CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Cavaliers fans already are looking to next year. That’s when LeBron James and the Cavs may finally provide the championship title that has eluded the city for more than five decades.
SEE: Game summary with video highlights
Following the team’s loss of the NBA title on Tuesday in a decisive 105-97 loss in Game 6 to the ultra-talented Golden State Warriors, fans weren’t blaming James, the Akron kid who came back to Cleveland last summer and carried the team on his back during the playoffs because of key injuries to teammates.
James was unable to deliver Cleveland’s first championship team since 1964, although he finishing with 32 points, 18 boards and nine assists in almost 47 minutes, just shy of a record third triple-double in the series.
Jeff Bentley, 46, who watched the game on big-screen televisions with several thousand other fans in a plaza next to Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, says “next year they’ll have a better chance.”
He says Cleveland fans are accustomed to having to wait until next year.
The Bay Area, meanwhile, can prepare for another championship parade after a 40-year wait for an NBA title. The Warriors are champions for the first time since 1975.
Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry each scored 25 points and combined for four free throws in the closing seconds. Iguodala came away with the Bill Russell Award as MVP of the finals.
Draymond Green compiled a triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the Warriors, who won despite being outrebounded 56-39.
Cleveland made it interesting after the Warriors went ahead by 13 with just under two minutes left. J.R. Smith drained a 3-pointer that got the Cavaliers within 101-97 in the final minute before the Warriors clinched it at the line.
The Warriors closed out the finals despite a poor performance by Klay Thompson, who scored just five points on 2 of 7 shooting before fouling out with 4:16 remaining. However, Thompson drained a 3-pointer that put Golden State ahead by 14 with about seven minutes to play.
Shaun Livingston picked up the slack for Thompson, delivering 10 points off the bench on 4-for-6 from the field.
Smith had 19 points off the bench for the Cavs.
The Warriors took the title by winning the last three games after falling behind 2-1 in the series.
Golden State’s Steve Kerr is the first rookie coach to win the title since Pat Riley with the Lakers in 1982.