CALIFORNIA, United States (AFP) — Stephen Curry scored 36 points to lead Golden State Warriors to a 96-88 victory over Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday and into an NBA title rematch with Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Warriors, trying to cap a sensational campaign 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 in the series.

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

“You’ve got to be appreciative of this accomplishment — and look forward to getting four more wins,” Curry said.

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 Warriors trailed by as many as 13 in the first half on Monday, and by eight early in the third quarter.

Curry, who earned Most Valuable Player honours 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.

Down by six points at half-time, 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 scoring drive from Russell Westbrook and seven straight points from Kevin Durant pulling the Thunder within 90-86 with 1:40 remaining.

Durant admitted that surrendering that 3-1 series lead was painful.

“You’ve got to give credit to them,” said Durant, who led the Thunder with 27 points and pulled down seven rebounds. “They came out and played well the last three games of the series and won three in a row.”

Westbrook had 19 points and 13 assists, but connected on just seven of 21 shots from the field.