Great Players Get Stats, Great Teams Win Championships

Great players get stats, great teams win championships.

Late in the 4th quarter J.R. Smith tried to get the Cavs to game seven, making it a four point game with less than 30 seconds to play due to his 3-pointers made, but when your sending Stephen Curry to the line in the closing seconds, your team is in trouble. Curry sank three of his last four free throws and the Warriors ended up with a 105-97 win. 

Cleveland had eight turn-overs in the first period,  and the Warriors got 19 points off those for a 23-15 lead first quarter lead.  

The Warriors won the first quarter, and the Cavs got the 2nd one. The Cavaliers ended the half with an 8-0 run and Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson each had three fouls as the Warriors clung to a 45-43 half time lead. 

Cleveland made it tough, Timofey Mozgov had four blocked shots, including at least one against Curry and one rebound shy of ten. Cleveland's Tristan Thompson also kept Cleveland in the game scoring some big points. 

The Warriors dominate the 3rd quarter and begin the 4th with a 73-61 lead. 

The finals MVP Iguodala, did his part with 16 or 18 points when the Warriors went on a 16-4 run with under 5:30 in the 3rd period for a 61-51 lead. Golden State's bit player Festus Ezeli  had 10 points in 11 minutes of play and Green had himself a triple double.

The Golden State Warriors became the third team in NBA History to total 82 or More Wins in Single Season. Rookie coach Steve Kerr is the first to win an NBA championship since Pat Riley did it in the 1982-83' season. Not since the Chicago Bulls of the mid 90s has an NBA been so good. The Warriors had the best record in this years NBA season with 67 wins. They continued their dominance in the post season amassing a 16-5 record en route to the franchise first championship since 1975.

Since losing game three of the series, their second loss in as many games, the Warriors whipped up a three game winning streak to close out the Cavaliers. 

Game 5

For second time in as many games, the Warriors were double-digit winners, but the game was a real nail biter up until the last two minutes. 

It's a team sport to win. Remember in game one, James had 44 points and his team lost. Warriors won a game this series when Curry had 22 points. 

Game five in the Oracle Arena was fantastic TV. As a Warrior fan, it was a nerve racking game, but for any NBA fan, especially those who are not fans of the Cavaliers or Warriors, this was a great show-down between two power house teams.

Klay Thompson still did next to nothing in these finals, but it's a classic example of team-ball and clutch defense. Late in the last quarter of play, the Warriors stole the ball more than once and then ran down court for some late scores, including phenomenal 3-point shots made by Curry. Dellavendova defended great, but Curry displayed why he is the MVP this year, netting the tough shots.

LeBron James was spectacular, amassing more than 40 points and he finished with a triple double, but in the end it was the team play of the Warriors that did in the Cavs. Mid way into the fourth quarter, game five was up for grabs. There was more than 15 lead changes in this game and the score was tied at least 10 times. 

Timofey Mozgov was on the bench for I'd say 90 percent of this game which was confusing for me, because in game four he had a career best 28 points and dominated in the paint. I'm also confused about the NBA announcers talking about the fatigue factor for the Cavaliers. They don't have enough dept in the bench department perhaps to get James his needed rest, boo-woo. 

Fatigue is why the Cavaliers can't finish in the three games they lost? Give me break, all the rest in between games and the superstars are getting paid millions of dollars and even the bench warmers are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to play a boys game. 

No excuses, play like a champion, and the Warriors are one victory away from becoming this years NBA champs and they have home court advantage again after Cleveland took that away from them in game two. 

Game Four

The Warriors for the first time all season long started Andre Iguodala and it paid off nicely, yet Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt may have dropped the ball.

For the first time in his ten years in the NBA, Iguodala was a bench player for the Warriors this season. Iguodala had six point in the first, several 3-pointers in the final quarter, and shut down LeBron James very well. Iguodala has been the Warriors best player the first four games of the series Warrior coach Steve Kerr said.

Draymond Green finally showed up to the finals as well, defending nicely and getting 17 points. Harrison Barnes also had double figures in the scoring department making it at least three out of the five starters with 10 or more points, one guess who the other Warrior in double digits was, incidentally that Warrior had more than 20 points. Iguodala also had more than 20 points.  

Kerr's adjustments for tonight's game paid off brilliantly as the Warriors opened up a can of whoop gluteus max on the road with a 103-82 victory. They go to game five at home on Sunday night in the Oracle arena. 

Did the Cavaliers coach David Blatt miss run his team tonight, or was it fatigue that took away much of LeBron James and Matthew Dellavedova play tonight? After game three Dellavedova was hospitalized for cramping and James did look lackadaisical in tonight's game.

During Blatt's post game interview, he did state that fatigue may have been an issue for James, but why? All the rest in-between games these days just don't seem to be excusable. Personally if I was star player, especially after two days rest between games, fatigue would be a zero percent issue in my potential sub-par performance, especially when my team is at home and could have put a choke hold on the Warriors, had they won tonight.

Dellavedova did next to nothing on defense in tonight's game, and James lacked any sort of intensity. The Warriors would have won by about 40 points had it not been for Timofey Mozgov stellar play getting points in the paint and getting to the line.  

Cleveland continued to get offensive rebounds, but lucky for the Warriors, the Cavs did not score much on second shot points which they did in the first three games. As I said in my last article, toss a coin as to who wins game seven.