Warriors hold onto 3-1 lead, crowned NBA Champions
The talk leading up to tonight’s NBA Finals Game 5 in Oakland at Oracle Arena was the pressure on both teams to win. Players like Richard Jefferson threw the pressure at the Golden State Warriors, while Draymond Green and Kevin Durant downplayed it and said that the Cleveland Cavaliers had all the pressure.
Oracle Arena was buzzing to start the game and the Cavs kept the crowd down for a lot of the first quarter. Cleveland led for most of the first quarter, shooting 62% from the field and leading by four points after the end of the period. The Warriors weren’t hitting all their shots, so they could have taken the lead multiple times but couldn’t convert. The Cavs were up 4.
In the second quarter, the Cavs kept the momentum going up 8 against the Dubs. Then Durant got hot. And Steph Curry started hitting shots. It was a 14 point turn around and the Warriors went up 7 against the Cavs. Golden State went on a 19-2 run and completely took the momentum from LeBron James and company. They went up as much as 17. JR Smith hit a few three’s to end the quarter and the Cavs only led by 11 after two quarters.
By the fourth quarter, JR Smith was keeping the Cavs in the game, hitting clutch three after clutch three, but the Warriors kept firing. Whether it was Andre Iguodala, Durant with the three or Curry dropping trey’s from downtown, the Cavs didn’t have enough firepower down the stretch to battle with the Warriors. King James tried to carry the team on his back but he couldn’t do it all by his lonesome.
He tried, but it wasn’t enough. The Warriors didn’t let up, even when the game was in the bag. They kept putting their foot on the Cavs neck and went in for the kill.
LeBron had another monster game, putting up 41 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists, while Kyrie Irving and JR had 26 points and 25 points, respectively. But it wasn’t enough.
Durant’s 39 points and Curry’s 34 points and 10 assists was all the Warriors needed, with Iguodala contributing 20 points off the bench in another championship for the Dubs.
KD finally got his first ring. And more are sure to come.
FINAL: GS 129 | CLE 120