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Hold the bubbly

Cavs stay alive, end Warriors' perfect playoffs

CLEVELAND — Golden State’s perfect postseason is over, the champagne corks still in their bottles.

The Warriors had planned to party, to pay back Cleveland.

Everything’s on hold in the NBA Finals. The comeback Cavaliers are at it again.

LeBron James recorded a triple-double, Kyrie Irving scored 40 points and the Cavs, bothered by chatter from Golden State’s players, broke scoring records while outperforming the NBA’s most electrifying offense in a testy Game 4 filled with technical fouls Friday night, beating the Warriors 137-116 and snapping their 15-game playoff winning streak.

“We have championship DNA,” said James, who broke Magic Johnson’s record with his ninth triple-double in the Finals. “We showed that tonight. We just kept our composure. We shared the ball, we moved the ball and defensively we were physical. It’s one game.”

But it’s one they had to have, and a series that wasn’t living up to its hype and seemed headed for a quick conclusion is California bound for Game 5 on Monday night.

“Our mindset is to go out there and get one,” James said.

The Cavs scored a Finals record 86 points in the first half and then held on during a wild third and fourth quarter that included technical fouls, James jawing with fellow superstar Kevin Durant and Cleveland’s crowd roaring like a jet engine.

No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs.

But until the Cavs did it last year, no team had ever rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the Finals. Cleveland took Game 3 at home, lost Game 4 and then won the final three — Game 7 in Oakland — to capture the city’s first sports championship since 1964.

As the final seconds ticked off, Cleveland fans chanted “Cavs in 7.”

“Believeland is not going to give up,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said, “and we’re going to keep fighting. We’re going to keep scrapping.”

The Warriors had swept their first three postseason series, dominated the Cavs for much of the first three games and were 48 minutes away from a title they’ve coveted for a year. Now, Golden State fans are holding their breath.

James said his teammates were upset by comments made by fiery Warriors forward Draymond Green.

“I didn’t hear it, but some of the other guys heard it and told me that they wanted to celebrate on our floor once again and they wanted to spray champagne in our locker rooms,” James said.

Durant, still one win from the coveted championship he left Oklahoma City to get, scored 35 points but got little help from Stephen Curry, who scored 14 on 4-of-13 shooting.

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