NBA: Warriors in 5th Finals on the trot

Portland, May 21

Historic individual performances already assured, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green went after something more important to them on Monday night — a rest.

Curry and Green capped triple-double performances by combining on the game-clinching hoop in overtime as Golden State Warriors completed a four-game sweep of Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals with a 119-117 victory. The win vaults Warriors into their fifth consecutive NBA Finals. They will await the Eastern Conference winner between Milwaukee and Toronto, with either the Bucks or Raptors holding the home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series that isn’t scheduled to start until May 30.

“We’ve been here before. We’ve seen everything,” Curry said of the two-time defending champs. “Yeah, we could have said that Game 5 was our game. But we saw how long that break is going to be, so we took advantage of it.”

After winning their 11th consecutive playoff series, Golden State join Boston Celtics (1957-66) as the only teams ever to reach five consecutive NBA Finals.

“I hope it doesn’t go unnoticed,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of the run. “Five straight Finals hasn’t been done since the ‘60s, hasn’t been done for a reason. It’s very, very difficult.”

Playing without Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins, Warriors won their sixth straight game overall and their 10th straight playoff game against Portland. The triple-doubles were the first ever posted by teammates in an NBA playoff game. — Reuters