For James, already a three-times champion, the loss puts him in rare company as only the fourth player to come up short in five NBA Finals.
Cleveland has now lost two of the three showdowns in this Finals trilogy.
Riley participated in the celebration, got picked up by a lot of people, then pulled off one of the most adorable moves we've seen by using the Larry O'Brien Trophy as her own personal mirror.
To hoist that golden trophy, Golden State outlasted Cleveland, 129-120, in Game 5 on Monday.
"I just try to do everything to help this team win and more", James said.
The Warriors also won titles in 1947 and 1956, when the team was based in Philadelphia, and took the crown in 1975 and 2015 after moving to the San Francisco Bay area, but had never clinched a title at home. The Warriors won the title in 2015 in six games, while the Cavaliers dramatically won in 2016 in seven, becoming the first team in National Basketball Association history to win a series trailing 3-1.
LeBron James had a stellar Finals average of 41 points 13 rebounds and eight assists, and Kyrie Irving - the Cavs' All-Star playmaker and one of the architects of last year's championship - contributed 26 points and six assists.
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Wrapping up the series in five games meant the Warriors came through the post-season with a 16-1 record, with only the defeat in game four keeping them from perfection.
"We were able to get them a year ago, and they went out and got one of the best players that this league has ever seen", James said.
"You feel obviously the disappointment of losing, a lot of decisions that you'll replay over the summer", he said.
"He's freaking awesome", Irving said of James.
Though the Cavaliers led 37-33 at the end of the first quarter, Golden State soon reasserted their dominance by winning the second 38-23 to lead 71-60 at half-time.
For Durant, the 39 points in the close-out game was fitting as he claimed the first title in his 10-year career.
That's when tensions and emotions bubbled over after a heated rebound battle, leading to a face-to-face confrontation between Golden State's David West and Cleveland's Tristan Thompson. If you give all your effort and all the fight and all the heart you got, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win. He's spent after scoring a game-high 41 points in Monday's Game 5. He dramatically drove and dunked on Cleveland's defense, knocked down big 3-pointers and blocked shots while handling the load of defending King James.
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