Warriors sweep past Trail Blazers to reach NBA Finals

The Golden State Warriors completed a 4-0 series whitewash of the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals after claiming a 119-117 overtime victory on Monday.

Steph Curry and Draymond Green were the stars of the show for the Warriors, producing triple-double performances before linking up for the game-clinching hoop.

That was enough to take the Warriors through to a fifth-straight NBA Finals and they will be looking to win their third consecutive Championship when they take on either the Milwaukee Bucks or the Toronto Raptors.

Golden State are priced at 1.40 to go on and claim overall glory, but head coach Steve Kerr believes the achievement of reaching a fifth-straight NBA Finals, something only the Boston Celtics have previously done, cannot be overlooked.

“I hope it doesn’t go unnoticed or underrated,” Kerr told reporters. Kerr was also keen to pay tribute to the defeated Trail Blazers, insisting that the 4-0 series success was a little flattering to the Warriors and certainly did not tell the whole story.

“We had to fight and scrap,” the 53-year-old, who spent one season as a player with the Trail Blazers, added.

“In the end it’s a sweep, but we had to scrap and claw for three of the four victories. This was more difficult than it may have appeared.”

Golden State will move a step closer to finding out who they will face in the NBA Finals when Milwaukee and Toronto meet in Game Four of their Eastern Conference series on Tuesday – the Bucks currently hold a 2-1 advantage heading into the meeting at the Scotiabank Arena.