2015 NBA Finals: Game 6 Recap

By Gerald Bourguet | Jun 17, 2015

Jun 16, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) reacts to a play during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game six of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers battled to the very end. But by the time the clock struck zeros in Game 6 of the 2015 NBA Finals, the best team in the league over the course of the 2014-15 campaign — the Golden State Warriors — had been crowned as champions.

In a 105-97 victory at Quicken Loans Arena, the Warriors won their first championship in 40 years behind 25 points apiece from Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala. Iguodala won the Finals MVP Award, averaging 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game for the series.

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LeBron James led the Cavs with 32 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, but it wasn’t enough to make up for another poor shooting night from his shorthanded supporting cast. Draymond Green finished with a 16-11-10 triple-double in the decisive game while Festus Ezeli and Shaun Livingston added 10 points each off the bench.

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J.R. Smith had 19 points off the bench for the Cavs, but most of them came in desperation with the game all but decided. Timofey Mozgov (17-12) and Tristan Thompson (15-13) both had double-doubles for the Cavaliers, who were once again overpowered by Golden State’s versatility and depth.

The Cavaliers came out aggressive to start Game 6, bullying the Warriors down low and benefitting from quite a few open misses from Golden State. The Cavs built an early 7-2 lead with Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson getting looks down low, trying to punish the Dubs for going with their small-ball lineup again.

But even after a 3-for-10 start from the floor, the Warriors were able to tie the game up at eight after Andre Iguodala stripped LeBron in the post and found Curry streaking down the court for an easy layup.

The Warriors really started building steam when Iggy began knocking down the open looks Cleveland’s defense was choosing to live with. After he knocked down back-to-back midrange jumpers, the Dubs kept the defensive pressure up as well, forcing three 24-second violations in the first period.

The Cavaliers also missed three free throws and committed eight turnovers in the first quarter. After Draymond Green and Iguodala knocked down back-to-back wide open threes, the Warriors had opened up a 23-15 lead and silenced the nervous Quicken Loans Arena crowd.

Stephen Curry was terrific in helping the Warriors build the early advantage with nine points, three assists and two steals. One back-to-back sequence saw him bury a well-contested three from the corner and then lay up a beautiful floater layup over Mozgov at the rim:

The Warriors had 11 assists on their first 11 baskets of the game and 16 dimes for their 18 first half field goals.

When LeBron James went to the bench to get his rest at the end of the first, the Warriors’ onslaught continued, with Curry stealing the ball from Tristan Thompson on one end and finding Harrison Barnes in the corner for three to give Golden State its 28-15 advantage heading into the second quarter.

But as easy as it might have been for the Cavaliers to give up in the face of an uphill battle, they opened up the quarter on an 11-4 spurt to cut Golden State’s advantage to six, with Mozgov stepping up defensively and protecting the rim with three second quarter blocks:

The Dubs started the period 1-for-11 from the floor and Klay Thompson‘s third foul just over two minutes into the quarter sent him to the bench for the rest of the half. But a Harrison Barnes triple in transition helped them extend their lead back to eight as the Cavs looked to build momentum.

The two teams traded baskets from then on, with the Cavaliers missing free throws that could’ve helped them seriously cut into the deficit. Despite outshooting the Warriors 21-4 from the foul line in the first half, the Cavaliers had missed eight of their attempts.

Luckily for the Cavs, LeBron James started going off and helped cut what was once a 13-point deficit to 45-43 at the break. LeBron had 15 points and eight rebounds at the break, while Stephen Curry led the way for the Warriors with 11. Andre Iguodala chipped in 10 points for the Dubs while Tristan Thompson capped off his 11 first half points with a big tip-slam to end the half.

The Cavs tried to sustain their momentum to start the third quarter, playing extremely physical and building a two-point lead in the process — their first lead since the score was 8-6 in the first quarter.

But the Dubs quickly responded with a 7-0 run of their own to build the lead back up to six, and Iman Shumpert picked up his fourth foul three minutes into the quarter.

The run was capped off by a Draymond Green triple out of a pick-and-pop, while Andre Iguodala staked his claim for Finals MVP with a nasty dunk when he caught the Cavs’ defense sleeping:

With momentum up for grabs, the Dubs continued to push the ball in transition. Despite Klay Thompson picking up his fourth foul with 6:22 to play in the period, the Dubs scored in transition after back-to-back defensive stops to extend their lead to 61-51 with five minutes left in the quarter.

J.R. Smith got his first field goal of the game to go after the Golden State run to cut the deficit to eight, but then Steve Kerr‘s decision to give Festus Ezeli minutes over Andrew Bogut started to pay off.

Following an alley-oop from Draymond Green out of a Steph Curry pick-and-roll, Ezeli rebounded a Curry missed three in transition and threw down a wicked put-back slam, completing a three-point play that gave the Warriors their largest lead of the night at 14.

Curry was able to get his rest with just over a minute to play in the third, and the Warriors were able to build a 15-point lead. Heading into Game 6, the Dubs were a perfect 58-0 in games where they led by 15 points at any point in the game.

Leandro Barbosa pushed Golden State’s advantage to 14 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but once again, the Cavs weren’t done. Cleveland went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead back down to seven with just over 10 minutes to play. When LeBron James stole a pass from Draymond Green and threw down a monstrous dunk in transition, Quicken Loans Arena had reason to hope again:

But at that point, the NBA’s regular season MVP decided to take matters into his own hands.

As the Cavaliers’ game plan gave way to desperation, Curry and the Warriors had an answer every time exploiting Cleveland’s pick-and-roll defense. First, Curry drilled a backbreaking three to extend the lead back to 10. Then a few plays later, as the teams continued trading baskets, Iggy and Curry nailed back-to-back triples to keep the Warriors’ lead in double digits.

Even when Cleveland trapped Curry out of the pick and roll, the MVP caught LeBron playing free safety and found Klay Thompson in the corner, who finally rewarded him with the dagger of the game, extending Golden State’s lead to 14 with just under seven minutes to play:

When Draymond Green found Iguodala in the corner for three, he secured his triple-double and put the Dubs up 15 with six minutes to play.

Klay Thompson received an offensive foul on a questionable call, fouling him out of the game with just over four minutes to play and the Cavaliers trailing by 13.

The Cavs got quite a few good looks from three-point range with their Game 7 hopes desperately clinging to life support, but their tired legs just couldn’t put enough on the shots, which all fell short. A miscommunication on defense provided Curry with a layup that pushed the 13-point lead into insurmountable territory with just under two minutes to play.

Cleveland gave the Warriors a bit of a scare from that point, going on a run to cut the lead to six with 37 seconds to play thanks to a couple of J.R. Smith heat checks and missed free throws from the Warriors. But the Dubs were ultimately able to hang on and secure the 2015 NBA championship.

The victory gave the Golden State Warriors their first championship since 1975 and pushed them to 83 wins on the season — a mark only Michael Jordan‘s Chicago Bulls matched in NBA history (twice). Kerr became the first NBA rookie head coach to win the championship since 1982.

The Game 6 win also moved reigning MVP’s to a perfect 14-0 record all-time in the NBA Finals after going up 3-2.

Next: Stephen Curry: Top 10 Moments From His MVP Season

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