OAKLAND, Calif. - Kevin Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors hoping to win an elusive title and on Monday he not only reached his goal but was also named the unanimous Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals.
Durant, in his first season with the Warriors, led the way in a 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers to capture his maiden NBA title and the team's second in three seasons.
The 28-year-old American averaged 35.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists in the best-of-seven Finals, which the Warriors wrapped up in five games.
To win his first NBA title, Durant had to overcome Cavaliers forward LeBron James, whose former Miami Heat team defeated Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 Finals.
"He's the only person that I was looking at since 2012," Durant said after the game. "I knew it was going to be a battle I just tried to challenge him ... you can't stop the guy. But we battled.
"I told him we're tied up now and we're going to try to do this thing again but I'm going to celebrate this one tonight."
(Additional reporting by Jahmal Corner; Editing by Frank Pingue)
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CLEVELAND -- The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 118-113 on Wednesday to take a 3-0 stranglehold on the NBA Finals and move to within one game of an unprecedented perfect run through the playoffs.
Kevin Durant scored a team-high 31 points for the Warriors, who improved to 15-0 in the postseason and will get a chance on Friday in Cleveland to become the first team to go unbeaten all the way to a title.
Cleveland had looked like they might prevail when they led by six points with three minutes to play but Durant led the Warriors on an impressive 11-0 run to close out the game.
Durant's pull-up three-pointer over LeBron James with 45 seconds remaining gave the Warriors their first lead since late in the third quarter and silenced what had been a raucous crowd.
"All I was looking at was the bottom of the net," said Durant, a four-times scoring champion playing his first season with Golden State. "I've been working on that shot my whole life."
James led the way for Cleveland with 39 points while Kyrie Irving added 38 in an electrifying performance.
The NBA's best-of-seven championship was billed as the ultimate grudge match between the league's last two champions and some pundits felt it could go down as one of the most hotly-contested series of all-time.
But the top-seeded Warriors are playing at another level and barring a meltdown of epic proportions, will soon be celebrating their second NBA title in three seasons.
There was a scary moment late in the first quarter when James collapsed to the floor after running head-first into the shoulder of teammate Tristan Thompson. The four-times MVP laid on the floor several seconds before being helped up.
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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That 1-2 punch for the Golden State Warriors served up an emphatic blow to open the NBA finals.
Kevin Durant scored 23 of his 38 points in the 1st half and
Steph Curry knocked down 4 triples in the 3rd quarter en route to 28
points, as the Warriors trounced the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-91 in Game 1
of their championship series on Thursday (Friday, Manila time).
"We could be a lot better than we were tonight," said Durant, who also finished with 8 rebounds and 8 assists without a turnover in 38 minutes.
It was competitive until halftime, with the Warriors up 60-52.
After the break, when Curry started to get hot and the Cavaliers had little offensive options other than to look for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, that was when matters quickly went sideways for the defending champions.
It was 80-68 with 3 minutes left in the 3rd, but the Warriors ended the quarter with a 13-1 run highlighted by a long Curry 3-pointer with a hand in his face.
"There's no time to be disappointed. We're focused on the next game," said Irving, who scored 24 points.
The Warriors matched an NBA Finals one-game record with only four turnovers while the Cavaliers made 20, eight of them by superstar LeBron James and six of those in the second quarter alone.
Durant, seeking his first NBA crown after leaving Oklahoma City for Golden State last July, hit 14-of-26 from the floor and helped frustrate James, who finished with 28 points on 9-of-20 shooting with 15 rebounds and eight assists in the first game of his seventh consecutive finals.
Golden State, trying to become the first unbeaten playoff champion, matched the record 13-game post-season win streak set by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988 and 1989 and matched by the Cavaliers this year.
The Warriors made 12 steals to none by Cleveland.
Andre Iguodala's 3-pointer to end the first quarter gave the Warriors a 35-30 lead and Golden State stretched it to 60-52 at half-time. — With a report from Jim Slater, Agence France-Presse
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LOS ANGELES - Basketball superstar LeBron James' Los Angeles home was vandalized with a racial slur, police said on Wednesday, a day before the Cleveland Cavaliers player was set to take the court in the first game of the NBA finals.
The graffiti was spray-painted on the front gate of James' house. Investigators are looking for any possible suspect involved, Los Angeles police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said.
Eisenman declined to specify the racial slur used. It was reported to police shortly after dawn on Wednesday and has since been painted over, she said.
"No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough," James, a three-time NBA champion, told reporters when asked about the incident at a news conference in Oakland, California, where he is preparing for the NBA Finals.
"And we've got a long way to go for us as a society and for us as African-Americans until we feel equal in America," he added.
James was not at his west Los Angeles residence at the time of the vandalism, Eisenman said by phone.
James, 32, is the National Basketball Association's most prolific playoff scorer and has been named the league's Most Valuable Player four times. The Cavaliers are scheduled to face off on Thursday against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.
Mary Kay Wulf, who lives a couple houses away from James, told a group of reporters that she was appalled by the vandalism.
"I hope that they find the people who have done it and they label it for what it was - a hate crime - and punish them," Wulf said.
Police are investigating the graffiti as an act of vandalism and have not determined whether to treat it as a hate crime, another Los Angeles police spokeswoman, Irma Mota, said by phone.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Alan Devall in Los Angeles; Editing by Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
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The Cleveland Cavaliers, fueled by another milestone night for LeBron James, powered into a third straight NBA Finals meeting with the Golden State Warriors with a dominant 135-102 win over the Celtics in Boston on Thursday.
James surpassed Michael Jordan as the league's all-time leading playoff scorer.
He finished the game with 35 points, booking his seventh straight finals appearance as the reigning champion Cavs wrapped up a 4-1 victory over the Celtics in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals.
For the third straight year they'll face the Golden State Warriors in the championship series.
Game 1 is in Oakland on June 2 (Manila time).
The Warriors, who beat Cleveland for the crown in 2015, swept the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals and host game one of the championship series in Oakland next Thursday.
While the Celtics captured the top seed in the East, they never led in any of their home games in the series.
Cleveland jumped to a quick 14-5 lead and were up by 43-27 after the first quarter -- posting a franchise record for points in a quarter of a playoff game.
Cleveland's 75 first half points were the most in an NBA playoff game half since 2003 and gave them an 18-point cushion.
James had come into the contest needing 28 points to pass Jordan -- winner of six titles with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s -- for first on the post-season scoring list.
He did it with a three-pointer late in the third quarter and sat out the entire fourth period.
Kyrie Irving added 24 points and Kevin Love chipped in 15 and Deron Williams added 14 off the bench for Cleveland, who led by as many as 39 points.
The Cavaliers, who rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Warriors in last year's finals, set an NBA record in winning their 13th straight playoff series closeout game.
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Kyrie Irving and LeBron James combined for 76 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers battled to a 112-99 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday to move within one game of a place in the NBA Finals.
The win gives Cleveland a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and leaves them firmly on track for a third consecutive NBA Finals showdown against the Golden State Warriors.
Cleveland, stunned by Boston in Game 3 after romping two blowout wins in the opening two games of the Eastern Conference series, looked to be heading for another shock as the Celtics dominated the first half.
Boston powered into a 29-19 first quarter lead and maintained their 10-point cushion through to half-time, leading 57-47 at the break.
But as tension among Cleveland's home fans mounted at the Quicken Loans Arena, it was left to Irving to ride to the rescue with a sensational, momentum-changing display in the third quarter.
Irving piled on 21 points in the third period as Cleveland turned their 10-point half-time deficit into an 87-80 lead at the end of the third quarter. Irving eventually finished with 42 points.
James, determined to bounce back after a poor 11-point haul in Game 3, then steadied the Cleveland nerves in the fourth quarter, bringing the Cavaliers home for the win as Boston's brave effort came up short.
James, who finished with 34 points, were joined in double figures by Kevin Love, who scored 17 points with 17 rebounds and five assists.
James, Irving and Love were the only three Cavs players to make double digits.
Boston, missing the injured Isaiah Thomas, had four players in double figures, with Avery Bradley scoring a leading 19 points.
Game 4 takes place in Boston on Thursday.
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Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant led the way as the Golden State Warriors sealed a clean sweep of the San Antonio Spurs to reach their third consecutive NBA Finals berth on Monday.
Curry scored 36 points and Durant weighed in with 29 as the Warriors powered to a 129-115 win to complete a 4-0 victory in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals series.
It was the third consecutive series sweep of the 2017 postseason for the Warriors, who are now 12-0 in the playoffs heading into the finals.
Durant, who attracted controversy after his blockbuster move from Oklahoma City Thunder last year to the Warriors, was delighted to be back in the NBA Finals once again.
The 28-year-old forward, who also pulled down 12 rebounds and contributed four assists, admitted he and Curry had rediscovered their understanding following the mid-season injury that sidelined him for around 20 games.
"Our chemistry is getting better and better and we're going to need it even more whoever we play in the finals," Durant told an interviewer.
"It's great to be one of the last two teams standing -- we'll see what happens," he said.
Curry meanwhile admitted he was relishing his partnership with Durant.
"It makes the game fun," Durant said. "The way we play the game and move the ball. Watching him do what he does. It's a fun way to play and we want to keep that up. I'm having fun, enjoying what I do.
"Things are flowing. It's a part of our identity to get that mojo going. I think we're prepared for pretty much anything. We're going to be confident and ready to go."
Spurs fans meanwhile bade what looked like a farewell to 39-year-old Argentinian legend Manu Ginobili, who was given a rousing ovation as he left the court.
"He's somebody I grew up watching," Durant said. "An amazing competitor. I got nothing but love and respect for him."
The depleted Spurs, missing the injured Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker, were always chasing the game as the powerful Warriors offense dominated almost from first to last.
The Warriors win keeps them on course for an unprecedented third consecutive NBA Finals meeting with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lead their Eastern Conference finals series against Boston 2-1.
The Spurs were always struggling after an early points blitz from the Warriors that saw the visitors power into a 31-19 at the end to silence the AT&T Center crowd in Texas.
The writing was on the wall from the moment the Warriors reeled off 13 unanswered points to grab a 21-7, giving the contest an ominously familiar pattern.
Thereafter the Warriors comfortably kept the Spurs at arm's length, with their multifaceted offense proving too much for San Antonio.
The Warriors maintained a 14-point cushion at half-time to lead 65-51 and opened the second half with a 25-foot three-pointer from Thompson to make it 68-51.
They remained 96-78 ahead at the end of the third quarter and there was only going to be one winner from there, with the Warriors keeping the score ticking over to the buzzer.
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LONDON - Manchester City and Liverpool claimed the last two Champions League qualifying spots with comfortable wins on Sunday that meant Arsene Wenger's Arsenal missed out on Europe's elite club competition for the first time in 20 years.
The big guns blew away the rest on the final day of the Premier League season -- City thrashing Watford 5-0 and Liverpool beating relegated Middlesbrough 3-0 -- to leave the top six places exactly as they had been at the start of play.
That meant Arsenal failed to qualify for Champions League football for the first time since Wenger became manager in 1996.
Despite beating Everton 3-1 with only 10 men -- defender Laurent Koscielny was sent off and will miss the FA Cup final against champions Chelsea on Saturday -- Wenger's team were left stranded in fifth position as Manchester City and Liverpool finished in the top four behind Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
Latest media reports have indicated that Wenger will sign a new contract whatever the result at Wembley Stadium, in the face of disillusionment with his stewardship by many Arsenal fans.
"We were playing in a hostile environment," the Frenchman told reporters of his side's difficult mid-season period.
"The players came back stronger in the last two months and I'm very proud of them for doing that.
"One thing you cannot question is my love for this club. I've turned down every club in the world to stay here."
GOAL FEAST
On a day full of goals -- 37 in the 10 matches -- Tottenham led the way with a 7-1 thumping of hosts Hull City four days after winning 6-1 away to dethroned champions Leicester City.
England striker Harry Kane scored his second hat-trick of the week to finish as the clear winner of the Golden Boot with 29 goals from only 30 games.
"Finishing the season with seven goals in two games is perfect, hopefully I can continue it at the start of next season," he said.
Pep Guardiola's City knocked in five at Watford to give departing home manager Walter Mazzarri a miserable send-off.
The win kept the Manchester side two points ahead of Liverpool, whose comfortable success at home to Middlesbrough earned them a place in the Champions League playoff round.
Disappointed Arsenal could point out that their total of 75 points was more than they achieved in finishing runners-up last season and would normally have put them in the top four.
It emphasised how the top clubs have pulled away from the rest, with a gap of 15 points between Everton in seventh place and Southampton in eighth. There was a similar gap between fourth-placed Liverpool and their Merseyside rivals.
CHELSEA CELEBRATE
Chelsea's 93 points was the second highest total since the Premier League began in 1992 and they became the first Premier League team to register 30 victories in one season. They finished seven points ahead of second-placed Spurs.
Antonio Conte's side were presented with the trophy after beating bottom club Sunderland 5-1 at Stamford Bridge, where departing club captain John Terry made an emotional farewell speech to the crowd.
"Today is one of the most difficult days of my life," he said.
Sixth-placed Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 2-0 after resting several players ahead of Wednesday's Europa League final against Ajax Amsterdam in Stockholm.
The struggles of old rivals Arsenal and United this season meant it was the first time both sides had finished outside the first four places in the top flight since the 1978-79 campaign.
United's Josh Harrop, 21, scored the opening goal against Palace on his league debut while 16-year-old substitute Angel Gomes became the youngest player to feature for the Old Trafford club in the Premier League era.
Leicester City failed to secure the win they needed at home to Bournemouth for a place in the top half of the table, the 1-1 draw ending their poor defense of the title in 12th position.
(Reporting by Steve Tongue; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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BARCELONA - Real Madrid ended a five-year wait to win La Liga on Sunday as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema secured a 2-0 win at Malaga which clinched a 33rd league triumph.
Barcelona fought back from two goals down to beat Eibar 4-2 but the result could not stop Real from lifting the trophy.
Real finished the campaign on 93 points, three clear of last year's champions Barca.
Zinedine Zidane's men only needed a draw to wrap up the title in their final game of the season and raced into the lead when Ronaldo latched onto a through ball from Isco to round Carlos Kameni. That goal ensured Real scored in every league game this season.
Malaga had nothing to play for but made a fist of the game and it took a fine save from Keylor Navas to prevent former Barca player Sandro Ramirez levelling from a freekick later in the first half and the striker also came close from a header.
Real also wasted chances to stretch their lead before Benzema bundled the ball in on the rebound in the 55th minute after Kameni had saved from Sergio Ramos following a corner.
"Just as throughout the season we did it in the end with hard work and by fighting," Zidane told reporters.
"With the type of squad we have we only have to think about working, it's been a very hard fought league win, difficult at some moments, but after 38 games there's no better feeling than being at the top."
There was a brief moment of concern when Ronaldo needed treatment after falling awkwardly from a challenge but the Portuguese, who scored for the fifth time in three league games, was able to finish the game, easing Madrid's anxieties before the Champions League final against Juventus on June 3.
The result secured Real a sixth straight league win since going down 3-2 to Barca in April.
Barca fell two goals behind in their final game of the season against Eibar as Japanese forward Takashi Inui scored either side of the break with two thumping finishes in off the crossbar although the Catalans fought back to win 4-2 with the help of a double from the league's top scorer Lionel Messi.
"The game was a demonstration of what the team has been like in the last few years. We never give up, although we couldn't finish the year how we wanted to," said Barca coach Luis Enrique.
"We weren't consistent enough throughout the season, especially in home games, and in the end we've paid for that."
The Catalans had missed a slew of chances before then and had a goal ruled out but they got a lucky break when Eibar defender David Junca inadvertently sent a loose ball into his own net after Neymar had hit the post.
Luis Suarez knocked in the equaliser in the 73rd minute after Messi had missed a penalty although the Argentine compensated by converting a second spotkick in the 75th and then rounded off the scoring in injury time.
Messi finished the season as top scorer in the league with 37 strikes, ahead of Suarez on 29 and Ronaldo on 25.
Also on Sunday Atletico Madrid said farewell to their beloved Vicente Calderon stadium in the most fitting manner with a 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao thanks to a double by homegrown hero Fernando Torres on Sunday before they move to a new ground.
Atletico finished third with 78 points while Athletic missed out on sixth and a qualifying round spot in next season's Europa League to Basque rivals Real Sociedad, who snatched a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo with an added time leveller from striker Juanmi.
Athletic are seventh but can still earn a place in the Europa League if Barcelona win the King's Cup.
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)
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LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Durant scored 19 of his 33 points in the third quarter Saturday as the Golden State Warriors took a stranglehold lead in the NBA Western Conference finals with a 120-108 blowout of San Antonio.
"I love where my game is at," Durant said. "I work hard every day I know what I can do in this league. I just try to put my head down and go."
The Warriors now lead the Spurs 3-0 in the best-of-seven series with game four set for Monday in San Antonio.
The victory appears to put the Warriors on a collision course to meet the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals.
No NBA team has ever come back to win a series after losing the first three games.
The Cavaliers are up 2-0 in their NBA semi-final series and have an impressive 247-192 scoring advantage against the Boston Celtics, who lost star player Isaiah Thomas to a season-ending injury on Saturday.
Stephen Curry tallied 21 points for the Warriors, who are now a perfect 11-0 in the post-season to match the best start in NBA playoff history. They have won 26 of their past 27 games.
Curry expects to see a different Spurs team on Monday night.
"Game four is going to be even tougher," he said. "It is a chance to close it out and they are going to come out swinging."
The host Spurs trailed by nine points at the half in game three and came within 69-65 two minutes into the third quarter before Golden State seized command with another incredible scoring performance.
It was the Spurs' chance to claw their way back into the series, but by the middle of the fourth quarter at AT&T Center arena, they appeared spent.
"They did a great job and competed really well," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Golden State. "Every time you look up, you are playing against four all stars. We turned it over too much and we have got to make more shots."
San Antonio players began settling for shots early in possessions and missed the majority of them as the Warriors compiled an 18-point lead in front of a displeased San Antonio crowd of 18,700.
"Fans want to see a buzzer beater every game," Durant said. "It is not like that sometimes. If you don't like it, don't watch it."
The Spurs' hopes were severely damaged earlier Saturday when the team announced that star forward Kawhi Leonard would not play in game three because of a sprained left ankle.
Leonard originally injured it in game five of the second round against Houston and reinjured it in the series opener against the Warriors.
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BOSTON - LeBron James lit up Boston's TD Garden with a stellar display as the Cleveland Cavaliers crushed the Celtics 130-86 to race to a 2-0 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Friday.
James racked up 30 points, four rebounds and seven assists before he was withdrawn at the end of the third quarter but the game was over as a contest long before his departure as the Cavs took a tight hold on the best-of-seven series.
The reigning NBA champions poured in 72 first-half points to lead Boston by 41 at the intermission, the biggest post-season halftime lead since the shot clock was introduced.
"He's playing at an unbelievable level. He's really setting the tone for us early in the games," Cavs coach Tyrone Lue told reporters.
"He's able to get out in transition, getting to the basket, and when he's getting his three-point shot, you're in for a long night."
The Celtics had no answer to James, who amassed 22 in the first half, driving when the lanes were open and dropping jump shots when they were not.
On the defensive end, he had four steals and three blocks
"When we're blitzing and rotating and scrambling, he's the best we can have on the back line," Lue explained.
"His chase-down blocks, the one he had on Avery (Bradley) was unbelievable. They're game-changers for us."
Kevin Love chipped in with 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Cavs secured a 10th straight post-season win, and there appears little to suggest the Celtics can find a way to stop them when the series shifts to Cleveland for Game Three on Sunday. (Editing by John O'Brien)
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Defending champion Cleveland, playing their first game since May 7, put on a clinic, leading wire to wire and cruising to a 117-104 blowout of the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.
Game 2 is on Friday at TD Garden before the series shifts to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4.
The Cavs toyed with the Celtics from the start, building a 26-point lead in the first half and expanding it to 28 in the third quarter before the Celtics cut it down to 17 at the end of the quarter. Boston rallied some and actually cut the deficit to 11 with the benches cleared in the final minutes.
LeBron James, looking to advance to his seventh straight NBA Finals, led the Cavs with 38 points (15 in the fourth quarter), his seventh consecutive 30-point game. He added nine rebounds and seven assists.
The win was the Cavaliers' 12th in a row in the playoffs (one shy of matching the NBA record, set by the 1988-89 Los Angeles Lakers), dating back to last year's Finals, while the Celtics' five-game home playoff winning streak was stopped.
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BOSTON -- LeBron James believes Cleveland's regular-season rout of Boston will count for nothing as the two teams prepare to clash in the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals here Wednesday.
The Cavaliers dismantled the Celtics on April 5 in a crushing 114-91 blowout at the TD Garden, completing a 3-1 record over Boston over the 2016-2017 campaign.
But James insists the Cavaliers' dominance of their opponents over the regular season will be irrelevant when they lock horns in Game 1 on Wednesday.
"We're a totally different team and they're a totally different team at this point," James said Tuesday. "So I take nothing from it."
The Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference final after downing Washington in Game 7 of their semi-final series on Monday.
Boston's Isaiah Thomas powered into the showdown against Cleveland on the back of another high-scoring display, with 29 points and 12 assists in Monday's Game 7 defeat of the Wizards.
Thomas has provided one of the most compelling storylines of the postseason, battling the personal agony of his younger sister's death in a car crash to produce a series of match-winning displays.
On Monday he played through the pain of a cracked tooth and two other shifted teeth to help guide the Celtics past the Wizards.
James, who is chasing his fourth NBA Championship ring, spoke admiringly of Thomas's displays for the Celtics, suggesting the basketball court may be a refuge for the 28-year-old point guard.
"I think at the end of the day, basketball is the easiest way to get away from anything that you may be going through," James said.
"It's like a comfort. You see your teammates, you see the court, you see the excitement, and you're playing something that you've been loving and things of that nature forever. Even with (Thomas) going through what he's been going through with his personal family and his sister, which is -- I can't put myself in his shoes.
"He's been unbelievable to be able to do that."
The Cavaliers have made light work of their opponents in the postseason to date, recording back-to-back sweeps to advance to the conference final without dropping a game.
It means James and his teammates have not played for 10 days heading into Wednesday's series opener but the reigning NBA Finals MVP does not believe the lengthy layoff will have blunted Cleveland's edge.
"As far as our mental side, I'm not worried about that. It's always like the rhythm. It'll be 10 days tomorrow since we played a game. The rhythm is something you kind of like see if we still have it," James said, brushing off suggestions that playing in Boston would help sharpen Cleveland's mental approach.
"It doesn't matter. It's the playoffs. It doesn't matter if you're starting at home or on the road," James said.
"You should be focused, and if not, you shouldn't be a part of the playoffs anyway."
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NEW YORK -- Kelly Olynyk scored 26 points from the bench as the Boston Celtics outmuscled the Washington Wizards, 115-105, to clinch their Eastern Conference semi-final series on Monday.
Olynyk produced a superb display of shooting from distance as Boston pulled clear of the Wizards in the late stages of the game to take the series 4-3 and set up a Conference final clash with Cleveland.
Isaiah Thomas topscored for the Celtics with 29 points and weighed in with 12 assists while Al Horford (15), Jae Crowder (14) and Marcus Smart (13) also made double figures.
But it was Olynyk's remarkable display off the bench that proved decisive as the Celtics clinched their first Eastern Conference finals berth since 2012.
"A friend called me and said 'Be at your best when your best is needed' and my best was needed tonight," Olynyk said after the win.
"Everybody gave it their best and it turned out for us tonight," added the 26-year-old Canadian power forward.
Olynyk described the series win as a "a team effort."
"It was hard work, that was a tough seven-game series. Both teams played tough -- we just kind of outlasted them at the end there. We're lucky to move on," Olynyk said.
Boston now hosts NBA champions Cleveland on Wednesday. "We've just gotta keep playing our brand of basketball and we'll see what happens," Olynyk said.
The defeat marked another frustrating end for Washington, however.
Bradley Beal exploded for 38 points but it was not enough to overcome the Celtics rugged defense. Otto Porter Jr added 20 points while John Wall and Markieff Morris scored 18 each.
No other Washington player made double figures, highlighting the team's threadbare relative lack of options off the bench. Wall, meanwhile, made only one of eight attempted three-pointers.
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Steph Curry scored 40 points and Kevin Durant added 34, and the Golden State Warriors rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-111 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in Oakland on Saturday.
The Spurs were comfortably ahead until Kawhi Leonard was forced to exit the game when he hurt a previously bum left ankle.
But even without San Antonio's best player, the Warriors couldn't put the Spurs away easily.
While Durant accounted for 12 points in the 4th quarter as Golden State clawed its way back into contention, the Warriors needed Curry's offensive heroics in the final 2 minutes to close the deal.
In that stretch, the 2-time MVP scored 7 points, including a triple to tie the game at 106-all and the game-winning floater to make it 113-110 with 9 seconds left.
The Warriors are now 9-0 in the playoffs.
It was a wasted opportunity for the Spurs, who had the Warriors on the ropes until bad luck got in the way.
Leonard hurt his left ankle early in the 3rd quarter -- first, when he stepped on a teammate's foot near the Spurs bench, then again when Zaza Pachulia got under him on a dubious play. He left the game for good with the Spurs ahead 78-55 and a little more than 4 minutes into the 2nd half.
Leonard had 26 points and was perfect from the line (11 of 11) before heading to the dugout. It was the same ankle he sprained in the West semifinals against Houston that forced him to miss the series clincher in Game 6.
The Pachulia play set social media on fire.
Did Zaza Pachulia purposely slide his feet underneath Kawhi Leonard to injure his ankle?https://t.co/tjs7AIFvr3 pic.twitter.com/CjYo01YfcT
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 14, 2017
Without Leonard, the Warriors took less than 3 minutes to cut the deficit down to single digits.
The Spurs tried to hold down the fort for as long as they could, but the Warriors with all their weapons proved too much to handle.
A basket by Durant in transition finally put the Warriors in front 101-100 at the 4:09 mark of the 4th, the first time Golden State took the lead.
LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 28 points, but missed a number of key shots in the 4th including the potential game-tying 3 in the dying seconds.
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