The Cavaliers won Game 7 of the NBA Finals 93-89 tonight, beating last year’s World Champion Golden State Warriors and bringing the first NBA championship in history to Cleveland.
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James, the Finals MVP who averaged 29.7 points, 8.9 assists and 11.3 rebounds in the Cavs’ seven-game triumph, knows as well as anyone how much his team’s championship means to his hometown. “And, uh, Cleveland – this is for you!” He then returned to the locker room where he was still sitting in full uniform with his head in his hands almost 30 minutes later after a disappointing ending to a season that featured a record 402 3-pointers and the first unanimous NBA MVP for Curry. “I was locked in”, James said.
No need to change anything now heading into Game 7of the NBA Finals and the Warriors trying for a third time to clinch their second straight championship.
More than one person has mentioned that the “LeBron James kid” – meaning the child who is famous for memes in which he says LeBron’s name in a amusing manner – should make an appearance at the Cavs parade. We want to get the Cleveland organization a championship, so that’s what we’re all about.
An Irving 3-pointer with 53 seconds left snapped an 89-89 tie, giving the Cavs the lead for good.
For an instant near the end, Cleveland fans had to feel a bit nervous as James writhed in pain on the floor following an awkward landing after absorbing a foul from Draymond Green during an attempted dunk. In the first quarter the Warriors hit five threes, but they shot 33 percent inside the arc and the Cavaliers owned the glass, 16 to nine.
James scored 27 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 11 assists in Sunday’s Game 7 win. But instead of a game-tying splash, the ball rimmed out.
“It’s going to be a long three months over the summer thinking about it”, Curry said.
On the incident in Game 4 and subsequent Finals loss, Green said, “I learned from it, and I’ll be better”.
James had the block of the series on a Warriors fast break with 1:45 remaining, but missed a shot in the lane with 1:25 left. Before Sunday night, home teams were 15-3 in game 7s, so James, Irving and the Cavs’ supporting cast gave it all to beat the odds and take home the championship.
The battle between James and Curry, already chippy, continued in Game 7.
The Warriors had just 13 points in the final quarter.
They might always be remembered as one of the best teams ever that couldn’t close it out.
James told ESPN: “I set out a goal, two years ago, when I came back, to bring a championship to this city”. He then sprained his right knee in his first game back in Houston when he slipped on a wet spot on the floor. It didn’t take long before the game was tied 71-71, and at the end of three it was 76-75 Warriors after three.
Curry had a disappointing 17 points on 6-19 shooting, including just 4-14 three-pointers while Thompson had 14 points on 6-17, and 2-10 on three-pointers.
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In the immediate aftermath of arguably the most dramatic and historic game in National Basketball Association history, putting into perspective what we saw from the Cavaliers and Warriors should probably require at least a 24-hour waiting period.
