NBA finals: Golden State Warriors win title against Cavaliers – as it happened

You can read a full game report from Oracle Arena here:

Thanks for following tonight’s liveblog. Check the Guardian tomorrow for more coverage of the Finals.

And see you back here next year for liveblogs of Warriors vs. Cavaliers IV.

Deservingly so. He scored 38, 33, 31, 35 and 39 in the Finals.

Somewhere Russell Westbrook is very sad. Probably less sad than angry and motivated.

Kevin Durant joined a 73-9 team and now ...

Durant just said he has long felt that James is the only player in the NBA who is his equal (or better). Have to wonder how Steph Curry might take that comment.

Durant finishes tonight’s game with 39 points on 14-of-20 shooting. James had 41 points for Cleveland.

Finals MVP will be announced shortly. If it’s not Durant, then something has happened with the voting. Maybe it’s been hacked.

Final score: Warriors 129-120 Cavaliers.

Kevin Durant wins his first championship. LeBron James is still the best basketball player in the world, but Durant is a close second. And tonight he was the best player on the court.

Warriors 129-117 Cavaliers, 0:38 4th quarter

Steph Curry hits a three to set off the celebration in the stands at Oracle Arena.

Warriors 126-115 Cavaliers, 1:31 4th quarter

One LeBron bucket in the last three Cleveland possessions and this one looks like it is over. Goodbye, 3-1 jokes.

Warriors 126-113 Cavaliers, 2:45 4th quarter

J.R. Smith hits a three and is fouled -- but misses the free throw -- and then the Warriors follow with a quick bucket. Big opportunity missed by Cleveland.

Warriors 124-110 Cavaliers, 3:03 4th quarter

Klay Thompson pulls up and hits a jumper. The hill is getting ever-higher for Cleveland to climb.

Warriors 122-110 Cavaliers, 3:29 4th quarter

James scores again to cut it to 12. The Warriors have called timeout to talk about how they want to tackle the 209 seconds that stand between them and their second championship in three seasons.

Warriors 122-108 Cavaliers, 4:03 4th quarter

And now Curry is taking over the spotlight. Back-to-back buckets gets the lead to 14 and the Warriors almost have their 18-point lead of the first half back.

Warriors 118-106 Cavaliers, 5:01 4th quarter

Two more points for Durant. He’s got 39 and has scored at least 31 in every game of the series.

Warriors 116-106 Cavaliers, 5:45 4th quarter

Durant hits another contested shot to get it back to 10 points. He now has 37 points on the night and is 13-for-17 from the floor and 5-for-7 from three. He’s less than 6 minutes from his first ring AND and a Finals MVP award.

Warriors 112-102 Cavaliers, 7:42 4th quarter

A bucket by Durant is followed by a missed James jumper and that’s followed by Curry hitting Iguodala wide open underneath the bucket for two more points. That’s a 10-point lead with less than 8 minutes remaining.

Warriors 108-102 Cavaliers, 8:20 4th quarter

Kyle Korver hits his first three of the night to get it to 6 points. Oh, and the man named LeBron James is back in the game.

Here’s that Durant three that got the lead to 8 points ...

Warriors 108-98 Cavaliers, 9:00 4th quarter

Durant hits two free throws to get it to 10. And James is on the bench for a rest. It will probably be a quick rest because the Cavs season is very much in serious trouble at the moment.

Warriors 106-98 Cavaliers, 9:40 4th quarter

Huge three by Durant with Kevin Love all over him. That hurt the Cavs. Time is starting to tick and that was dagger-esque with Durant guarded very well.

Warriors 103-95 Cavaliers, 10:45 4th quarter

After the Cavs got it to three, Durant hit a jumper and Iguodala dropped a three. He now has 13 off the bench. Time for another Iguodala Finals MVP award??? (No. But he’s played very well tonight.)

In fairness, Williams had a good first half. Third quarter? Not so much.

J.R. Smith is keeping the Cavs alive with his heroics at the end of the quarters. Another deep bomb drops on Cleveland’s last possession of the quarter and despite Patrick McCaw stepping up for the Warriors, the lead is just 5 points with 12 minutes left. The Cavs would have happily taken at the half.

Warriors 98-90 Cavaliers, 0:33 3rd quarter

Four points in a row by Warriors rookie Patrick McCaw. Because the Cavs don’t have enough veteran talent, right?

Warriors 94-88 Cavaliers, 1:24 3rd quarter

While Cleveland has been missing free throws, the Warriors aren’t flawless at the line either. Steph Curry has now missed three on the night.

Warriors 93-88 Cavaliers, 2:49 3rd quarter

Two free throws by Kyrie Irving whittles it all the way down to 5 points. A long way back from 18 before the end of the first half.

I’d go more with OH MY LEBRON here, but I don’t run the @Cavs account.

Warriors 93-86 Cavaliers, 3:14 3rd quarter

Kevin Durant answers a Lebron-to-Thompson alley-oop with a three-pointer. He has 28 points on the night now to Lebron’s 27. Media timeout.

Warriors 90-84 Cavaliers, 3:58 3rd quarter

James had a chance to cut the lead to five with a three-point play, but he missed the free throw. He’s now 1-for-5 from the line on the night and the Cavs are 9-for-15.

Warriors 90-80 Cavaliers, 4:25 3rd quarter

Two free throws for Durant gets the lead back to double-digits and KD inches closer to his Finals average of 34 ppg.

Warriors 88-78 Cavaliers, 4:46 3rd quarter

Iguodala gets a dunk off of a great feed by Durant. He now has 13 points on the night. The Golden State defense has outscored Cleveland’s 24-2 on the night.

Warriors 86-77 Cavaliers, 5:25 3rd quarter

Curry gets four points in a row -- two on a lay-up and two from the line -- to get to 24 points on the night. He leads the Warriors now. James is game-high at 25.

Warriors 82-75 Cavaliers, 6:10 3rd quarter

Tristan Thompson is now at 10 points with a tough basket over Kevin Durant. Great start to the quarter so far for the Cavs. And, really, it’s a continuation of the end of the first half.