Wednesday, June 17, 2015 MN The Plain Dealer | cleveland.com S7*

NBA FINALS Warriors 105, Cavaliers 97

LeBron James report Sour end to historic series James’ Finals totals unprecedented but could not push Cavs to top of the mountain

Scene and heard The best reactions from the airwaves, social media and cleveland.com comments

“Delly and Shump seem scared to shoot, and JR couldn’t hit the ocean right now” ThaTruth2u, via cleveland.com, in the first half

“Cavs are constantly getting hammered under the board on both ends. No calls. A little push and a call on Mozgov.” rmaistros, via cleveland.com

“This start isn’t on the refs, fellow #Cavs fans. They aren’t the ones with sticky fingers....” @RyanInNiles, via Twitter.com, in the second quarter

“Oh good... the requisite The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot montage. I don’t ever tire of that.

#Sarcasm #Cavs #CavsMania #ALLinCLE” @johnwallencheck, via Twitter.com, on a montage of Cleveland moments

“I feel the same way about this game as I do about the series... how are the Cavs in it?” CrazyCarolina, via cleveland.com, at halftime “Was [LeBron] trying to conserve some energy? It looked to me like he was sort of

pacing himself so he could finish the fourth quarter.” Doug Colllins, on the broadcast at halftime

“There is no ‘I’ in team but I have to give #LeBronJames props for carrying the #Cavs this far into the #NBAFinals2015. #CavsVsWarriors” @audaciously_jia, via Twitter.com

“The #Cavs are a truly terrible team right now. What #LeBronJames has done this post-season is near miraculous. #NBAFinals #GSWvsCAVS” @rjmoeller, via Twitter.com, in the third quarter

“Moz and the Cavs are going to have to play some serious defense this second half and stop turning the ball over. Take this series back to Oakland darn it!” Big M, cleveland.com

“I’m not watching GS celebrate in CLE. Turning it off in a bit. Don’t care who gets MVP. It was a fun season. #ALLinCLE #Cavs” @JohnArthurHutch, via Twitter.com, in the fourth quarter

Joe Vardon Shaquille O’Neal (5,250) and Tim off-point club. fired up two quick 3-pointers late [email protected] Duncan (5,113). Briefing: By the time James that clanged off the rim when cir- James also passed Magic John- forced his way into the lane and cumstances turned dire. The War- For the second time in history son (7,538 minutes) and Wilt dished to for riors never lost a game in which an NBA champion was crowned Chamberlain (7,559 minutes) for a layup at 1:09, one could tell he they led by 15 points all season. at The Q. Once again, it wasn’t seventh place in NBA postseason was starting to ramp things up a Well, they hit that number, and at LeBron James’ team. history in minutes played. bit. For much of the second quar- the end of three led by 12. James again poured it out with ter, James passed off from the 32 points, 18 rebounds and nine 1st Quarter top of the key. He started to drive 4th Quarter assists, but the Golden State War- again with 3:37 left when he was riors hoisted the Larry O’Brien Stats: 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 as- fouled on his way to the hoop, Stats: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 Trophy after finishing off Game 6, sist, 2-6 FG, 0-0 FT but he missed both foul shots. assists, 5-12 FG, 0-0 FT 105-97. The Spurs also clinched Highlight: James picked off an er- He drove again on the Cavs’ next Highlight: James’ and dunk the 2007 Finals in Cleveland. rant pass and drove the court for possession for a layup. He fin- with 10:16 to go cut the Cavs’ defi- James shot 13-of-33 from the a layup at 9:34. ished the quarter missing a tough cit to eight and had 20,562 fans field and 4-of-8 from the foul line. Briefing: James converted a sec- shot off the run, but Thompson shaking The Q with approval. He recorded his 80th 30-point ond layup — with 2:21 left — but slammed it home with about Briefing: That’s it, folks. James game in the playoffs and 59th missed three others. Andre Iguo- three seconds left, trimming the gave one, last, tireless quarter, game of at least 30 points, five dala stole the ball from him with Cavs’ deficit to two. James played and J.R. Smith scored 15 of his rebounds, and five assists in the 6:06 left and it turned into a Ste- the entire quarter and was up to 19 points in the last quarter to playoffs. phen Curry basket, which tied the 15 points and eight rebounds. make it closer. James was all over James averaged 35.8 points, score at eight. This was not a good the quarter, his steal and dunk 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists — way to start an elimination game. 3rd Quarter following a driving layup. James the highest collective averages of The Cavs committed nine turn- had one last 3-pointer with 11.8 any player in NBA Finals history. overs — nine — which led to 14 Stats: 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 as- seconds left that missed. Play was But he did not become the first points for the Warriors. Three of sists, 2-7 FG, 3-4 FT stopped on the foul, and James player to win the Finals MVP but those turnovers were on shot-clock Highlight: A dish to Timofey shook every Warrior’s hand on lose the series since Jerry West violations. James sat the final 1:07 Mozgov for a layup with 11:31 the court, including Curry and in 1969. Andre Iguodala won the and his team trailed by 13. Yikes. left tied this game at 45. coach Steve Kerr. Curry scored award. Briefing: The season has come 13 of his 25 in the fourth. James, James became the sixth player 2nd Quarter down to one quarter, and at this meanwhile suffered a sour end to in NBA history to score at least point it isn’t looking good. James an individual performance that 5,000 career points in the play- Stats: 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 as- committed two turnovers — the will go down in history. offs, joining Michael Jordan sists, 4-8 FG, 1-4 FT Cavs were up to 17 (for 25 points). JOHN KUNTZ / NORTHEAST OHIO MEDIA GROUP Totals: 32 points, 18 rebounds, (5,987), Kareem Abdul Jabbar Highlight: James canned a 3 with Iguodala was the most impactful Golden State’s Draymond Green puts a shot up over LeBron 9 assists, 13-33 FG, 4-8 FT, 47 (5,762), Kobe Bryant (5,640), 2:06 left, joining the 5,000-play- player (up to 17 points). James James during the first half Tuesday at The Q. minutes

Third quarter Warriors 28, Cavaliers 18 Fourth quarter Cavaliers 36, Warriors 32 Warriors keep answering Warriors close it out The Cavs came out determined to make a statement Tired and worn, the Cavaliers still did not back down, while the Warriors, well, they kept being the Warriors. A cutting the Warriors’ lead to seven with 10:13 left when quick Cavaliers run put them up 47-45, and the Warriors Lebron James stole a pass and converted a fast-break answered with two 3-pointers and a dunk in an 8-0 run to dunk himself, sending the sellout crowd at The Q into go up 53-47 less than two minutes later. A familiar theme hysteria. But like clockwork, a Golden State miss and of Cleveland expending a great deal of energy to keep the offensive made its way to Steph Curry, who game close while Golden State waited for the Cavs to wilt knocked down another momentum-shifting three. There began playing out. For the series to see a seventh game, was no wilt this time. Cleveland fought to the end, but JOHN KUNTZ / NEOMG DAVID PETKIEWICZ / NEOMG the Cavaliers would need to reach deep over the game’s Timofey Mozgov drives to Golden State’s endless supply of clutch shooting was too A dejected LeBron James final stretch. Their effort was there, but through three the basket as Golden State’s much. The Warriors ended the night hoisting the Larry walks toward the locker room Harrison Barnes tries to after losing Game 6 of the quarters, they struggled to finish. stop him. O’Brien trophy on the Cavaliers’ home court. NBA Finals Tuesday night.