Live: NBA Finals Game Seven, Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers
LEBRON James delivered his hometown its first NBA title — and in doing so pulled off something that had never been done in playoff history.
Live: NBA Finals, Game Seven
Welcome to our live coverage of Game Seven of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena in Oakland.
1pm
LeBron James’ face says it all
LeBron James delivered the city of Cleveland its first major sports title in more than 50 years with a nailbiting 93-89 Game Seven win against Golden State — and the emotion came pouring out.
“I set out a goal two years ago when I came back to bring a championship to this city. I gave everything I had. I gave my heart, my blood, my sweat and my tears to this game,” James said.
“We in the record books. We’re the first team ever to come back from a 3-1 deficit. This is special.”
James struggled with his shot all night but found other ways to dominate while recording a 27-point, 11-assist, 11-rebound triple double.
It capped a remarkable series, which included back-to-back 41-point outings in Games Five and Six to help Cleveland fight back from losing three of the first four games.
James finished as the series leader in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals — becoming the first player in NBA history to lead all five categories in a playoff series. “This is the greatest individual achievement in the history of this league, what he did,” former Warriors coach now ESPN analyst Mark Jackson said.
After seeing his jersey burned in the streets after he left Cleveland for Miami in 2010 — and then winning two championships in four trips to the finals with the Heat — James finally made good on his goal of winning for the people of Ohio.
“Just knowing what our city has been through ... our fans ride or die ... they continue to support us and for us to be able to end this, end this drought, our fans deserve it and it was for them,” said James, who came to the podium to speak to the media with his three children and a net draped around his neck.
“I came back for a reason. I came back to bring a championship to our city. I knew what I was capable of ... right now it’s just excitement.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr credited James — who won the Finals MVP trophy for the third time — for turning the series. “He’s such a force, physically. So powerful. He brought more force to the last three games than he did the first four. He’s one of the great players of all time and obviously was the key to the turnaround,” Kerr said.
James once again received huge support from Kyrie Irving, who scored 26 points including the go-ahead three-pointer with 53 seconds remaining after the teams had been locked at 89-89 for three and a half scoreless minutes in the final quarter.
“It felt like it was 89-89 for three days,” Cavs guard J.R. Smith said. “Our whole season was bottled down to a minute and a half and Kyrie ... helluva shot.”
It was a crushing finish for the Warriors, who set the NBA record for wins in a season (73) but failed to defend last year’s title.
Draymond Green was exceptional, scoring 32 points on 15 shots while adding nine assists and 15 rebounds but league MVP Steph Curry’s struggles continued with a 17-point game (6/19 from the field) and Klay Thompson (14 points on 6/17 shooting) also failed to fire.
“We’re stunned, we thought we were going to win,” Kerr said. “I was extremely confidence coming into tonight ... this is why every game counts. Game Five was really the key, it was the turning point of the whole series. We didn’t play well enough to win.”
Green credited James for his leadership and Irving for hitting the biggest shot of the game and said his team was hurting. “It sucks,” Green said. “But you got to give them a lot of credit. They were down 3-1 and they never quit.”
Green walked back to the locker room as the Cavs celebrated on the court, but re-emerged to share a respectful embrace with James.
“I knew it was my duty to go back out there and congratulate them,” Green said. “I wouldn’t have felt right about myself for a long time if I don’t go back out there and congratulate them on what they’d accomplished.”
Curry stayed courtside with Andre Iguodala and also gave props to the Cleveland players. “We’ve obviously been on the other side of the situation last season and know how great a feeling that is when you accomplish your goal,” he said.
“The competition was amazing in the series and what basketball is all about. Win or lose you appreciate the stage we were on and the back and forth that we live for.”
“We had a great regular season — did something no other team has done before — then fell short in the final game of the season. It hurts, man,” Curry added.
“I didn’t play efficient. I had some good moments but didn’t do enough to make my team win. Especially down the stretch, I was aggressive, but in the wrong ways ... it will haunt me for a while.”
12.45pm
Cavs hold firm in final term
LeBron James and Kevin Love scored the opening two baskets of the final quarter to give Cleveland a 79-76 lead.
Shaun Livingston hit a pair of free throws to get the Warriors underway before Kyrie Irving followed his own shot to make it 81-78.
Draymond Green made a driving lay-up to take his tally to 30 points but the Warriors missed the chance to take the lead as Andre Iguodala missed two free throws.
James pushed it back out to 83-80 with a strong drive and finish before jumpers to Steph Curry and Klay Thompson put the Warriors back in front, 85-83, with 6:18 on the clock.
Green put back a missed Curry lay-up to make it a two-possession game but the Cavs regained the lead following six straight points from James.
A left-handed Klay Thompson lay-up tied it at 89-89 with 4:39 remaining. To that point there had been 20 lead changes and 11 ties.
James’ 10th rebound of the game gave him a triple double but after three and a half scoreless minutes — which included a highlight reel James block of an Andre Iguodala lay-up attempt — the game was still tied at 89-89 when a timeout was called with 1:13 on the clock.
Irving hit a monster three out of the timeout — and Curry failed to answer at the other end. Irving then fed a cutting James, who was fouled by Green while trying to slam home a dunk with 10.6 seconds remaining. James missed the first free throw but made the second to give Cleveland a 93-89 lead.
Curry missed again at the other end and Cleveland went crazy as the clock expired. “You just witnessed one of the greatest games in NBA history,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said during the trophy presentation.
The block https://t.co/gZEYFQ4qIn
— Athletic Recruiting (@ncsa) June 20, 2016
12pm
Irving explodes in third
Kyrie Irving kept Cleveland’s season alive with an 11-point third quarter as the Cavs ensured this game went down to the wire.
Despite LeBron James’s continued struggles from the field — he was 6/16 after three — Cleveland trailed by just one point with a quarter to go.
Draymond Green missed his first three-point shot of the game and the Cavs closed to within three points after consecutive baskets to J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson to open the third quarter.
Klay Thompson responded with a three and an eight-footer before Smith caught fire.
He hit back-to-back threes as part of a personal eight-point start to the quarter and when Kyrie Irving made a lay-up the game was tied at 54-54.
Two great defensive plays and two made field goals by Steph Curry re-established the Warriors’ dominance and a 59-54 lead but the Cavs were just getting warmed up.
They ripped off an 11-0 run — largely sparked by Irving’s renewed commitment to taking the ball aggressively to the rack — to take a 65-59 lead with 4:33 remaining in the quarter.
The Warriors took a timeout and executed a nice play to provide Harrison Barnes with a basket, but Irving was still feeling it at took his tally to 11 points for the quarter with a three at the other end.
Green drew a foul on a three-point attempt and made all three foul shots before hitting another long-range dagger as the Warriors closed to 71-69.
A messy offensive possession by the Cavs resulted in a Shaun Livingston dunk and the Oracle Arena crowd exploded as the game was tied again.
The teams traded baskets towards the end of the third quarter, which finished with the Warriors in front 76-75.
11.15am
Green ‘not afraid of the moment’
GAME Seven followed a similar script to Game Two in the first half — the Splash Brothers were subdued but it didn’t matter because Draymond Green dominated.
The brash forward said he owed his teammates after missing Game Five through suspension and repaid them in spades with a 22-point, five-assist, six-rebound first half.
Green’s dominance and the disparity from the three-point line — Golden State is 10/21, Cleveland 1/14 — were the trigger for the Warriors’ 49-42 lead.
Warriors fans could also be satisfied with their team’s defensive intensity. Cleveland shot just 38 per cent from the field and also turned the ball over eight times.
Draymond Green is the first player to score 22+ points in the first half of a Finals Game 7 since Walt Frazier (23) on 5/8/70 (@EliasSports)
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) June 20, 2016
Golden State battled on the other end and needed Green’s second three-pointer to retake a 29-27 lead with 8:48 remaining in the second quarter.
After another wide open three was missed by J.R. Smith, Imam Shumpert finally ended Cleveland’s ice cold start from deep — and added one from the line on a four-point play.
Steph Curry responded with a three-point play on a strong drive to the hoop before Green’s third and fourth triples created a 38-35 lead. “He’s not afraid of the moment,” said commentator Mark Jackson, of Green’s 22-point first half.
Kyrie Irving wasn’t as dominant as he was in the first halves of Games Five and Six, but made back-to-back baskets — including a three-point play — to tie the game at 38-38.
Green’s fifth triple was followed by two misses from Shumpert and Irving and when Green followed that with a three-point play the Warriors’ lead was out to 44-40 with 2:27 remaining.
LeBron James’s fourth turnover led to a wide open Leandro Barbosa three before Curry picked up his third foul and was forced to sit.
The Warriors closed the quarter with an 11-4 run to lead 49-42 at halftime.
10.30am
Cavs feel the Love in first quarter
HE’S been the most maligned player on the Cavs this series but Kevin Love proved his value by sparking Cleveland to a 23-22 first quarter lead.
The least productive member of Cleveland’s Big Three had seven boards and five points after holding on to his starting position as the Cavs ensured Golden State didn’t get off to a flyer.
The Warriors threw the ball into the post to Festus Ezeli on their opening four possessions — and lived with the results.
The elevated role player struggled to convert, missing his first three shot attempts, but found a cutting Draymond Green for a dunk and was fouled on another possession.
Green and Harrison Barnes then hit consecutive three-pointers to hand the Warriors an early 8-4 advantage.
All five of Cleveland’s starters hit an early field goal but a Steph Curry three-pointer kept Golden State in front 11-10.
LeBron James made an ugly start — turning the ball over three times — but he was a monster on the boards and the Cavs took a 14-13 lead on a J.R. Smith breakaway dunk.
Both teams struggled to finish near the rim in a nervous opening, which saw the game tied at 16-16 after 8:31.
The Warriors survived by starting 5/10 from the three-point line, but four offensive rebounds to Love sparked the Cavs.
10am
Warriors’ surprise elevation
Golden State has rejigged its starting five for the third consecutive game, sending Andre Iguodala back to the bench and elevating centre Festus Ezeli.
The Warriors’ so-called “Death lineup” — which has blown teams off the floor for most of the season — was badly outscored by the Cavs in the first quarter of Game Six, prompting Steve Kerr’s latest change.
Ezeli will be expected to provide the rim protection Golden State has been missing since Andrew Bogut was forced out of the series with a knee injury.
Ezeli’s only made six field goals in the entire series while averaging 2.3 points and two rebounds per game. But the Warriors are 13-0 when he starts this season.
Cleveland will start Kevin Love despite his ineffectual performance in Game Six.
Tonight's Game 7 starters: GSW - Curry, Thompson, Barnes, Green, Ezeli; CLE - Irving, Smith, James, Love, Thompson
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) June 19, 2016
9am
Curry hits tunnel shot in warm-up
Stephen Curry’s pre-game shooting drills have become the game before the game. Fair to say he’s dialled in for Game Seven.
Yeah, he's ready 🔒 #StephGonnaSteph pic.twitter.com/dZkLAbXt1h
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) June 19, 2016
Crowd erupts after Curry makes shot from tunnel"We've never lost when he's made that," staffer says.Really?"No, I'm making that up."
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixYS) June 19, 2016
Lock in! #DubNation
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) June 19, 2016
8.30am
Why James can’t connect with Cleveland
Fifty-two years. That’s how long it’s been since a Cleveland team won a championship and thousands of fans, many of them wearing No. 23 LeBron James jerseys, descended upon the city’s downtown Sunday evening for possibly the party of a lifetime.
The Cavs can end Cleveland’s title drought dating to 1964 with a win in Game Seven of the NBA Finals, and it seems half of Northeast Ohio will cram into bars, restaurants and Quicken Loans Arena to watch.
Tickets for a watch party at “The Q” sold out in seconds, and the team has opened up the plaza next door to Progressive Field, home of the Indians, to accommodate the overflow crowds.
Since the Browns won the NFL title in 1964, today’s game is the closest any team has been to a championship since 1997, when the Indians lost Game Seven of baseball’s World Series to the Florida Marlins in 11 innings.
The pressure on James to deliver for his hometown seems unimaginable, but if you ask the Cavs superstar he doesn’t really think about the game in that context. And there’s a simple reason.
As an inner city kid growing up in a single parent home, James didn’t follow Cleveland’s sports teams because he couldn’t afford to.
All the heartbreaking moments endured by the Cavs, Browns and Indians passed him by because the price of watching them on cable television — let alone a ticket for a game — was out of reach.
“You know what probably would’ve made me a Browns fan and a Cavs fan and an Indians fan?” James told cleveland.com. “If I was actually fortunate enough to go to the game, or I was actually fortunate enough to have cable and watch them. I never saw them play.”
For James, just being a part of today is a blessing. “I don’t really get involved in the whole pressure thing,” he said. “I’m a statistic that was supposed to go the other way, growing up in the inner city, having a single-parent household. It was just me and my mother. So everything I’ve done has been a success.”
8am
Warriors’ bizarre prep for finale
Golden State is within one defeat of becoming the first team in history to lose the NBA Finals after leading the series 3-1.
For a team that broke the NBA’s regular season record with a 73-win season, that would be a shattering ending to what’s been a banner year.
So you’d think after getting smacked by the Cavaliers in Game Six it would have been a slightly tense flight home to Oakland.
Nope. Not only were the Warriors joking and laughing with each other, according to centre Marreese Speights, they were so relaxed a number of players spent the trip catching up on homework.
Not scouting reports on what to expect from the Cavs in today’s finale either, real homework.
“Andre Iguodala is still in school, so he was doing his homework on the trip home. Andre reads a lot of books. He’s a smart guy,” Speights revealed in a piece for The Player’s Tribune.
“And James Michael McAdoo is still trying to get his degree, so he was doing some schoolwork online. The man is focused. Him and Harrison Barnes are literally doing their homework online on the way home for Game 7.”
Steve Kerr says today has been his normal game routine: Hot yoga w/Luke Walton. Kerr: "I imagine Bill Belichick and his staff don't do that"
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixYS) June 19, 2016
In the piece, Speights also addressed the baby bottle emoji he tweeted out after LeBron James complained about Draymond Green’s trash talk during Game Four.
“Everyone has been talking about me tweeting out that baby bottle emoji after Game 4. What was that all about?” he wrote.
“Well, there could be lots of reasons why I happened to tweet out that specific emoji, you know?
“I mean, I just found out that I have a little niece on the way. My sister, it’s her first time being pregnant, and my niece is going to be born in a couple months.
“So that could be one of the reasons for it.
“It’s a baby bottle. She’s having a baby. So, you know, it could be that …
“Could be.”
7.30am
Bogut or Delly to continue Aussie run
Andrew Bogut or Matthew Dellavedova are set to continue Australia’s new tradition of being crowned an NBA champion.
Bogut’s Golden State Warriors take on Dellavedova’s Cleveland Cavaliers at Oakland’s Oracle Arena in a winner-take-all game for the championship.
Last year Bogut earned a championship ring when the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers and in 2014 Australian duo Patty Mills and Aron Baynes where part of the San Antonio Spurs’ title-winning squad.
The Warriors, who held a 3-1 lead in the series but lost the past two to bring about the sudden-death game seven, will be without Bogut after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Game Five.
“If you don’t feel pressure in a game seven, you’re probably not human,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters.
“I told our guys that. Of course they’re going to feel pressure. Of course there’s going to be some anxiety, but how lucky are we to feel that pressure?”
There is a question mark over how much time Dellavedova will spend on the court, with Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue leaving the Australian on the bench for most of Game Six and promoting Mo Williams and Dahntay Jones as guard back-ups to starter Kyrie Irving.
If the Cavaliers win, they will become the first team in NBA history to come back from a 1-3 deficit to take the title.
If the Warriors lose it will tarnish their record-breaking 73-win regular season record that eclipsed Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls’ 72 victories in 1995/96.
Fans have been clamouring for seats inside the sold-out Oracle Arena. A basketball fan paid a record $US49,500 ($A66,980) via the online ticket seller StubHub for two courtside seats for Game Seven.
— AAP
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