NBA Finals 2017: Andre Iguodala showed how much gas he still has left in the tank

Before Game 5 tipped off Monday night, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr asked Andre Iguodala how many minutes he had in him. Iguodala responded, he said to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt during his SportsCenter postgame interview, the only way a former NBA Finals MVP could:

“How many minutes do you need?”

In the end, Iggy played just enough off the bench to help Golden State dethrone the Cavaliers and earn its second NBA championship in three years.

Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry combined for 74 points on 60 percent shooting, but Iguodala played his best game of his season off the bench to jolt the Warriors to a 129-120 win at home.

The 33-year-old sixth man logged 38 minutes in Game 5, scoring 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

The Warriors are defined by their four All-Stars, and rightfully so, but Iguodala was again the difference-maker when it mattered most. Golden State’s sixth man led the team in plus-minus in the NBA Finals. The Warriors outscored the Cavaliers by 60 with Iguodala on the floor, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

For reference, no other Warriors’ player was better than plus-50, and LeBron James, as Herculean a performance as he put on in the Finals, was minus-6 for the series.

Recall the 2015 NBA Finals, when the Warriors took on a Cavaliers team without both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Golden State fell behind 2-1 in that series before making a key switch: inserting Iguodala into the starting lineup.

The Warriors caught fire and rattled off three straight wins to win their first championship of the decade. Iguodala was named Finals MVP after averaging 20 points through those three games, giving the Cavaliers fits with his unique blend of positional versatility and timely three-point shooting.

That blend, though aged, gave this year’s Warriors an extra bump off the bench to help seal the deal against a Cavaliers team looking to send the series back to Cleveland for a chance to overcome a 0-3 deficit.

Warriors 129, Cavaliers 120 [Golden State of Mind recap | Fear the Sword recap]

LeBron James: 41 points (19-of-30 shooting), 13 rebounds, 8 assists

James became the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double in an NBA Finals series. Even in a loss, that’s one hell of an accomplishment.

Kevin Durant: 39 points (14-of-20 shooting, 5-of-8 on 3s), 7 rebounds, 5 assists

Durant not only got his first championship, but won the Finals MVP trophy in the process. He did it by shooting at the most efficient clip of any 30-points-per-game scorer in Finals history, proving he’s a deserved champion despite LeBron’s Herculean effort.

Stephen Curry: 34 points (10-of-20 shooting), 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals

Curry’s play went under the radar as Durant shined bright, but he still posted impressive numbers in the Finals, capped off by a double-double on Monday night.

J.R. Smith: 25 points (9-of-11 shooting, 7-of-8 on 3s)

Smith came up big, as he’s done multiple times throughout his career. He hit two huge threes to end the first half and kept gunning the Cavaliers back into it when the Warriors appeared to be pulling away.

Andre Iguodala: 20 points (9-of-14 shooting), 38 minutes

Iguodala gave everything he could in a decisive Game 5. The Warriors outscored the Cavs by 18 with Iggy on the floor. He proved a difference-maker off the bench in the biggest game of the year.

Kyrie Irving: 26 points (9-of-22 shooting), 6 assists

Irving had a poor shooting game at a sub-41 percent clip in Game 5, but he hit some incredibly tough layups and capped off an incredible Finals series with a big-time effort in Cleveland’s final game.