Warriors firm up Golden State

Cleveland: An overpowering Golden State Warriors squad captured a third NBA title in four seasons Friday, routing the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-85 to complete a sweep in the best-of-seven NBA Finals. The Warriors inflicted the first 4-0 NBA Finals blanking since the Cavaliers were swept by San Antonio in 2007.

“This is so hard to do and to do it three years out of four years is incredible,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. Stephen Curry scored 37 points and Kevin Durant, the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, added 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for the first finals triple double of his career.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to come here with a mission and get the job done,” Curry said. “They made some mini-runs, but over the course of 48 minutes our will took over.” Golden State claimed the sixth crown in club history, matching the Chicago Bulls for third on the all-time list. The Warriors also won in 1947 and 1956 when based in Philadelphia plus 1975, 2015 and 2017 after their move to the San Francisco Bay area in 1962.

“This was the hardest one we’ve had by far,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. It was the fourth year in a row the Warriors met Cleveland in the finals. “We used the experience last year to our advantage,” Curry said. “We knew they were going to come out with a tough first punch and we answered it and ran right back at them, set the tone for the whole game.”

Cavaliers star LeBron James, playing in his eighth consecutive finals, scored 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed off eight assists but fell to 3-6 in the championship series for his career, having twice won with Miami and triumphed again with Cleveland in 2016. James might have played his final game for the Cavaliers. He can opt out of his contract and become a free agent next month. “I hope he stays,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.

Fans chanted “M-V-P” to James in the final minutes, sensing his possible exit again. He departed in 2010 for Miami before returning in 2014. “Sometimes you can give everything you’ve got and still come up short and that’s what happened to us,” Lue said. Curry, who set an NBA Finals record with nine 3-pointers in game two, hit 12-of-27 shots from the field and 7-of-15 from 3-point range.