Lebron King James has once again lost the NBA finals. The 6 ft 8 American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association was left dejected after his side lost 97-105 to Golden State Warriors.
After game five in Oakland, LeBron James was asked if he felt any pressure with the Cleveland Cavaliers being just one game from losing the NBA finals. “I feel confident, because I’m the best player in the world,” James said. “It’s simple.”
Of course, Twitter had a field day with that line. “Let’s see if he backs it up” and “Time for LeBron to show whether he is” were the key refrains – the printable ones, anyway. But in the end, it wasn’t so simple for James, and the Golden State Warriors won game six in Cleveland 105-97 to take their first NBA championship in 40 years.
The key to the Warriors’ win was that they appeared not to have a “best” player. NBA regular-season MVP Stephen Curry had 25 points, but it was a balanced attack for Golden State that put the Cleveland on their heels most of the game, chasing after a team that could run the break, dunk, and hit threes when needed. Five of the Warriors scored in double figures.
Klay Thompson knew who he thought was the best. “We’re the best team in the world with the best player in the world,” Thompson said in the post-game interview as he looked at Curry sitting next to him.
Curry was modest. “It’s about winning. Stats don’t really matter. Little things make a championship possible,” he said.
James – wearing shiny gold shoes – finished with 32 points (on 13 of 33 shooting), 18 rebounds and nine assists. But the key stat in the game was the turnovers. The Cavs turned the ball over an incredible 19 times (a team-leading six by James), and those turnovers led to 25 Warrior points. Golden State turned the ball over just nine times, and those led to just 13 Cavs points.
LeBron said afterwards: “We were under-manned. I don’t know any other team in the history of the NBA that got to the finals without two all-stars. We had our playmakers in suits. For a good playoff run, you have to be healthy and little bit lucky. We weren’t healthy and we weren’t lucky.”
Cavs coach David Blatt admitted: “Their depth over time did have an impact.”
Warriors forward Andre Iguodala was the difference maker in victory. He did a decent job defensively on James, ran the floor on the break, drove to the hoop and finished with 25 points, five rebounds and five assists. He was versatile and played with size and speed, and making Warriors coach Steve Kerr look like a genius for putting him in the starting lineup for games five and six.
Iguodala was named NBA finals series MVP. Golden State coach Steve Kerr said: “It is fitting the [MVP] award went to Andre [Iguodala]. He sacrificed his starting role this year. He did that to make our bench better, to make our team better. He set the tone for everything we accomplished.”
Thompson said of Iguodala: “He is the ultimate professional … he stepped up when we needed him both on offense and defense. He deserved the NBA finals MVP.”
