2 in the post season while Golden State is 12-3. The teams split two regular season games against each other, with each winning on its home court. Cleveland’s last trip to the Finals was in 2007, on LeBron James’ first tour with the Cavaliers. It is the only other Finals appearance by the Cavaliers, who were swept In four games by the San Antonio Spurs. Golden State’s last appearance in the finals resulted in a four game sweep of the then Washington Bullets for the franchise’s third NBA title. They also won it all in 1947 and 1956 when they were the Philadelphia Warriors.
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Jacob:
It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen with a team that comes so close and then loses. The Cavs have to feel they can hang with them for a while. Here’s the tough part: this is where a really good coach can help (along with the leaders) motivate a team. That may be their downfall.
It looks a lot like G.S. in six.
As an update, Kyrie is out. It’s now 50-50 on a sweep.
It’s really too bad. With Kyrie and Love this would have been a great series.
Eric, have to agree with what you’ve posted here. Cavs coach did Kyrie no favors letting him stay in the game so long. Injury may not have unfolded as bad as it did. We’ll never know.
Don’t think Kerr would make such a bad choice imo.
Going with GS in 5.
There is nothing that stings more than to believe (perhaps monetarily) in an underdog, have them go into overtime, only to not cover.
Especially with Lebron putting up 44 points.
At the beginning of the final four teams, the Warriors were 1:2 and the Cavs almost 3:1. My money would’ve been on LeBron, but maybe just for the value.
Great game since I was rooting for the Warriors.
Steph Curry has a history, even in college at Davidson, leading teams to championships.
Too bad it took 40 years for someone like him to come along to lead the Warriors to a Division championship but I’m not complaining. He’s been with the team since 2009 but Kerr is the coach that really set things in motion.
Harden was no match for Curry last night but Lebron waits in the wings. Should be a good finals!
Mullins was tough, but the Lakers were a juggernaut, at least in the West.
Mullin*
Lol. I knew it sounded kind of right as Jeff Mullins was pretty good, as well.