Iguodala, Curry shine as Warriors end title drought

CLEVELAND (NBA) - The long-suffering fans of the Golden State Warriors are celebrating their first NBA title since 1975 after watching their team win Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night at Cleveland for a 4-2 series triumph.

With Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala again leading the way, the Warriors prevailed 105-97 to deny the Cavs their first championship.

Iguodala, who had 25 points and again took on the challenge of guarding Cleveland's LeBron James, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Finals.

He is the first MVP to have not started every game in the championship series.

In fact, Iguodala did not start in any of the Warriors games this season until Game 4 of the championship series.

"This has been a long ride," Iguodala said. "It's been a great season."

Bill Russell, the FIBA Hall of Famer whom the Finals MVP award is named after, presented a happy and very humble Iguodala the trophy while the Warriors were being honored on court after the victory.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr, looking for an edge with his team trailing 2-1 in the series, decided to go with a smaller side and inserted veteran Iguodala into the starting line-up as a replacement for Andrew Bogut in Game 4.

The move paid off handsomely as the 31-year-old was a dominant player for the Warriors in three straight games.

Curry, the MVP of the league, put an exclamation mark on his amazing season by pouring in 25 points and handing out eight assists.

Named to the All-NBA First Team, Curry capped the best year of his career in grand style.

He and fellow Warrior Klay Thompson reached the top of the podium with the United States at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup with a victory over Serbia in the Final in Spain last September.

Curry was a teammate of Iguodala in 2010 when the USA won the World Cup in Turkey.

Iguodala also played for the USA team that captured the Olympic gold medal in 2012.

"We're definitely a great team and a team that should go down in history as one of the best teams from top to bottom," Curry said.

Draymond Green emerged as a big-time NBA player this season for Golden State.

The small forward signed off with a triple-double on Tuesday night.

Green finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He also had three steals.

James had another terrific outing but playing without Kyrie Irving, who got hurt late in series opener, and finished with 32 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists.

He and the Cavs couldn't overcome a Golden State team that killed the game off in the fourth quarter with its three-point shooting.

Curry buried one to make it 78-68, and after the Cavs pulled to within seven points, Iguodala, Curry and Thompson knocked down shots from the arc.

"We ran out of talent," James said.

"We gave everything we had."

Kevin Love got hurt in Cleveland's playoff series triumph over the Boston Celtics.

Cleveland did get a couple of double-doubles from two of their other international players, Timofey Mozgov of Russia and Tristan Thompson of Canada

Mozgov finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds while Thompson weighed in with 15 points and 13 boards.

FIBA