Stephen Curry inspires Golden State Warriors to showdown with Cleveland Cavaliers

Warriors waltz into second straight NBA Finals, set up rematch with Cavaliers.

Stephen Curry scored 36 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 96-88 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday and into an NBA title rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Warriors, trying to cap a sensational season that included a record 73 regular-season victories with a second straight title, sealed the 4-3 series victory in the Western Conference finals on their home floor in Oakland, California, clawing back after trailing 1-3.

The Warriors, who became the 10th team to rally from a 1-3 deficit to win a playoff series, host LeBron James and the Cavaliers in game one of the finals on Thursday.

The Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference title, defeating the Toronto Raptors in six games to book a return trip to the finals, where they will try to avenge their six-game loss to the Warriors in last year’s championship series.

The Warriors will be trying to become the league’s first repeat winners since the Miami Heat -- then featuring James -- in 2012 and 2013.

Golden State had to dig deep to get the chance. After twice fending off elimination the Golden State War-riors trailed by as many as 13 in the first half on Monday and by eight early in the third quarter.

Curry, Most Valuable Player for the second straight season, hit five of the Warriors’ 10 second-half three-pointers as the reigning champions rallied again to oust the third-seeded Thunder.

“I knew we were ready for the moment,” Curry said. “We were a mature basketball team that tried our best not to listen to the noise when we were down 3-1... In that locker room, the talk was positive.”

Down by six points at halftime, the Warriors out-scored the Thunder 29-12 in the third quarter to power into the lead

Back-to-back three-pointers by Klay Thompson and Draymond Green gave the Warriors an 88-77 lead with 4:44 to play in the contest. The Thunder wouldn’t go quietly, with a drive from Russell Westbrook and seven straight points from Kevin Durant pulling the Thunder within 90-86 with 1:40 remaining.

“We survived by the skin of our teeth,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “We were able to pull it out, and we’re moving on.”

Curry, fouled on a three-point attempt, made all three free-throws, then produced a brilliant three-pointer that put Golden State up by 10 points with just 26.8 seconds left on the clock.