NBA regular season Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry and erstwhile sixth man Andre Iguodala led the Dubs with 25 points each as their squad led for most of the game at Quicken Loans Arena. Steve Kerr, a six-time NBA champion as a player (three each with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs), became the first rookie coach to win an NBA championship since Pat Riley did it with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982.
Cavaliers star forward LeBron James, the four-time NBA MVP and two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat who returned home to Ohio for the 2014-2015 season, finished Game 6 with 32 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists. But it wasn’t enough; nor were his stellar series averages of 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game.
After Cleveland’s Game 5 loss in Oakland—the Cavs lost the final three games of the series—James, responding to a question about his confidence in the face of the Warriors’ mounting momentum, brushed off concerns by calling himself “the best player in the world.” After winning it all, Warriors guard Klay Thompson had a retort for the ages.
“It just feels good to say we’re the best team in the world, with the best player in the world—this man sitting next to my right,” Thompson said while pointing at Curry, one “Splash Brother” to another, at a post-victory news conference.
Neither of the “Splash Brothers” won series MVP. It was Golden State’s Iguodala, the reserve forward who didn’t start a single game all season until Kerr inserted him into the lineup in Game 4 when the Warriors trailed in the series 2-1, who was named Finals Most Valuable Player, having effectively guarded James but more importantly having added plenty of scoring spark. Iguodala contributed 25 points as the Dubs clinched the title in Game 6. He becomes the first player to win Finals MVP without starting every game. This year also marks the first time the Finals MVP has been on the same team as the regular season MVP since 1980, when the Los Angeles Lakers’ Magic Johnson was named MVP of the Finals and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took regular season MVP honors.
“This has been a long ride,” Iguodala told ESPN. “It’s been a great season.”
“He was great the entire series. But he saved this season for us,” Warriors forward Draymond Green told ESPN. “I always say Andre’s a pro’s pro. He’s a professional guy, and it showed, and that’s why he’s the MVP of this series, and that’s why we’re champions.”
The Warriors are champions because they simply outplayed Cleveland, a team reeling from injuries to James and the loss of high-scoring point guard Kyrie Irving, who fractured a kneecap in Game 1, and power forward/center Kevin Love, who missed the rest of the playoffs after dislocating a shoulder in the first round. The Cavs needed other players to step up, but despite brilliant play early in the series from Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova and flashes of excellence from Russian big man Timofey Mozgov, Cleveland, playing in only its second-ever NBA Finals, fell short. J.R. Smith, whose offensive spark was desperately needed, had a horrendous series.
“We ran out of talent,” James said at a somber press conference after the loss. “We had 14 assists and I had 9 of them,” he added. “I don’t enjoy that. That’s not winning basketball.”
“It’s all about winning,” Curry said during the media Q&A. “Stats really don’t matter. I mean, guys have great series and all that and people take notice and take their place in history with those stats and all that stuff. But at the end of the day, it’s all about winning and what you can do to help your team get to that point.”
Although the Warriors led by just two points at halftime on Tuesday, Golden State surged to as much as a 14-point lead in the third quarter. The Cavaliers showed life in the fourth quarter, fighting back to within four points with less than a minute to play. But as the Warriors closed in on history, James left the game to a standing ovation, hugging Curry and shaking hands with Kerr as he walked off the court.
“If I could’ve gave more, I would’ve done it,” James said after the loss.
When asked by an ABC Sports reporter what he was thinking about immediately following the Warriors’ win, Coach Kerr said “the sacrifice that every guy made.”
“From Andre [Iguodala] and David [Lee] stepping away from the starting lineup to, throughout the playoffs, different guys stepping in and playing, whatever matchup we needed,” said Kerr. “We just played, and they were all in it just to win. That’ s the only thing that mattered. This is an amazing group of guys.”
The Warriors capped off one of the best seasons by any team in NBA history, winning 67 games and losing only two contests at home. Only four teams have ever won more games, and the Warriors are tied for second in all-time home wins. Only the 1985-1986 Boston Celtics (40-1) have a better single-season home record.
Cities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, but especially Oakland, erupted in jubilant celebration as their beloved Warriors clinched their first championship since 1975. Honking horns, exploding fireworks and, sometimes, gunshots rang out in the evening air. Oracle Arena in Oakland was sold out just to watch the game, with festivities spilling over into the parking lot outside and the streets of the city the Dubs call home home.
In San Francisco’s Mission District, where rowdy crowds have partied to celebrate the San Francisco Giants’ three World Series wins in the past five seasons, revelers tossed tortillas in the air and sprayed each other with champagne and beer.
“I’m celebrating the first Warriors victory in 40 years. It’s surreal and exhilarating. I prayed, baby, we believed!” fan Ivan Marcelo of San Francisco told USA Today.
The celebrations were overwhelmingly peaceful, with the crowds in both Oakland and San Francisco largely dispersing by midnight. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the Warriors and the city of Oakland have planned a victory rally and parade for Friday, beginning at Broadway and 11th Street at 10:00 a.m. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend. For more information, go to warriors.com/parade.
