Steve Kerr admitted the Golden State Warriors were beaten by the better team after their NBA Finals loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

LeBron James inspired the Cavs to their maiden championship with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the 93-89 game-seven win on Sunday.

The Warriors went through the regular season with a 73-9 record, but they gave up a 3-1 lead in the Finals.

However, Kerr paid tribute to the Cavs and said they had simply outplayed the Warriors in the series finale.

"As far as did the better team win? Yes, yes, the better team won," he told a news conference.

"That's the beauty of the NBA play-offs. You play a seven-game series. The best team wins and they were better than us in this series."

Kerr also defended Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao after they combined for just one point and one rebound.

Without the injured Andrew Bogut, the Warriors struggled – but Kerr was happy with the performances of Ezeli and Varejao.

"First of all, I don't look at Ezeli and Varejao's point totals and think they're supposed to score for us. That's not their roles," he said.

"I think Anderson came in and gave us some very good minutes. I thought Festus started the game out well, he didn't get his shot to go but he was active, he was athletic.

"I thought they both helped us. I don't look at the stats and decide that's how they played."