Golden State Warriors beat Cleveland Cavaliers to win NBA championship
Last Updated: 19/06/15 9:59pm
The Golden State Warriors secured the NBA championship after completing a 4-2 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Warriors won 105-97 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Ohio on Tuesday night to guarantee their first title for 40 years.
Five Warriors reached double figures as Golden State hurt LeBron James - who suffered his fourth finals defeat - and get their hands on NBA's biggest prize for the first time since Rick Barry steered them to glory in 1975.
Regular-season MVP Stephen Curry and finals MVP Andre Iguodala scored 25 points each for the visitors, who poured in an impressive 13 three-pointers.
Iguodala said: "This is awesome. We've got a team full of believers. I've got great team-mates. We're going to remember this for a long time.
"We talked about staying strong, stay with it. That was Coach's motto the whole play-offs. Stay with it. They kept fighting. This is unreal."
This is surely special. This is what it's all about
Warriors MVP Stephen Curry
After falling behind by two points early in the third quarter, the Warriors took control with Curry, the league's MVP, and Iguodala taking control.
They outscored the Cavaliers 28-18 in the third quarter, silencing a rocking Cleveland crowd and opening a lead even a player of James' calibre couldn't overcome.
Golden State, having pushed its lead out to 15 points in the closing stages, allowed the Cavaliers to creep back within four points in the final minute and a remarkable comeback momentarily seemed possible, but the Warriors hung on.
James returned from Miami to Cleveland to deliver a title to his home region, but the 30-year-old, left to do most of the work by himself after All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were injured in the post-season, came two wins shy.
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr became the eighth head coach in NBA history to win a championship in his first year at the club. He also won as a player with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs.
Curry added: "This is surely special. This is what it's all about."
