Drought Over: Warriors crowned NBA Champs

June 17, 2015 12:26 AM | Written by Anthony Caruso III, Publisher

The Golden State Warriors are the new NBA Champions. They now follow the San Antonio Spurs, who won the championship last year.

The Western Conference dominance is back, and it could be years before it goes back to the Eastern Conference. The Warriors took home the championship following a 105-97 win at Quicken Loans Arena.

Golden State Warriors (Photo by ESPN)

They reached the mountaintop with a 4-2 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There’s no doubt that this team could be something special, as they are very young. This could be one of many in the future as they are led by the Splash Brothers for the next several years.

Andre Iguodala was named the Bill Russell MVP of the NBA Finals. Yet, he only started the final three games of the series after head coach Steve Kerr decided to put Andrew Bogut on the bench.

Prior to coming into the series, the team had no NBA Finals experience. But that did not matter, as they will be taking the championship back to Oakland.

Kerr, who is a rookie head coach, is now the seventh head coach to win it in their first season. Pat Riley was the last in 1982 with the Los Angeles Lakers.

LeBron James, who came so close this time around, will go home without the biggest prize for the second straight year. Overall, this is the fourth time he’s lost in the Finals.

The Warriors were the best team from start to finish, and it showed. The team won 83 games in a season, which is the third most in NBA history.

They join the 1995-96 and the 1996-97 Bulls with 83 wins and the championship.

Stephen Curry, who took home his first MVP this season, also won the championship. Shaquille O’Neal was the last person to do this during the 1999-00 season.

Spurs defeat the Heat in Game 5 to win the NBA Finals

By Anthony Caruso III
Posted: June 15th, 2014 at 11:04 pm EST

The San Antonio Spurs are the NBA Champions.

The Spurs beat the Miami Heat, 104-87, causing a 4-1 series win in the NBA Finals. It is the second loss in the NBA Finals for the Big 3 of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade.

San Antonio Spurs celebrating (Photo by the San Antonio Spurs)

“We remember how it felt last year,” Duncan said. “It makes last year ok. We remember how it felt in that locker room that got us here today.”

This championship is the fifth for the Spurs since 1999. It is also the fourth in the Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili era.

Last year, the Spurs were just seconds away from winning their fifth in Miami, before Ray Allen hit a key three-pointer and turned Game 6 into the Heat’s favor. A few days later, the Heat won in Game 7, as the Spurs were deflated after the Game 6 loss.

Kawhi Leonard let the Spurs with 22 points. Ginobili came off the bench and scored 19 poins with Patty Mills scoring 17 off the bench, as well.

Parker scored 16 points, and Duncan scored 14 points with 8 rebounds. Besides Leonard, Boris Diaw chipped in five points and Danny Green had zero from the Spurs starting lineup.

Marco Bellinelli scored 4 points, while Tiago Splitter scored 3 points. Jeff Ayres and Aron Baynes chipped in 2 points.

They had 16 fast break points and 32 points in the paint. The Spurs also scored 8 points off of 8 turnovers.

The Heat were led by James, who had 31 points. This was his third NBA Finals loss in his career.

Bosh scored 13 points with Wade chipping in 11 points. The rest of their starting lineup had 8 points, as Rashard Lewis scored 3 points and Allen, who started as the point guard in place of Mario Chalmers, had five points.

Michael Beasley scored 9 points and Chalmers had 8 points. Toney Douglas had 3 points, while Udonis Haslem and Norris Cole had 2 points.

The Heat had 11 fast break points, and 34 points in the paint. They scored 12 points off of turnovers.