James averaged 33.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists - the first triple double average in NBA Finals history - but the Cavs dropped the best-of-seven series 4-1 to Golden State Warriors with a 129-120 loss Monday.
"I didn't want anybody to cater to me", Durant says. I'll probably watch - my son's tournament is this summer, so I'll be a part of the game. "Our perspective, being blessed to play on this stage three years in a row, it's for these fans, for our organization, for these families".
Cavaliers' forward LeBron James had a game-high 41 points and guard Kyrie Irving hit tough shots all night but defensive breakdowns by Cleveland led to easy baskets late in the game for the Warriors, igniting a deafening crowd.
LeBron James of the Cavaliers meanwhile said, "I left everything on the floor every game, all five games". Led the league with 121 points per game while outscoring opponents by 12.3 per night behind their potent backcourt of Goodrich and West, who each averaged almost 26 points to rank in the league's top six. "But as far as me actually playing, I won't", said James. They came to within 3 points of Golden State, 98-95, in the first minute of the fourth quarter.
The Golden State Warriors have been crowned the 2017 National Basketball Association champions after smashing the Cleveland Cavaliers in game five at Oracle Arena.
But throw in a 65-17 regular season, and the Warriors went 81-18 after Kevin Durant joined them, an impressive start to finish after their collapse in last year's Finals that prevented them from winning three straight championships.
The win came three days after the Cavs snapped the Warriors' flawless streak this postseason.
They weren't so Golden in their lone blemish, a Game 4 loss when they played some of the poorest defense in Finals history to spoil a ideal postseason.
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Kyrie Irving is 100 percent Team LeBron, in case you were hoping for conflict between Cleveland superstars following a lopsided NBA Finals defeat. When David West and Tristan Thompson squared off, with J.R. Smith entering the mix, Green peeled off Smith - and nothing came of that potentially volatile pairing. They never blended better than in these Finals, when Curry averaged 27 points, 9.4 assists and eight rebounds - MVP-type numbers himself if not for Durant.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - In a tightly called Game 5 of the NBA Finals, it was a no-call involving Kevin Durant that helped the Golden State Warriors pull away from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"If Kevin Durant was the consolation for (last year's) loss, thanks for the loss", Draymond Green said. So that's just the grind of the game, and things that happen within the game, you let go, you leave them where they stand and you collect the troops up again and we get ready to go do this thing again. Durant only scored five points during the surge, but his presence drew so much attention from the Cavaliers defense that open shots were created for his teammates.
It was the third year in succession the two teams had met in the finals.
The buzzer sounded and gold confetti began to fall. No San Francisco Bay Area professional team has won a championship at home since the Oakland Athletics captured the 1974 World Series title next door to Oracle Arena, where Monday's potential series-ender will be contested.
In 2017 the Warriors set a record by winning their first 15 games of the playoffs, one win short of an unprecedented ideal postseason run.
That made Durant's move even less palatable to some than the scorned Decision.
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