ONE more victory is all it takes for the Golden State Warriors to end four decades of infamy and futility in the National Basketball Association and hoist the Larry O’Brien championship trophy.
With a 104-91 decision over the Cleveland Cavaliers in yesterday’s Game Five at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California that gave them a 3-2 lead, the Warriors go for the jugular on Wednesday, June 17 (Manila time, 9:00 p.m.), in Game Six of the best-of-seven NBA Finals at the Quicken Loans Arena.
Should the series stretch to a maximum seventh game, it would go back to Oakland, California on Saturday, June 20 (Manila time, 9:00 a.m.).
Only eight teams in NBA Finals history have secured a best-of-seven titular showdown after being down, 3-2. These are the 1955 Syracuse Nationals (vs. the Fort Wayne Pistons), 1962 Boston Celtics (vs. the Los Angeles Lakers), 1969 Boston Celtics (vs. the LA Lakers), 1978 Washington Bullets (vs. the Seattle SuperSonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder), 1988 Los Angeles Lakers (vs. Detroit Pistons), 1994 Houston Rockets (vs. the New York Knicks), 2010 LA Lakers (vs. the Boston Celtics) and 2013 Miami Heat (vs. the San Antonio Spurs).
The 1955 Nats (the predecessors of the Philadelphia 76ers), 1988 Lakers, 1994 Rockets, 2010 Lakers and 2013 Heat all emerged victorious in the final two contests to snare the NBA crown.
The 1962 Celtics took Game Seven at the old Boston Garden while the 1969 Celtics and 1978 Bullets (now known as the Wizards) won on the road in the series-deciding seventh game.
In Game Five, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player and the Warriors’ meal ticket Stephen Curry exploded for seven triples (out of 13 attempts) and 37 points (on a 13-of-23 field clip), seven rebounds and four assists and the multi-dimensional Andre Iguodala added 14 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in a second straight start.
A former All-Star (2012) with the Philadelphia 76ers, the 6-foot-6 Iguodala has performed consistently in the Finals, playing excellent defense on Cavaliers cornerstone LeBron James all series and averaging 14.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists after five games that he could be challenging Curry for Finals MVP honors.
Golden State extended a slim 85-84 edge midway at the 4:52 mark of the fourth quarter to 10, 96-86, on five straight points each by Iguodala (including his second of two triples) with 2:44 left.
Cleveland subsequently went to a Hack-a-Iguodala strategy and Iguodala missed 9-of-10 from the charity stripes (including the first nine – he wound up 2-of-11 overall) but another triple by Curry – his third for the quarter – pushed the Warriors’ lead to double digits, 100-89, for the first time with 1:22 remaining.
Golden State took its largest lead, 104-89, on a pair of free throws by Curry with 36 seconds left. Curry had 17 points in the payoff canto and the Warriors outscored the Cavs, 19-7, in the final 4:52 of the hard-fought contest.
Golden State, which last won the NBA title in its Bay Area history in 1975, is 57-0 this season when it takes a 15-point lead during a game.
Cleveland matched Golden State’s “small ball” matchup and opted to keep its starting center Timofey Mozgov for all but nine minutes as the Russian, after notching a playoff career-high 28 points, finished with no points (on 0-for-1 field goal shooting) and rebounds. His GS counterpart, 7-foot Australian Andrew Bogut, was entirely benched by Warriors bench boss Steve Kerr.
James produced his second triple-double performance in the Finals with 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a game-high 45 minutes and went 15-for-34 from the field, including 3-of-8 from the three-ball territory.
It was LeBron’s third Finals game with 40 points or more, having also collected 44 in the series opener (loss) and 40 in Game Three (a win).
Power forward Tristan Thompson registered his third consecutive double-double in the Finals with 19 scores and 10 boards for the Wine City squad and reserve guard J.R. Smith struggled offensively for a second straight time, going 5-for-15 from the field (including 4-for-14 from the three-point area), although he managed to tally 14 points.
Game Three hero Matthew Dellavedova was a non-factor as he scored only five points in 42 minutes and could not keep up with Curry on the defensive end (as if anyone could have really stopped Steph).
Golden State outrebounded Cleveland, 43-37, and had more assists, 25-17.
The Dubs had trailed, 2-1, in the series but equalized with an emphatic 103-82 triumph in Game Four at the QLA to regain homecourt advantage. Kerr made several adjustments to speed up the game and did not allow Cleveland to dictate the flow and pace with its grinding halfcourt offense as it did in the first three contests.
Kerr employed “small ball” and put energetic forward 6-foot-7 Draymond Green at center, relegated slow-footed Bogut to a reserve role, moved up the athletic and multi-dimensional Iguodala to the starting lineup for the first time this season and gave the erstwhile seldom-utilized power forward but a two-time All-Star with New York (2010) and Golden State (2013) David Lee more minutes off the pines for a second consecutive game.
Curry and Iguodala each chalked up 22 points for the Warriors. Mozgov netted a career playoff-high 28 points and hauled down 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers. Tristan Thompson had 12 scores and 13 boards but off-and-on reserve guard J.R. Smith struggled mightily with 2-for-12 field shooting (including 0-for-8 from beyond the arc) and a measly four points and King LeBron was “held” to just a series-low 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, throwing up “only” 22 shots after hoisting 38, 35 and 34 in the first three games and going just 5-for-10 from the foul line.