The Golden State Warriors are back home for Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena, where they can eliminate the Cleveland Cavaliers and win their second championship in three seasons.
But the defending champs won’t go down without a fight, and that was evident in Cleveland’s Game 4 win led by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. The Warriors haven’t lost on their homecourt in the playoffs, though. They are 8-0 in front of their home fans, including two blowout victories over the Cavs to begin this series.
So, will the Warriors be crowned champions and become one of the best team’s in league history, or will the Cavs push them to a Game 6 back in Cleveland?
Keep it right here for score updates, highlights and analysis of Game 5 with our live blog.
FINAL, 129-120 Warriors
The Warriors are NBA champions for the fifth time in team history. They finish the playoffs with a remarkable 16-1 record. It’s also their second title in three seasons.
Kevin Durant is the NBA Finals MVP. He’s a champion for the first time.
Pretty
darn
good pic.twitter.com/Txz9ToxPdR— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 13, 2017
Let’s not forget about Cavs superstar LeBron James, who averaged a triple-double in a losing effort.
LeBron James came up short, but he had a monster Finals series: 33.6 PPG, 12 RPG, 10 APG, 1.4 SPG, 1 BPG, shooting 56.4% from the field.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 13, 2017
Fourth quarter, 1:31 126-115 Warriors: J.R. Smith hits a long-range shot and converts the 4-point play. He’s now 6-for-7 from 3-point range.
JR Smith the four point play. pic.twitter.com/i5j6dz7dME
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Fourth quarter, 3:29 122-110 Warriors: Oh look, another Warriors player wide open for an easy layup under the basket. This probably has happened five or six times in this game.
Durant to Curry for the wide open layup. pic.twitter.com/gkw2sGNFgU
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Fourth quarter, 5:01 118-106 Warriors: Kevin Durant just drove past Kyle Korver for an easy layup. The Warriors now lead by 12, and it would be shocking, at this point, if the Cavs came back and won.
Kevin Durant hits the layup with Draymond sealing LeBron. pic.twitter.com/IsycEvXsLq
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Fourth quarter, 7:03 112-104 Warriors: Cleveland’s defensive awareness has been suspect at times.
Steph finds Iguodala for the dunk on the no look pass. pic.twitter.com/nWXzdGB6vE
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Fourth quarter, 8:05 108-102 Warriors: Kyle Korver, who’s shot poorly in the series, hits from beyond the arc and the Golden State lead is back to six.
Fourth quarter, 9:17 106-98 Warriors: Kevin Love converted a much-needed 3-point play to stop a short Warriors run. But Kevin Durant hit another 3-pointer on the ensuing Golden State possession.
Kevin Durant steps back for 3. pic.twitter.com/8NnNPQAkAx
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Fourth quarter, 11:00 100-95 Warriors: Kevin Durant and LeBron James open the fourth quarter with baskets. Durant now has 30 points.
End of third quarter, 98-93 Warriors
Third quarter, 0:8, 98-93 Warriors: J.R. Smith now is 5-for-5 on 3-point shots, all of which have been contested. His fifth of the game helped the Cavs trim the deficit to five entering the final quarter.
Swish. pic.twitter.com/YjHnPtFTgh
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Third quarter, 1:24, 94-88 Warriors: Impressive stats for Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant has joined Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal as the only players to score 25+ points in each of their first 10 Finals games.
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) June 13, 2017
Third quarter, 3:18, 93-86 Warriors: Kevin Durant came down and hit a clutch 3-point shot to increase Golden State’s advantage. He now has 28 points on 9-for-13 shooting.
Third quarter, 3:56, 90-84 Warriors: LeBron James made this tough shot and got fouled, but he missed the free throw attempt. He’s missed six foul shots in this game.
LeBron hits the and-1 bouncing off Curry. pic.twitter.com/nCzojqfOrm
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Third quarter, 5:45, 84-77 Warriors: The Cavs aren’t going away easily.
Beautiful pass by LeBron, great finish by Kyrie. pic.twitter.com/aazWV9vEiX
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Third quarter, 7:54, 79-71 Warriors: Cleveland goes on a 7-0 run to trim the Golden State lead to single digits.
LeBron with the offensive rebound and put back. pic.twitter.com/hX2q2a4VyZ
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Third quarter, 9:50, 79-64 Warriors: Klay Thompson is 2-for-2 on 3-point shots to begin the second half.
Klay with two triples in the second half.@warriors on top of @cavs on #NBAonABC pic.twitter.com/AJ4rpSQtKk
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2017
Halftime, 71-60 Warriors
Half: GSW 71, Cavs 60. LBJ 21p,5r; Irving 16p,5a; Smith 13p; Love 0p,5r; TT 8p,3r. GS Curry 20p,5a,4r; Durant 21p. CLE 53%,11TO; GS 47%,8TO
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) June 13, 2017
Bench comparison:
Warriors 19 points, 8-of-15 shooting
Cavaliers 2 points, 1-of-7 shooting— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) June 13, 2017
Second quarter, 0:03, 70-61 Warriors: J.R. Smith hit a 28-foot 3-point shot in the final seconds of the half to trim the lead to 11.
JR range. #NBAGIF pic.twitter.com/dJnBtOmj8J
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2017
Second quarter, 0:58, 68-52 Warriors: The Warriors still are feeling it offensively. Andre Iguodala has played fantastic at both ends of the floor off the bench, too.
Curry to Draymond to Iguodala. pic.twitter.com/xQeRIktdmD
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Second quarter, 3:08, 60-45 Warriors: Another 3-point shot by Kevin Durant grows Golden State’s lead. At the other end of the floor, a little scrum between Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith and David West resulted in a few technical fouls.
David West and Tristan Thompson need to be separated. pic.twitter.com/LxXhaq3hWL
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Philadelphia 76ers rookie Joel Embiid wanted to see more of it.
Just freaking let them fight….
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 13, 2017
Second quarter, 4:47, 54-43 Warriors: Stephen Curry hits a floater and is fouled, in foolish fashion, by Tristan Thompson. The Warriors are on fire right now.
Curry with the and-1 floater. pic.twitter.com/l9SqEYuvrc
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Second quarter, 5:33, 50-43 Warriors: Golden State now is on a 17-2 run.
Second quarter, 6:48, 45-43 Warriors: Kevin Durant hits from way downtown to give Golden State another lead.
Durant hits the 3 with LeBron on him close. pic.twitter.com/CMcK9gCLNi
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
The Cavs also have nine turnovers.
Cavs have scored just once on their last 8 possessions. 12-2 GSW run.
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) June 13, 2017
Second quarter, 7:58, 41-39 Cavs: A monster dunk from Andre Iguodala forces a Cleveland timeout.
Andre Iguodala with the big smash with LeBron getting out of the way. pic.twitter.com/kbIa84R46c
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
Second quarter, 10:14, 41-33 Cavs: LeBron James got hit in the face and still threw down a vicious dunk on Kevin Durant. It should have been Durant’s third foul but no call was made. James already has 16 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) June 13, 2017
End of first quarter, 37-33 Cavs
Warriors gave up 12 points off six turnovers. Cavs gave up 9 points off six turnovers. Cavs shot 15/24
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) June 13, 2017
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving lead the Cavs with 12 points each. Stephen Curry leads the Warriors with 12.
First quarter, 0:05, 37-33 Cavs: Kyrie Irving hits a tough long-range 2-point shot and now has 12 points. J.R. Smith hit a 3-point shot on Cleveland’s next possession.
The Cavs have shot 62 percent from the floor in the quarter.
Kyrie Irving hits the off balance jumper seeking contact. pic.twitter.com/b90nXSq3xw
— RealGM (@RealGM) June 13, 2017
First quarter, 1:00, 31-30 Warriors: The Cavs shot 22 free throws in the first quarter of Game 4. The Warriors just shot their 14th of Game 5, but they only have a small lead.
First quarter, 2:50, 28-25 Cavs: Kyrie Irving with an Allen Iverson-like crossover and finish at the rim to extend Cleveland’s lead.
Kyrie crossovers 👌#NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/Xb1jxxljUq
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2017
First quarter, 4:47, 22-20 Cavs: Kevin Durant is the latest Warrior with two fouls, joining Klay Thompson. Kevin Love also has two for the Cavs.
First quarter, 5:30, 22-16 Cavs: Klay Thompson now has two quick fouls, which is bad news for the Warriors because he’s the main defender on Kyrie Irving. Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston have checked in off the Golden State bench.
The hot start continues for LeBron James. He's up to 12 points. #NBAFinals on #NBAonABC pic.twitter.com/55QsfxC61I
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2017
First quarter, 6:48, 18-11 Cavs: LeBron James hits a deep 3-pointer to give Cleveland an early 7-point edge.
First quarter, 8:44, 13-9 Cavs: A 9-0 run for the Cavs, led by a 3-point play by LeBron James and a sweet layup by Kyrie Irving, has forced a timeout by Golden State coach Steve Kerr. James is 3-for-3 from the field with seven points in three minutes.
Kyrie & LeBron trade tough finishes! @cavs are on a 9-0 run on #NBAonABC. pic.twitter.com/ODcnt9B7Eu
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2017
First quarter, 9:40, 9-4 Warriors: Klay Thompson and Draymond Green each have hit a 3-point shot as the Warriors are hot from the field early.
Draymond is getting loose early!@warriors lead early in Game 5 on #NBAonABC. pic.twitter.com/7Ni9taUcpa
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2017
9 p.m.: Here are the starting lineups.
Warriors
PG: Stephen Curry
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Draymond Green
C: Zaza Pachulia
Cavs
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: J.R. Smith
SF: LeBron James
PF: Kevin Love
C: Tristan Thompson
8:55 p.m.: The stars are out.
Snoop and E-40 sitting court side
— Marcus Thompson II (@ThompsonScribe) June 13, 2017
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is in attendance, too.
8:30 p.m.: It’s a “golden” scene at Oracle Arena.
Less than an hour… #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/9Tvm807TEn
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) June 13, 2017
Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
