The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers
129-120 in game 5 to secure a 4-1 win in the best of 7 NBA Finals and completed
their mission of beating those Cavaliers and in the process regaining the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
But will they be thrilled by it? The Cavaliers managed to spoil the Dubs’ perfect
post season by winning game 4 of the playoffs and denying the Oakland based
team the opportunity to become the first team to go undefeated in the NBA
playoffs.
The Warriors had run riot through last year’s regular season (73-9)
and had the finals in the bag before they became the first team to blow up a
3-1 lead when they lost to Cleveland Cavaliers.
During the post season the shame faced Golden State Warriors
pulled off a free transfer which is considered as the move which bought the
league. They signed the 2nd best player in the Western Conference. People
criticise the move, but it isn’t illegal, as any player is allowed to sign for
any team and any team can sign any player. Durant followed the ‘if you can’t
beat them, join them’ line of thought. LeBron James did the same thing in 2011
when he left Cleveland and joint Miami. There are comments being made about how
his legacy would have been enhanced had he stayed put with the Oklahoma City
Thunder and beaten the Warriors. The fact is that no one remembers anything
else except the team that won and who was on it.
By converting the star trio to a star quartet, the Warriors
had built a team with a specific purpose of beating the Cavaliers and were imperious
en route to the finals where they were widely expected to face Cleveland.
Heading into the finals with a playoff win-loss of 12-0 the Golden State
Warriors swept through the first 2 games at home and followed it up with a
narrow come from behind win in the 3rd game in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans
Arena. On the brink of a 0-4 sweep in the finals the Cavaliers pulled off the
impossible and fired in 24 3 pointers(NBA playoffs record) recording a massive
21 point win to deny the Dubs a historic 16-0 playoff clean sweep.
Kevin Durant who managed to cross 30 points in every game in
the finals and was voted as the NBA playoffs MVP. LeBron James became the 4th
player and 1st MVP to lose 5 finals. Well, to lose finals you have
to reach the finals. And this time it was no fault of LeBron as he averaged a
triple double in the finals and put in 41 points in game 5 which the Cavs lost by 9 points. There won't be many who will say that it took 4 Olympic Gold medallists and an all star quartet to stop a 32 year old LeBron.
The Warriors are now 5 time NBA champions and with no sign
of a force rising in the Eastern or the Western Conference they look set to be
the dominant team for the foreseeable future. People argue that Cleveland could
mount a comeback next season, but LeBron James will be 33 and one wonders how
long he singlehandedly can carry his teams. Take James out of this year’s
finals and the Cavaliers would have been blown away by the Golden State Quartet.
He needs help and it wasn’t there this time around. When his team performs,
will he be able to? Will Kyrie Irving step up and fire a 30 pointer per game like Kevin Durant? Time will tell.
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