Warriors back in NBA Finals with Game 7 win against Thunder

OAKLAND - We always knew they had talent, style and flair. Now we know the truth, that the trait best describing the Warriors and their nearly two-year run of success is resilience.

The Western Conference Finals tested this team like no other juncture of Steve Kerr's tenure as coach, and the Warriors responded like champions. They battled back from a 13-point deficit Monday night at Oracle Arena, just as they had done two days earlier in hostile Chesapeake Energy Arena, and completed a memorable comeback by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 96-88 in a winner-take-all Game 7.

It didn't really feel secure until Stephen Curry dribbled around the frontcourt and smacked a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to put his team up by 10 points. The normally understated Curry ran to the sideline, just a few feet from Vallejo rapper and super-fan E40, and roared at the crowd that was roaring back at him.

“Obviously there was still time on the clock, but that was a moment to kind of just take in the atmosphere,” Curry said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight, and for us to overcome that early deficit and claw our way back, and the way we did it, with everybody having an impact – bench guys, starters, on the defensive end, obviously we made shots. It was just a very cool moment to enjoy that fan noise and understand we were on the brink of doing something very special and coming back from down 3-1.”

So add another milestone to their collection from 2015-2016. The team that set league records with a 24-game winning streak to open the season, with the quickest playoff berth (Feb. 27!), with the most 3-pointers made in a season (1,007) and, most impressive, with a 73-9 overall record now can claim to be one of 10 NBA teams to win a series after trailing 3 games to 1.

And now for the rematch. The Warriors will host the Cleveland Cavaliers here Thursday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. And unlike last year, the Cavaliers are at full strength heading into the series, with point guard Kyrie Irving and power forward Kevin Love healthy and ready to assist the indomitable LeBron James.

Another worthy foe. But at this point, the Warriors simply don't believe they can be defeated, not after what they overcame in the West finals. After Game 4, the Thunder looked ready to run the defending champions off the court with their length, speed and tenacity.

“Six, seven days ago we're down 3-1, everybody thought the wheels were falling off and it was kind of the end of our run,” Curry said. “But in that locker room, the talk was positive. It was, ‘Let's figure this out. Let's go out and take it one game at a time and claw our way back into the series and see what happens.' ”

Golden State stopped the bleeding with a victory here in Game 5 and dealt the Thunder a gut punch by winning at Oklahoma City in Game 6, setting up Monday's do-or-die contest.

OKC grabbed the momentum once again Monday, though, going up 35-22 at one point in the second quarter and maintaining a 48-42 lead at the half. But the Warriors gained control in the third quarter under a hail of 3-pointers, half of them from Curry.

“I told our coaching staff (Sunday), I have no doubt Steph's going to have a huge game,” Kerr said. “That's just who he is. And he looked right again.”

The two-time MVP dribbled underneath the basket and threw a pass out to Andre Iguodala in the right corner for a trey that cut the Thunder's lead to 54-51 at 7:58 of the third quarter. Thirty-seven seconds later, Curry got one his own over center Steven Adams to tie the game at 54-54. And less than a minute after that, he toyed with Adams on the dribble and hit another to finally give Golden State the lead.

“We beat them everywhere else, they beat us from the three-point line, and that was the series,” Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant said.

And later in the quarter, it was the Warriors reserves who turned a one-point lead into a 12-point bulge at 71-58. The bomb in the middle of it was a flying dunk by Shaun Livingston that drove the crowd wild.

The Thunder would twice cut the margin to four points in the fourth quarter, the final time at 90-86 with 1:40 left. Kerr called a timeout at that point. After the timeout, and with just 1.9 seconds on the shot clock, Curry lured Serge Ibaka into fouling at the 3-point line. With 1:18 remaining, he hit all three free throws, and OKC was on the ropes.

Curry scored 36 points, hitting seven 3-pointers. Thompson had 21 points, with six 3-pointers. Durant started quietly but finished with 27 for the Thunder. Russell Westbrook shot just 7 of 21, but had 19 points and 12 assists.

With the stakes so high, Kerr made a long-considered lineup change. He made his favorite sub, Andre Iguodala, a starter and brought Harrison Barnes off the bench. Iguodala once again offered superb defense, mostly on Durant this time, and played 43 minutes.

As always, the Warriors bench was generally stellar. Kerr played 11 players. His counterpart, Oklahoma City's Billy Donovan, played just eight, and one of them (Randy Foye) was on the court for only five seconds.

Neither team shot well in the first half. And most off-target of all was Thompson. The guy who almost single-handedly kept the Warriors afloat with 41 points in Game 6 got off to a terrible start in Game 7. Guarded mostly by Andre Roberson, Thompson scored just one point in the opening quarter and missed his first seven shots from the field.

He bounced back with 12 points in the second quarter, though, all of them on 3-pointers.

The Thunder impressed a lot of basketball fans in this series, and seemed finally to fulfill their potential. In the end, though, they couldn't match the Warriors' poise or desire.

“They put you in binds,” Donovan said. “Listen, they won a world championship last year, and they've broken an NBA record, and people were already talking about it before the playoffs started, this may be the greatest team to ever lace them up in the history of the NBA. I don't know if that's accurate or inaccurate, but my point is they're a really good team, OK?”

OK. And a really tough one, too, which is why the Warriors are still alive and headed for the NBA Finals.