Golden State Warriors win NBA Finals for 2nd time in 3 years

“We’re going to do whatever it takes to keep Steph here and happy”, Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob told The Mercury News.

The Warriors started the game lackluster and trailed at the end of the first quarter.

Durant didn’t really need a hard sell that day in the Hamptons. They led at the half by 11.

At halftime, the Cavaliers still trailed the Warriors by three.

James racked up 41 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in Cleveland’s Game 5 loss.

It’s nearly a compliment that James forced the Warriors to add Durant, but Durant has now forced James to rethink what is next for him. History says it would have been dwarfed by what the third straight meeting between the Warriors and Cavaliers generated. There was more than a touch of pay-back Monday night.

Speaking of LeBron James, he also made history this year, becoming the first player ever to average a triple-double in the NBA Finals. The Warriors do not have Bird rights on his deal, nor can they offer him a DPVC. “That’s a tough play to stop”. They’re still championship caliber, but a step or two behind a glittering Golden State team that went 81-18 in Durant’s first season and built for the long haul.

Durant refused to celebrate until the final seconds Monday. “. Getting that first championship for me was like having my first son”. “For me to go out there and for the guys that allowed me to be the leader that I am and allow me and trust me that I’m going to make the right plays and I’m going to do the right things and have the right intention, that’s a compliment to my guys”. Kerr returned to full-time coaching for the Final’s second game. He was mainly tasked with the assignments of slowing down the Cavs’ superstars, Irving and James.

Things were different this year, as Antetokounmpo’s full-blown superstardom revealed itself to the world over the course of six playoff games against the Toronto Raptors.

Did James deserve to win the award – named for Celtics star Bill Russell by National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern in 2009 – this year?

“As a student of the game, it would be a disservice to myself if I didn’t try to learn as much as possible while I’m playing with this guy”, Irving said.

The long-term challenge for the National Basketball Association is how to address the on-going grumblings about a lack of competitive balance. I put in work, I just had to trust in it.

But as many have pointed out, it’s not working. “And (to) see it come to life in this series, it was unbelievable”, Curry said in his post-match press conference.

On whether or not this was his best individual Finals performance: “This is my eighth trip to the Finals, and I’ve had some pretty good ones in my day”.

You’ll recall that it was Cleveland that came back from a 3-1 series deficit in last year’s finals to stun Golden State. Both of them could improve the Cavaliers, but it is questionable if Cleveland can afford them as the team will have to pay over $120 million for their players next year, which is well above the salary cap. NPR’s Eric Westervelt has more from Oakland.

Durant was equally effusive in praise of Curry, saying they have grown closer as the season progressed.

And then he talked about how young the Warriors are.

2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala scored 20 points off the bench.

Not to mention he got a quick jab at his critics with a well-timed Nike commercial shorty after the confetti fell in Oracle Arena.

WESTERVELT: Warrior fan Mark Chris Santos. Go Dubs. Woo (ph).

Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who played on the 1995-96 Bulls, had the ideal response to these comments. And throughout the finals, it often looked as though they were listening to him.

Through two games of these Finals, the Warriors’ margin for error looked to be as wide as the San Francisco Bay. So that was this whole thing, who is going to take less shots? And they’re winning like insane. Against Golden State, he met an army of players constructed just to stop him, and LeBron still put in a superhuman effort the likes of which we’ve literally never seen before.

ROGER TROUTMAN: (Singing) California knows how to party.