The Warriors were chasing history, a journey they completed Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena with a 105-97 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the N.B.A. finals.
Golden State celebrated its first N.B.A. championship in 40 years when the final buzzer sounded, the players forming a frantic mob at center court as silence fell over the sellout crowd. The Warriors won the final three games of this best-of-seven series, countering every move that the Cavaliers made -- and all the points, rebounds and assists that LeBron James could produce.
LeBron James averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the N.B.A. finals.
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"Pure joy," said Steve Kerr, the coach of the Warriors, who showed up to his news conference soaking wet, fresh off a champagne shower in the locker room.
tephen Curry and Andre Iguodala, who was named the finals' most valuable player, scored 25 points each to lead the Warriors, who ensured that the pain in this championship-starved city will linger for a while longer. Cleveland has not won a major pro sports title since 1964, when the Browns won the N.F.L. championship by upsetting the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.
"Not every story has a happy ending," said David Blatt, the coach of the Cavaliers. "It doesn't mean it was a bad story. It was not. It was a good story."
LeBron James, who returned to the Cavaliers last summer after four seasons with the Miami Heat, finished with 32 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists. He averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the series. He seldom sat, supplying at least 45 minutes in five of the games. (He played 41 in the other.)
"LeBron doesn't have any weaknesses," said Iguodala, who was his primary defender.
But after Cleveland seized a 2-1 series lead behind James's brilliance, the Warriors made adjustments to uncork their offense, opting for smaller lineups. The Cavaliers stalled. James was operating without Kyrie Irving, who fractured his kneecap in Game 1, and Kevin Love, who dislocated his shoulder in the first round, and James received scant assistance from his supporting cast.
"We ran out of talent," James said.
Tristan Thompson finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for Cavaliers, and Timofey Mozgov added 17 points and 12 rebounds. But Matthew Dellavedova scored 1 point in 26 minutes, and J.R. Smith, who had a horrendous series, finished 5 of 15 from the field.
"We had 14 assists and I had 9 of them," James said. "I don't enjoy that. That's not winning basketball."
The Warriors led by just 2 at the half before they began to pull away in the third quarter. After Shaun Livingston scored on a drive, Iguodala dunked in transition for a 61-51 lead. Later, Festus Ezeli got inside for a dunk and a foul, his 3-point play pushing the lead to 14. read more