Basketball’s Golden State
June 15, 2018
On June 8, 2018, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and the Golden State Warriors took down LeBron James and his overmatched Cleveland Cavaliers 108-85 to capture a second straight National Basketball Association (NBA) title. (Golden State owns three of the last four NBA crowns.) The team’s win last Friday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, completed a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven series. Curry broke the Cavs’ collective will with 37 points in the final game to bring the series—and the season—to a predictable conclusion.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors drives to the basket against LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers during game four of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 8, 2018. Credit: © Kyle Terada, Getty Images
This year’s NBA Finals had megastars (Curry, Durant, and James) and history (an NBA-record fourth-straight finals matchup of Cleveland vs. Golden State). There were even intriguing nicknames for the series: Cavs-Warriors IV, or, if you prefer, The Tetralogy (a college-level word meaning trilogy-plus-one). What the series lacked, however, was suspense. The Warriors followed up close matches in games one and three with blowouts in games two and four, easing their way to the title while preventing the Cavs from earning a single win. Durant, who averaged nearly 29 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists on high-percentage shooting in the finals, won the Bill Russell Finals Most Valuable Player Award for a second-straight year.
Between the two teams, only eight players remained from the teams’ first finals tangle in 2015: LeBron James, J. R. Smith, and Tristan Thompson for Cleveland; and Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and Klay Thompson for the Oakland-based Golden State squad.
Finals game one in Oakland offered the most hope for the Cavaliers and their narrow championship chances. The game was tied at halftime and close throughout. With 35 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, and Cleveland ahead by 2, a curious reversal of a foul call during a video review changed a Durant charge into a blocking foul on James. On a night when James did nearly everything right—51 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists—the changed call proved a bit of bad luck the Cavaliers could not overcome. Durant made two free throws to tie the score. Then, with fewer than 5 seconds to go in a tie game, Cavs guard Smith secured an offensive rebound near the basket. Bizarrely, Smith neglected to put up a shot to try to win the game, and he was dribbling away from the basket as time expired. He explained later that he thought his team was ahead at the time. In overtime, Golden State quickly jumped out front and won the game going away, 124-114.
Game two saw no such drama. The Warriors led from start to finish for an easy 122-103 victory. The series moved to Cleveland for game three, and although the game was close, the result was the same. Durant scored 43 points and added 13 rebounds and 7 assists to pull the Warriors ahead down the stretch for a 110-102 win and a commanding 3-0 series lead. James tallied 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists for the losing Cavs, extending his NBA-record 10th finals triple double (double digits in points, rebounds, and assists). Game four was the least dramatic of all as the Warriors jumped out early and cruised through the second half with leads hovering around 20 points.
In the Eastern Conference playoffs, James almost single-handedly carried his Cavaliers past the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, and Boston Celtics en route to his team’s fourth straight NBA Finals appearance. James also secured his individual legacy with an eighth consecutive trip—and ninth overall—to the NBA Finals. James first made it to the finals in 2007 during his first go-round with the Cavs. He then reached the finals with the Miami Heat from 2011 through 2014, winning championships in 2012 and 2013. James returned to Cleveland for the 2014-2015 season, and he brought the Cavaliers their lone championship in 2016.
In the western playoffs, the Warriors downed the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans before outlasting the regular season NBA-best Houston Rockets in an exciting seven-game Western Conference Finals.
