The Warriors Are Victorious

It seems, in retrospect, absurd to think that this game was ultimately decided by single digits. There was never really a point in the second half of Game 5 when it seemed reasonable to believe that Cleveland could win—this was only ever Golden State proving that this team is as historically great as they’ve looked from the start, en route to the 129-120 victory tonight that gave them revenge for last year’s finals and their second championship in three years.  

The Cavaliers were running around with plenty of flaws exposed here; see, for instance, the fact that Kevin Love scored a grand total of zero points in the first half or that there was no legitimate defense to speak of for much of the game or that J.R. Smith seemed at multiple points to be their best hope. But this game, like the rest of this series, didn’t seem to be so much about what Cleveland could offer as it was about what any team possibly could to counter something like Golden State. What do you have to fight against Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant as a pair? Nothing. No one does! (Which is very painfully apparent when Curry and Durant team up for 41 points alone in a single half, as they did tonight.) LeBron scored 41 in total, and that such a situation was possible—that LeBron could be LeBron and score 41, without Cleveland ever really having a serious shot at winning—is a testament to the insanity of Golden State in its own right.  

Durant showed, again, that he’s what the Warriors had needed. After 39 points tonight, he has Finals MVP to show for it.

This team is, simply, so so so good. Goddamn.