IMO, here are the main reasons Golden State lost and Cleveland won this series.
1. LeBron. Didn't win the regular season MVP again, but once again proved he is the best player on earth. Utterly dominant in every way. Came up HUGE this series. Series averages: 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.6 steals, 2.3 blocks. Insane.
2. Draymond Green's suspension. They were up 3-1, with two of the last three at home. And frankly, while I didn't think it was a horrendous offense, he did get away with one against Adams, and basically, Green is a punk. He ultimately got what he deserved, and he has nobody to blame but himself. And it put GS in a dangerous position, especially, as we would later find out....
3. Bogut's injury. The other GS bigs could do NOTHING in this series, and losing Bogut turned out to be crucial. I thought GS's small lineup would still work, but in game 5 they were missing Green, and then game 6 was in Cleveland, and in a game 7, anything can happen.
4. Irving's brilliance. I'm not a huge Kyrie Irving fan, because his game is too one-on-one for my personal tastes, but I have to admit he's spectacular. He made some incredible shots the last three games of this series. Just very, very difficult shots that normally you'd say (if you're Golden State), yeah, go ahead and throw THAT up, no problem. But he made them. That last three was a ridiculous shot.
5. Curry's ineffectiveness. In part due to Cleveland's defense. In part due to him being banged up. But however you slice it, this was a not the same Steph Curry as we saw during the season. Maybe the refs let them play more physical in the playoffs and that's something they're going to have to adapt to next year, but he just didn't play as well as he normally does. I don't have a problem with the deep 3's or behind the back passes that go out of bounds because that's how they play, and obviously it usually works great for them. But clearly Steph was not Steph. The funny thing is that Curry is so good that these NBA finals numbers look pedestrian for him: 22.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 40.0% from three. I mean, Irving shot 40.5% from three, and 40.0% is pretty good. But it's not good for Curry. Klay also shot worse this series than during the season, so the Splash Brothers, who needed just one or two more threes in Game 7...just couldn't do it.
I don't buy that GS was out-coached. I don't buy that they were tired from their 73 win effort during the season. They didn't look tired going up 3-1. I don't buy that they're "soft". I think they simply ran into a team with an all-time great player, playing at his highest level ever, who finally got a sidekick to put up sick performances as well, while at the same time suffering some debilitating setbacks (Curry and Iguodala being banged up, Bogut getting injured, and Green's suspension). That combination was just too much, and that's ok. The Lakers and Celtics beat each other in the NBA finals in successive years. The Lakers and Pistons beat each other in successive years. The Pistons and Bulls beat each other in successive years. Great teams don't always win it all, because sometimes you run into great competition and not everything goes right. I think this was one of those situations.
Congrats to LeBron, who showed a lot of doubters what he's made of. And to the city of Cleveland, assuming it's still standing this morning. And yes, bummer for Golden State, because we Patriots fans know what it's like to put up the greatest regular season of all time and fall short by *thismuch* in the championship. It sucks.