Stephen Curry, Warriors Breeze Past Spurs for Sweep, Punch Ticket to NBA Finals

The Golden State Warriors own the Western Conference.

Golden State finished its sweep of the San Antonio Spurs on Monday with a 129-115 victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at the AT&T Center. The triumph clinched the Warriors' third straight trip to the NBA Finals, where they will play the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.

Stephen Curry (36 points, six assists and five three-pointers), Kevin Durant (29 points and 12 rebounds) and Draymond Green (16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists) led the way for the victors.

San Antonio was outmatched from a personnel standpoint without the injured Kawhi Leonard, but Kyle Anderson (20 points), Manu Ginobili (15 points and seven assists) and Pau Gasol (14 points and nine rebounds) spearheaded the effort.

Curry, Durant and Green Lead Warriors to History

The competitive portion of this series ended when Leonard suffered his ankle injury in Game 1 and the Warriors completed their furious comeback. They won the last three games by a combined 62 points, but San Antonio shouldn't hang its head.

After all, it lost to a historically great team:

The Warriors have a number of players who can lead the charge on any given night, but the All-Star trio of Curry, Durant and Green did the honors with history on the line. Curry played like he smelled blood in the first quarter with 13 points, and he darted past defenders throughout the game and moved up the career postseason three-pointer leaderboard as well:

Durant went into takeover mode for spurts, while Green did his normal dirty work and gradually filled up the stat sheet.

It wasn't just offense that overwhelmed San Antonio. The Warriors feature the No. 1 defensive rating in the postseason, per NBA.com, and set the tone by holding the Spurs to just 19 points in the first quarter.

The Crossover reacted to the developments:

"

3-19 start for the Spurs pic.twitter.com/SgVEEw9dFr

— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) May 23, 2017"

In a nod to their overall potential, all the Warriors weren't even fully locked in, as 17 turnovers suggest (six from Curry). Still, a talent gap the size of the Grand Canyon with Leonard sidelined meant quiet nights from Klay Thompson (3-of-13 shooting) and Andre Iguodala (a mere seven points) were concerns only on an individual level:

Golden State will need better efforts across the board if it does play Cleveland, but Curry, Durant and Green were enough Monday.

Notable Spurs Struggle Without Leaders

San Antonio announced David Lee (left knee) was out in addition to Leonard and Tony Parker, which left plenty of burden on LaMarcus Aldridge's shoulders.

The big man responded in a similar situation with 34 points and 12 rebounds in a 39-point win over the Houston Rockets in the second round but was nowhere near that version of himself Monday. He finished with eight points and seven rebounds, and the final tally came after he scored just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the first quarter when the game was still hanging in the balance.

Dan Carson of Fox Sports had an idea for Aldridge:

Elsewhere, Patty Mills shot 4-of-13 and Jonathon Simmons shot 5-of-15, which left head coach Gregg Popovich in a helpless situation:

It wasn't how the 61-win Spurs wanted to end their season, but they didn't have the horses to compete against mighty Golden State:

Ginobili drew appreciation from the crowd with a solid showing in what may have been his final career game, but San Antonio needed Aldridge to play like the five-time All-Star he is. 

With Aldridge and the overmatched Spurs now dispatched, Golden State will wait for the clash between the Cavaliers and Celtics to finish. Cleveland leads 2-1 and is two victories away from setting up a rubber match after splitting the last two Finals with the Warriors.