With Jefferson replacing Love, Cleveland opened up Game 3 by scoring nine straight points. There’s no small-ball like the Warriors’ small ball, and it’s one win away from another championship.
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The NBA’s best team all season, who won the first two games of the best-of-7 series by a combined 48 points, suffered a humiliating 120-90 loss on Wednesday at the hands of a much more aggressive Cavaliers team.
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.
Curry’s Splash Brother teammate, Klay Thompson, added 25 points.
Points by which the Warriors have outscored the Cavs in The Finals when playing without a centre. It was a lot of money to throw at a player who doesn’t score much, or even blocks a lot of shots.
Still, the Warriors did not go 73-9 over the regular season without knowing how to bounce back and Steve Kerr, their coach, made some changes to keep his side in contention.
“We’ll respond tomorrow. I mean, we’ve done it the whole year, and the best part about this team is everyone’s so competitive that we’re all embarrassed for Game 3”.
“Mainly, it was just kind of the law of averages took over, I think”.
Cleveland’s LeBron James said, “Every time we made a mistake defensively, [Curry] made us pay for it”.
The Warriors, who set an NBA Finals record with 17 3-pointers, took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.
In a critical stretch midway through the fourth quarter, the Warriors went on a patented 12-3 run, highlighted by a Shaun Livingston strip on LeBron James, a Curry driving layup and a Harrison Barnes back-breaking three-pointer.
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.
The Warriors have a chance to win their second consecutive National Basketball Association championship on Monday in Oracle Arena.
Green then hit the deck and James attempted to step over him, prompting the Warriors forward to lash out angrily before the pair exchanged heated words on the court and they had to be separated. PG Kyrie Irving and SG J.R. Smith combined for 50 points with 9 assists and 8 rebounds, and the entire team shot nearly 53% overall and 48% from three point range.
Rebounding also was a key.
Asked further about the officiating, James simply said: “I’m going to save my $25K, OK?”
Golden State were up 96-88 at that stage and it was a rare show of emotion from James, who nearly never engages an opponent in that way.
Later, the team said Richard Jefferson will start again and Love will come off the bench for the first time since 2010, when he played for Minnesota.
“If you don’t think we can win, don’t get on the plane”, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said.
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“We can’t relax just because we’re going home and we’ve got a two-game cushion”, said Thompson.
