Harrison Barnes scored 18 and Klay Thompson 10 for Golden State, which had won seven straight over Cleveland – the first two finals games by a combined 48 points – and came back to the birthplace of rock and roll looking to party like they did after winning the title in Quicken Loans Arena past year.
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One of the reasons why the Cavs ran over the top of the Warriors was the return to form of spiritual leader LeBron James, who threw down an absolutely mammoth one-handed alley-oop from Kyrie Irving in the third quarter.
Despite their loss, the Warriors still lead the series 2-1 ahead of game four on Friday.
Still, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he wasn’t inclined to downshift to his smaller lineup earlier just because of the slow starts.
Cavaliers’ big man Tristan Thompson, with 14 points and 13 rebounds, outplayed the Warriors’ Australian centre Andrew Bogut. “I think the game would have been the same whether he played or not”, Kerr said.
With Kevin Love unable to play with a concussion, Richard Jefferson got the start and racked up 12 points.
Cleveland finally beat Golden State, snapping a seven-game losing streak to the Warriors going back to last year’s Finals. They did not drop consecutive games all season until the Western Conference finals, when Oklahoma City smacked them by 28 and 24 points in Games 3 and 4.
Warriors forward Draymond Green – who scored just 6 points on 2-of-8 shooting (7 rebounds, 7 assists) on Wednesday – said that effort, or lack thereof, was the main reason for such a drastic turnaround. For me to do what I need to do to help my team I have to play 100 times better than I did, especially in the first quarter to control the game and I didn’t do it.
“We can’t be soft in game four if we want to win”.
They’ll face a resurgent Cavaliers team again on Friday night in a building where LeBron James and his mates are now 8-0 in these playoffs, most of the games not close. He still holds the record for most consecutive seasons (23) as a head coach with one National Basketball Association team. I thought what made it easier is we played harder.
LeBron James (32 points) and Kyrie Irving (30 points) more than made up for Love’s absence in the one-sided contest. Tickets for the game are sold out, although second market options are available to see Cavaliers vs. Warriors live at The Q for Game 3.
Lue did not come out and say Love would start if he were healthy. “We’re turning the ball over like insane”. But when your home crowd is behind you like they were in Cleveland on Wednesday night, you’re going to cut a little bit quicker, move a little faster, and make game-changing plays more often.
“Boges has done a good job for us in the series”, Kerr said. “We talked about effort the last two days and we brought that”.
The Cavs built a commanding 31-10 lead in the first quarter of Game 3, and it had a lot to do with the unanimous MVP of the league struggling.
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With the Cavaliers having such a different outcome against Golden State with Kevin Love sitting out, the Twitter chatter began about whether or not to sit Kevin Love for Game 4 before Wednesday’s game even concluded. “We really are”, Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson said on Thursday after practice.
