Winners and Losers in 2015 NBA Finals

It was the end of the world’s premier basketball spectacle and a deserving franchise has won the title after a 40-year wait.

As the Golden State Warriors trumped the Cleveland Cavaliers, 105-97, in Game 6 of the 2015 NBA Finals, it stopped a title drought that has spanned four decades even as the city of Oakland basked in the glory of its team’s championship.

READ: Warriors drub Cavs to win 1st NBA title in 40 years

It was an incredible series featuring the two of best players in the league today, but as in any competition, there were winners and losers. INQUIRER.net breaks it down:

Winners

1. Stephen Curry, PG, Golden State Warriors

A fitting ending to a first trip to the finals for this era’s best shooter.

Stephen Curry, the 2015 season MVP, led a Finals-virgin Golden State Warriors against LeBron James, who was on his sixth Finals appearance, and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

READ: NBA: Curry faces biggest game of his career

Nevertheless, Curry was on the mark from almost anywhere from the floor while providing the dramatics a finals series such as this asks for from every team’s star player.

After a dismal Game 2, wherein he scored 19 points on a disastrous 21.7 percent from the field, Curry put Matthew Dellavedova in his place as he put up an average of 27.75 points per game from Games 3 to 6.

Curry also set an NBA Playoffs record of 98 three-pointers.

2. Andre Iguodala, SF, Golden State Warriors

Andre Iguodala never started a single game for the Warriors up until Game 3 when head coach Steve Kerr heeded the suggestion of Nick U’ren, the Warriors’ manager of advanced scouting, of going small against Cleveland.

LeBron James went on a tear in the first two games, which both went to overtime, and Iguodala proved to be the King’s nightmare in Game 4.

READ: NBA: Iguodala’s path to finals MVP went by way of bench

Iguodala became James’ primary defender from then on, becoming the Warriors’ best player in the series in the process.

James still put up the insane numbers but Iguodala’s play upped the Warriors’ frenetic pace and firepower that engulfed the Cavaliers’ defense.

He was so good, he was crowned the Bill Russell Finals MVP trophy after Game 6.

READ: Iguodala named NBA Finals MVP

3. LeBron James, SF, Cleveland Cavaliers

LeBron James was so good in the Finals, the word “good” is a massive understatement. He was “herculean,” to say the least.

READ: LeBron James puts up historic numbers in NBA Finals in losing effort

For the first time in NBA history, a single player led the whole Finals in points, rebounds, and assists per game.

James averaged 36.5 points per game, 13.1 rebounds per game, and 8.9 assists per game in the six-game series, and in the process nearly changed how the Finals MVP trophy should be awarded.

READ: LeBron: ‘I feel confident because I’m the best player in the world’

Though James once again failed to give Cleveland the happy ending he has been working hard for since his joined the NBA in 2003, it wasn’t for the lack of trying.

4. Steve Kerr, head coach, Golden State Warriors

Steve Kerr had five rings as a player, and now he can put a ring on his other hand—this time as a coach.

There has been no other rookie head coach to win the Larry O’Brien trophy since Pat Riley led the 1982 Showtime Lakers to the title, and Kerr broke that feat with the 2015 Warriors.

Golden State did not have a single player that can match up on single competition against James but Kerr knew he had the pieces to slow down “the best player in the world.”

His decision to put Iguodala in place of Australian center Andrew Bogut in the starting lineup of Game 4 was the checkmate move of the series as the Warriors ran rampant against the Cavaliers despite giving up a lot of size.

Losers

1. Matthew Dellavedova, PG, Clevaland Cavaliers

Matthew Dellavedova had his moments of brilliance in Games 2 and 3 when he put an Aussie vice grip on Curry.

READ: NBA: Aussie Dellavedova steps into spotlight for Irving

He scored 20 points on Game 3 as the Cavs took a 2-1 lead but the third game would be Dellavedova’s last gem.

When Game 4 rolled along, Curry too steamrolled all over Dellavedova as the man affectionately called “Delly” was eventually set into oblivion.

2. David Blatt, head coach, Cleveland Cavaliers

David Blatt was seen as the architect that will lead the trio of James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love into a title-winning team.

After three games into the Finals, Blatt looked at a 2-1 series lead against fellow rookie head coach Kerr.

Blatt did not have Irving, who injured his kneecap, and Love, who got a dislocated shoulder, but he still had James.

Kerr made the decision to go small against the Cavaliers in Game 4 and Blatt tried to do the same on Game 5 but the Warriors had the Cavaliers by the necks and no adjustments could stop Oakland from celebrating their title.

Blatt tried to copy Kerr’s adjustment but his pieces were not the right for an uptempo and fast offense.

3. The city of Cleveland

Add 2015 to Cleveland’s nightmare years.

Cleveland has never had an NBA title, and no major sports team has won a championship since the 1964 Cleveland Browns with Jim Brown at the helm.

James may have had, arguably, the best individual performances in the Finals but it was all for naught.

Golden State may not have produced a play worthy of Michael Jordan’s “The Shot” over a dejected Craig Ehlo in 1989, but the Warriors celebrating their title in Cleveland is still a dagger to the heart. BL/CFC