Reigning champions Golden State Warriors will play Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals for the fourth successive year.
Steph Curry inspired an “unbelievable” second-half comeback as Warriors beat Houston Rockets 101-92.
Curry scored 27 points as Warriors overcame a 15-point deficit to triumph in game seven, securing a 4-3 series victory having won the last two games.
The Warriors won in 2015 and 2017, while the Cavs claimed the 2016 title.
“Basketball is a 48-minute game and no matter how badly we played, how many shots we missed, there’s always time to turn it around,” said point guard Curry.
“The second half was unbelievable. [We’re] happy to be back in the finals.”
For the first time since 1979, both the Western and Eastern Conference Finals went to game seven in the same year.
The Warriors were slow to start and trailed by 11 points at half-time, but Curry and Kevin Durant soon found their range from the three-point distance.
They outscored the Rockets 33-15 in the third quarter to surge into a lead they would never surrender, with Durant finishing on 34 points – including five rebounds.
“This is a situation we’ve never been in before: to win a game seven on the road and keep our composure for the whole series,” Curry added.
“All those hurdles and obstacles, we got over them, so it’s an unbelievable feeling. Winning a championship is hard – so this is a testament to that.”
The Championship series begins on 1 June as the Cavs visit the Warriors in Oakland, California.
Source: BBC