The curse is over: Cavaliers win NBA title, 93-89 over Golden State

OAKLAND, Calif. - It happened on the road at Oracle Arena. It's not a dream. Most considered it an impossible feat. No team in 32 tries had ever come all the way back from being down 3-1 to win the NBA Finals.

Now, it's 1-32.

The Cleveland Cavaliers completed the unimaginable on Sunday night, a 93-89 Game 7 victory over the Golden State Warriors to win the franchise's first NBA championship.

Celebrate, Cleveland. Celebrate.

LeBron James has delivered Cleveland's first professional championship in 52 years. He led all players in this series in points, assists, steals and blocks. He registered 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists Sunday to earn the Finals MVP award.

But he couldn't have done this without Kyrie Irving, who played big to the tune of 26 points and six assists.

The Cavaliers are only the fourth team in history to win Game 7 of The Finals away from home.

James came through with a massive chase-down block of an Andre Iguodala layup to keep the game tied at 89 and set the stage for victory. The basket would have given the Warriors a two-point lead with 1:50 left to play. Instead, the teams traded fruitless possessions over nearly three minutes until Irving delivered the deciding blow.

With 53 seconds remaining, Irving had the Warriors' Stephen Curry on him in an isolation set. Irving yo-yo'ed the ball and hit a killer step-back to put his team up, 92-89. The Cavaliers' bench leaped for joy. Curry missed a wild trey on the other end. James was fouled hard on a dunk attempt, injuring his right wrist, but he stayed in the game and knocked down the second of his two free throws for a four-point lead with 10 seconds on the clock.

Golden State couldn't get a quality look and Curry shot a desperation three that missed.

This squad took the most unconventional path in dethroning the defending champs, the same team that defeated them on this stage a little over a year ago. The Warriors' 73-win regular season has gone to waste. The Cavaliers prevented them from capturing what truly mattered.

Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said he took his routine pre-game nap before the game. He claimed to not be nervous, but the Cavalier faithful sure was during this nail-biting affair. There were 20 lead changes and 11 ties.

At the end, with title in hand and his players celebrating, Lue sat in his seat on the bench and wept.

Golden State opted to start Festus Ezeli at center for the first time in the series to attempt to slow Tristan Thompson on the boards. Andre Iguodala came off the bench. Warriors coach Steve Kerr switched things up a little bit by having Iguodala spending more time on Irving, opposed to James. Draymond Green logged most of his minutes defending the four-time MVP.

Every time Green -- 32 points, 15 rebounds in his best outing of The Finals -- nailed one of his five threes in the first half, the Cavaliers quickly answered. They were determined to push the ball on makes and misses. Golden State couldn't build any sort of momentum. Fans couldn't as well. They went from rapidly standing up to cheer, to instantly sitting back down disappointed.

That changed for a small period.

An 11-4 run ignited by six points by Green in the final four minutes of the second quarter helped the Warriors close the half strong. The went into intermission with a seven-point lead. That was the biggest of the game for either team at that point.

At the midway point in that second quarter, James saw his favorite target again. Stephen Curry made his way inside the painted area and James' smacked his layup attempt into the front-row seats. The two had some words, like they always do in those types of situations. Cooler heads prevailed and the game continued on.

It was still anybody's game.

The Warriors pushed their edge to eight early in the third quarter, but the Cavaliers broke out on a spirited 8-0 run that included J.R. Smith draining two pressurized 3-pointers. Golden State called a timeout and Cleveland's bench went berserk.

To capitalize off the newfound groove, Smith tried his signature alley-oop pass to James on a 2-on-1 and Curry picked it off. A 5-0 Warrior run followed, and then an 11-0 flurry by the Cavaliers ensued.

Irving drew a foul with a wild high-arching floater off the glass over Green. That got him going. He hit a deep left wing three in transition and stayed in attack mode, putting in 12 huge points in the quarter. His scoring spurt stopped the Warriors from pulling away. Cleveland went into the fourth down only one.

It was back and forth throughout the final 12 minutes, as The Finals finally got the nail-biter everyone wanted. With about five minutes left, Curry did a dribble pull-up from way beyond the arc, splashing it in over Tristan Thompson. On the Warriors' next offensive possession, Klay Thompson flung up a tough, contested corner two with Iman Shumpert's hand all in his face. It didn't matter. The ball found the bottom of the net.

The Warriors led 87-83 after a Green jumper, but James rattled off six straight -- three free throws and a trey -- for an 89-87 advantage with 4:53 left. Golden State tied it, but never got the lead back.

Irving finally did, and James sealed it.

Now the parade awaits.

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