The Golden
State Warriors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 96-88 in Game 7 of the
Western Conference finals on Monday to set up a rematch with the
Cleveland Cavaliers for the
NBA Championship.
Steph
Curry hit five second-half 3-pointers and scored 36 points in all for
Golden State, who will host the opener of the best-of-seven NBA Finals
on Thursday in Oakland.
The
defending NBA champions, who rallied from a 3-1 series deficits, were
down by 13 in the first half and eight early in the third quarter before
gunning their way to a shot at becoming the NBA's first repeat winner
since Miami in 2012 and '13.
Golden
State, who made seven 3-pointers in the first half, got 10 over the
final 24 minutes to catch and pass the Thunder, the third-seeded team in
the Western playoffs.
Klay
Thompson and Draymond Green bombed in consecutive threes to give the
Warriors an 88-77 lead with 4:44 to go, but the Thunder would not go
quietly.
Russell
Westbrook scored on a drive and Kevin Durant scored seven consecutive
points, and all of a sudden Oklahoma City were back within 90-86 with
1:40 to play.
However,
Curry, fouled on a desperation 3-point attempt, cashed in three free
throws, then iced Golden State's comeback with one final 3-pointer with
26.8 seconds left, opening a 10-point lead.
Curry
finished 13-for-24 from the field and 7-for-12 from 3-point range on a
night when the Warriors shot better from beyond the arc (45.9 percent)
than overall (43.5 percent).
Curry also found time for eight assists.
Thompson hit
six 3-pointers to account for almost all of his 21 points, helping
Golden State outscore Oklahoma City 51-21 on long-distance shots.
Green
added 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds for the Warriors, who
became just the 10th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in a
best-of-seven series.
Durant
led the Thunder with 27 points, hitting 10 of his 19 shots and three of
his seven 3-point attempts. He also had seven rebounds.
Westbrook recorded a 19-point, 13-assist double-double, but he shot just 7-for-21.
Oklahoma City shot just 38.2 percent from the field and made only seven of its 27 3-point attempts.
Serge
Ibaka added 16 points for the Thunder, who were seeking to become first
team in NBA history to beat two 65-win teams in the same playoffs.
Oklahoma City eliminated the West's second seed, the San Antonio Spurs, in the second round.
While
the Warriors were holding the Thunder to five field goals in the third
quarter, Curry was heating up at the other end of the court.
Golden
State trailed 48-42 at the half before using a 15-6 spurt to open the
third quarter and go up 57-54, their first lead since the second minute
of the game.
The 15 points were the result of five 3-pointers, including three by Curry, who had made only two the entire first half.
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