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Warriors win NBA title

 
The Warriors’ Kevin Durant scores 39 points in Game 5 and is named MVP of the NBA Finals.
The Warriors’ Kevin Durant scores 39 points in Game 5 and is named MVP of the NBA Finals.
Published June 13, 2017

OAKLAND, Calif. — There won't be a 3-1 comeback in the NBA Finals this year. Kevin Durant made sure of that.

Durant scored 39 points, Stephen Curry added 34 and the Warriors won their second NBA championship in three seasons with a 129-120 victory over the Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Finals on Monday night.

Durant was named the Finals MVP, capping his first season with the Warriors in triumphant fashion with another big shooting night that helped Golden State avoid a repeat of last year's Finals collapse when Cleveland rallied from 3-1 down to win the title.

LeBron James scored 41 points and Kyrie Irving 26 for the Cavs, who had won four straight potential elimination games against the Warriors before running out of gas in Game 5.

The Warriors finished the postseason 16-1, the best playoff record in NBA history.

Durant, who signed as a free agent in the offseason, seemingly hit a shot every time the Cavaliers threatened in Game 5. He has been criticized occasionally in his career for struggling in the biggest of moments, but he has been devastating in these NBA Finals. The Cavs couldn't find an answer for him.

Durant is the first player with five straight 30-point games in the Finals since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000.

In Game 5 he was 14-of-20 from the field, including 5-of-8 on 3-pointers.

Though Durant and Curry were superb, the Warriors' bench was a difference-maker, too. It outscored Cleveland's 35-7.

The Warriors led 98-93 heading into the final quarter. Deron Williams missed a 3-pointer that would have cut the Cavs' deficit to two points, and rookie Patrick McCaw scored two big buckets in the final two minutes of the period to give Golden State just a little bit of breathing room.

A dominant, and tense, second quarter had the Warriors smelling the title, the fifth in team history.

A 27-4 run turned an eight-point deficit into a 17-point lead, and the Warriors went into halftime with a 71-60 lead.

Golden State outscored Cleveland 38-23 in the period. J.R. Smith kept the Cavs in it with two big 3-pointers in the final minute, including a 28-foot heave just before the halftime buzzer.

Tempers flared when Irving tied up David West on a loose ball. West shoved Irving to pick up a technical foul, then went chest-to-chest with Tristan Thompson.

After an extended review of the confrontation, officials Danny Crawford and Ed Malloy assessed technical fouls to Thompson and Smith as well and did not give West a second technical, which would have resulted in an ejection.

Game 5 got off to a much more deliberate start than Game 4's track meet. After scoring 49 points in the first quarter of Game 4, the Cavs got out to a 22-18 lead midway through the first quarter.

The Cavs were shaky early, but got back into it with their defense.

Golden State coach Steve Kerr wanted the Warriors to be more anxious, ready and eager in Game 5 after their 137-116 loss in Game 4.

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"We have to be more on edge. I hope we're a little more nervous. We didn't seem that nervous in Game 4," Kerr said before the game. "Nervous is good. 'Appropriate fear' is the Gregg Popovich line. You need that."