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It will be interesting to see if the Warriors capitalize of home court advantage or if the Cavaliers are indifferent to it. Draymond Green got the same types of shot as he did in Game 3 but made a significant improvement scoring from 7 points (20 %FG) to 14 points (55 %FG). Stephen Curry along with the experienced Iguodala put up a good 22 points each.
Kyrie Irving added 38 points but struggled from beyond the arc, going 0-for-7. Despite stellar performances from both James and Irving, Cleveland finished the game a dismal 12-of-44 from three-point range, compared to the Warriors 16-of-33 performance on three point shots. Owning a 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2017 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors made sure to take care of home-court advantage this time around and secure their fifth championship in franchise history. The Cavaliers finished the 2016–17 regular season with a 51–31 record, securing the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference.
Golden State Warriors Basic and Advanced Stats
LeBron James led the way with a scorching hot 5-for-6 start en route to 12 points. Klay Thompson only had 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting, but his superb defense helped the Warriors get stops in late in the fourth. Draymond Green added 10 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals, while Andre Iguodala chipped in 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting off the bench. The celebration and game highlights as heard on the Warriors Radio Network are part of our coverage revisiting the night that the Warriors captured the 2017 NBA Championship title.
Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston and the rest of the team battled against the Spurs, but it was not enough to win the NBA Finals. In the NBA Finals, the Suns lost to the Boston Celtics in a memorable six-game series that will always be remembered by a triple-OT Game 5. The dramatic win in Game 5 gave the Celtics a boost for Game 6 and the Suns were depleted mentally, which decided the series. On the other hand, the Cavs’ big man Timofey Mozgov scored the most points on the floor in Game 4 .
Game 4
"I left everything on the floor every game," James said after averaging a triple-double in his eighth Finals. The Suns took an eight-point win in Game 7 against the Warriors on the road, with Westphal and Gar Heard scoring 21 points each, and Alvan Adams putting up 18 points and 20 rebounds. The Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round in five games (4-1), and then took down the New York Knicks in six games. In the NBA Finals, the Celtics again saw the LA Lakers, and Russell and company won in seven games. LeBron James is less than 800 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record.
He shot 19-for-30 from the field and averaged a triple-double for the series with 33.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists per game. This was the Golden State Warriors' third consecutive trip to the NBA Finals and ninth appearance overall, having come short of back-to-back titles in the 2016 NBA Finals by losing in seven games after having a 3–1 lead. With the acquisition of free agent Kevin Durant in the offseason, the Warriors were hailed as a "Superteam" by the media and fans, forming a new All-Star "Big Four" of Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. As the first and most recent eighth seed to reach the NBA Finals, the Knicks' impressive run could not be finished with success. A dynasty was starting in San Antonio, and Tim Duncan guided the Spurs to the first title in franchise history in five games against New York. With that, the Houston Rockets would need to become the lowest seed ever to win an NBA title, and that's exactly what they did.
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Thompson, Kevin Love and Kevin Durant had all picked up two fouls a few minutes into the contest. In Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors secured their third championship in franchise history behind big performances from Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. We're going down as one of the best teams ever, and that's a special thing you cannot take away from us. As can you see, the way we took care of the ball in the fourth quarter and we didn't panic when they made their runs, I think that was growth.
The Rockets started their postseason run by beating reigning champions LA Lakers in a three-game first-round series. Then, they took down George Gervin's San Antonio Spurs in seven games. The Atlanta Hawks eliminated the East's top-seeded team after winning three of four games on the road .
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He's came from a certain system or culture, and it's a little bit more loose here, and it kind of drove him crazy sometimes. But he does a great job of knowing how to communicate with the each individual, which is key. He does a good job of tricking some guys, too, as far as their focus of what he wants to -- he's really good at trying to figure out what to say to them to get them to do what we need them to do on the court. Steve and I had an interesting conversation this morning in shootaround, and he said, How many minutes you got? And I kind of just had a good feeling, that inkling like tonight's the night to attack and get it over with.
Home court advantage is usually a very important factor for strong teams with stronger fan bases. With Cleveland and Golden State, both hungry for championships, the arenas are insanely loud and the energy shown by around 20,000 fans translates to the energy shown by the home teams on court. Stephen Curry had a huge game as well with 34 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and three steals, shooting 10-for-20 from the field and 12-for-15 from the foul line.
Golden State took a 2–0 series lead heading into Cleveland for Game 3. In what was Bill Russell's final year in the NBA, the Boston Celtics were looking for an 11th title in 13 years, but the team was not at its best. With Russell as the player/coach, the defending champions managed to get the final postseason spot in the Eastern Division with a record, six games behind the third-seeded New York Knicks. Durant led the Warriors with 31 points, going 4-for-7 from behind the arc that included the winning basket. Klay Thompson added 30 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three-point range, and Stephen Curry scored 26 points on 5-of-9 shooting from downtown to go along with 13 rebounds. For the Cavaliers, James had 39 points, falling one assist shy of a triple-double with 11 rebounds and 9 assists.
Houston won its next game after the All-Star break, and then pulled off a trade for Clyde Drexler. Home-court advantage is indeed an advantage in the NBA Playoffs, as only six teams in league history have reached the NBA Finals without opening any series at home. Young led the team with 48 points and 11 assists, while John Collins also put up a solid game with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
With this win, the Warriors became the first team ever to start 13–0 in the playoffs and their current 13 game win-streak is tied for the most consecutive postseason wins in NBA history. Former Cavaliers head coach and current Warriors interim head coach Mike Brown took charge of the game, with Steve Kerr still being out due to illness. The Cleveland Cavaliers led wire-to-wire as they avoided a Finals sweep by Golden State to rout the Warriors 137–116, ending Golden State's NBA postseason record winning streak at 15 games to start the 2017 playoffs. The Cavs scored 49 points in the first quarter, the most points of any period in a Finals game, en route to scoring 86 points for the first half, which was the most points scored in a half. They also hit 13 three-pointers in the first half, which broke the Finals record for most threes in a half set last game by the Warriors. The Cavaliers finished the game with 24 three-pointers, which easily broke the Finals record for the most threes in a game set by the Warriors in Game 2.
He bled on the floor, but only a player like James can act like the Hulk after a fall like that and continue playing. He should be more than alright after getting a refreshing two-day rest and it shouldn’t be worrisome for a Cavs fan. Kyrie Irving also chipped in 12 first quarter points on 4-of-5 shooting, turning a couple of sloppy Warriors turnovers into quick buckets for the defending champs. Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green along with head coach Steve Kerr were front and center on the stage constructed immediately after the win and were all interviewed during the postgame ceremony. Irving and James came up biggest in Game Four to stave off elimination but it was a play in the third quarter that will live longest in the memory. James feinted past Thompson, bounced the ball off the backboard and collected it again to score with a dunk in a smooth sequence that spoke for his faintly ridiculous athleticism and skill.
In a play that seemed to say much about where the series was headed, Curry beat James comprehensively on a one-on-one play. The Warriors' point guard dribbled inside James before finding the net with a layup. This time around Cleveland's task is even harder, in facing the prospect of overturning a 3-0 series deficit. But if it wins in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Oakland to pull to 3-2, the whispers may grow louder that LeBron, Kyrie and co can pull off a miracle again. Two playful superstars who found a way to coexist through all the questions and constant scrutiny, together and smiling as champions. Then they got Durant, who after the buzzer sounded did a little shake with Curry on the court before they slapped hands several times.
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