The Golden State Warriors shot themselves to the edge of another championship with a 108-97 victory Friday in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. More like a guy who had spent the past three hours stewing over a set of issues he thought his team had grown out of long ago, or certainly during the last round of these playoffs when the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed the Golden State Warriors to the brink of elimination. “But in the NBA Finals you’ve got to lay it all on the line”. “We weren’t strong enough with the ball”. Big rebound after missed free throw by Tristan Thompson and all it gets is an isolation 3 by Irving. Those are the telltale signs. Iguodala, arguably the most critical component of the Warriors’ small-ball lineups, was a game-high plus-15 in Game 4 and has the best plus-minus in The Finals (plus-54) for the second straight year.
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“The speech he gave after Game 2 just really hit home for all of us”, Irving said. We talked about all that stuff. They combined to shoot 11-for-22 from three-point range, and the Warriors made an NBA Finals-record 17 three-pointers in 36 attempts. “Now, it happens sometimes”. With Jefferson replacing Love, Cleveland opened up Game 3 by scoring nine straight points. If anything, it inspired a round of self-flagellation among Warriors players and coaches that speaks more to their confidence in themselves than any deep doubts about their abilities. (Yes, an NHL team was briefly here.) Over that span, 56 different franchises in the four biggest US sports leagues have at least one championship. We don’t get paid to show up and shoot baskets every day.
There is a lot of truth in the criticisms, however.
When Curry and Thompson hit back-to-back three-pointers in the third quarter – a rarity this series – one wondered if this was the beginning of the end for Cleveland, even though the Cavaliers still led by two.
The man must not have seen Stephen Curry play all season.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said Handy told the team “just something we all knew, that we had to play harder, just had to continue to compete for 48 minutes, not one quarter, not a quarter and a half”. We’re turning the ball over like insane. But, fans are convinced at that point the series will tied and the two teams will battle for the best out of three remaining games. I think we’re mentally ready for the challenge tonight. Steph got beat back door, couple turnovers.
In the third quarter things started to slip away for the wine and gold.
Stephen Curry scored 38 and Klay Thompson 25 for Golden State as the “Splash Brothers” got back in their groove after struggling through the first three games of the series.
“It’s the NBA”, Kerr said.
The Warriors are fortunate to have an MVP caliber player who has a team mindset and has no interest in being the face of the league or collecting personal awards.
But these are the NBA Finals, and no one cares to hear excuses when you’re the two-time defending MVP and lead the defending world champions. This team has great character.
James said Green went “overboard” with the things he said to him and believes the National Basketball Association should review the play and consider suspending Green for his below-the-belt hit.
Kerr has been on the other side of the media world from his broadcasting days with TNT.
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“We have to understand that this series is not over”.
