Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, left, is guarded by Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James during the second half of Game 5 of basketball’s NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, June 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
The Golden State Warriors ended the drought and took home their first NBA title in 40 years on Tuesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Ohio.
After a long and trying season, Golden State finished with the best regular season record in the league. Even when their series had the possibility of going to seven games, they never crumbled under the pressure and managed to get the job done in Game 6.
Going into the series, the majority of betting fans had their money on LeBron James because he is the best player in the league. However, fans also didn’t take into consideration that Cleveland won 14 fewer games than the Warriors who stayed consistent in their record all season long. Also, the West has continuously proven to be the more difficult conference, and the Cavs would have had a much harder time getting to the finals if they were playing on the other side of the country.
Depth still proved to be the Warriors greatest asset. They had too many solid players to allow one player to beat them, even if he is the best player in the NBA since the ‘90s.
Along with their offensive threats, Golden State had one of the best defenses in the game this year. They also played the game at a much quicker pace than the larger Cleveland team. Their fast-moving, up-and-down game gave the Cavs trouble adjusting defensively. The Warriors also limited their careless turnovers, as the Cavs had over three times as many as Golden State.
Another factor that hurt Cleveland was the loss of star players Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in the playoffs. Love dislocated his shoulder against the Boston Celtics and Irving fractured his left kneecap in game one of the finals.
History was also on the Warriors side. They finished the regular season with 67 wins to their 15 losses. In the past, only 13 teams have won more than 65 games in the regular season and every single one of them went on to win a championship. The Warriors were certainly not hurt by their lack of finals experience.
When Golden State executed properly and was clicking on all cylinders, their team was virtually unstoppable. At the end of the night, the Cleveland Cavaliers were simply beaten by the better team.
Regular season MVP Stephen Curry did not disappoint as he contributed 25 points in the last game and averaged 26 points per game in the finals. Winning his first ring helped him cap off what was one of the greatest seasons in league history.
Warriors forward Andre Iguodala was named the series MVP after the 105-97 victory Tuesday night. He is the first player in history to win this award without starting every game in the final series. He shot 52 percent from the field and averaged 16.3 points per game. He had the privilege and challenge of guarding LeBron James in the series. Although he did not stop James – a task that is seemingly impossible – he did an extremely efficient job slowing him down. In the 14 games of the playoffs, his shooting percentage went down nearly ten percent.
“LeBron doesn’t have any weaknesses,” Iguodala said to reporters after the game.
The road was never easy for the Warriors against the Cavs star player, and arguably the greatest athlete in the world today, LeBron James.
“The King” James finished with 32 points in Game 6 and averaged 35.8 points per game in the series.
LeBron was the first player in NBA history to lead both teams in points, rebounds, and assists, even with the man who won the series MVP guarding him. Despite this insanity, he still fell short of his third NBA title. This stat alone speaks volumes of just how incredible of a basketball player he truly is.
In only his first season coaching in the league, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr has certainly set the bar high. He is the first coach to win an NBA title in his rookie season since Pat Riley in 1982.
Along with a young coach, the Warriors have a young team. The last franchise title was won in 1975 when not a single player on the Golden State team was even born yet.
The future looks bright for the Golden State Warriors as the bring the crown back home to Oakland.
