The Golden State Warriors keep staying a step ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James, as a monster fourth quarter from Stephen Curry gives them a misleading 104-91 win to take the 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals series.
Which means they’re one win away from the 2015 NBA title, ending the 40-year drought for the franchise. In a game with the team’s two superstars shining, especially in the final quarter, it was the Warriors playing like a team while the Cavaliers running on empty beyond LeBron that stood out. James had another triple double, including 40 points, but the Cavaliers once again allowed the Warriors to go wild from three (46.2% from beyond the arc) and couldn’t keep up (34.3% themselves).
Tristan Thompson helped with 19 points, Iman Shumpert was useful with 10 and J.R. Smith finally showed up scoring 14, but it wasn’t enough. Matthew Dellavedova no longer looks like an Australian hero, on both ends, scoring 5 points and looking a bit out of place. David Blatt forgot Timofey Mozgov on the bench and it’s always the one guy you don’t play that you end up needing the most.
Curry scored 37 points, and shined the brightest after James hit his impossible 3-pointer to give the Cavaliers an 80-79 lead, their last of the game. Curry hit a three, followed by one from Klay Thompson. That was the end of it, as the Warriors outscored the Cavs 25-11 since that last lead, once again picking it up a notch in the final quarter while the Cavaliers are left with an empty magazine.
Andrew Bogut didn’t even play. He helped the Warriors get to the Finals, but comes of no use in them. Harrison Barnes played well, Draymond Green with 16 points was fantastic, Andre Iguodala did well besides his awful free throw shooting (2-of-11) and Leandro Barbosa was a fantastic spark off the bench with 13 points in 17 minutes.
When it comes down to it, the Warriors have too much for the Cavaliers to answer back, even on a great night from James. He might be the best player in the world (scroll down later), but when it’s against one of the best teams in the NBA for quite some time, it’s not enough, not with the personnel he has around him.
