Hardly himself through the first three games of the NBA Finals, Curry silenced his critics by pushing the Golden State Warriors within one win of making more history in this season of seasons. Coupled with Golden State hitting an NBA Finals-record 17 threes on 36 attempts (47.2 percent), it helped sink any hopes Cleveland had of sending the series back to California knotted at two-all. The Warriors will now take a 3-1 series lead back to Oracle Arena for a chance to win their second consecutive title.
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Curry once again led the way for Golden State, dropping a game-high 38 points that included seven three-pointers, while Thompson chipped in with 25.
The two-time MVP found his long-range touch and scored 38 points, Klay Thompson added 25 and the Warriors rebounded from a big loss by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-97 on Friday night in Game 4.
Kyrie Irving led the way for the Cavaliers, scoring 34 of Cleveland’s 97 points, while LeBron James finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists.
“A lot less breakdowns than we had last game”, Curry said of Golden State’s defensive effort.
Each team had an Australian centre, with the Bulls’ Luc Longley averaging 9.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.35 blocked shots and the Warriors’ Andrew Bogut at 5.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. “The law of averages took over”.
The Warriors underestimated the Cavaliers in Game 3 – and wound up decked with a 120-90 defeat.
Curry and Thompson also responded well to all the criticism they received. For the Warriors, it was important to get out to a good start, after falling behind my 20 points in the first quarter in Game 3. You’ve got, you know, everybody in your ear, you’ve got friends, you’ve got family who want to come to the game and want to discuss everything. “We got tangled up”.
“I think what happened the other night, if that doesn’t get our team prepared to play, then there’s no words that I can use that will do the job”, he said.
LeBron James and Draymond Green managed to find themselves in a bit of a scuffle.
Lue allowed that fatigue could’ve hurt the Cavs late but said he made the decision, down 2-1, one quarter remaining, to go with “my best players”. If the league retroactively affixes a flagrant foul to Green, he will be suspended one game for accumulating too many flagrant-foul points in the playoffs.
James said he and his teammates reviewed video of a sequence where it appeared that Green hit the four-time NBA MVP in the groin area. “With guys like that, you can’t keep them down forever”.
“If you don’t think we can win, don’t get on the plane”, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said.
“We were lackadaisical, didn’t really show up, myself included”. “It’s all subjective. To say we’re better than the “Showtime” Lakers, how can you say that?”
Irving added a hoop and, after a fan ran onto the court and was taken off by security, James sank a free throw to pull the Cavs within 96-89. “We came in and did what we wanted to do getting the split, but Game 5 will be extremely hard”. So, you know, we’ve got to come in with the mindset that our coaching staff is going to give us a great game plan and we’ve got to execute that.
“As a competitor, I love going against Draymond, and I’m all about going out there and leaving it out on the floor”, James said. But for now, all James is thinking about is Game 5. In the first half of that game, the three-time All-Star was struck in the back of the head by Golden State’s Harrison Barnes while going for a rebound.
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Love had 11 points and five rebounds off the bench, J.R. Smith scored 10 points and Tristan Thompson finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. He made us pay every time we made a mistake defensively, and he shot the ball extremely well from the three-point line.
