The Finals shifted to the Cavs’
home court for Game 3, and as expected, the role players did a much better job
helping LeBron James, who had 33 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds. Kevin Love had a solid 20 points at 46%
shooting along with 13 rebounds. Game 1 MVP J.R. Smith had 13 points. And Rodney
Hood got unleashed, shooting 7-of-11 for 15 points in 25 minutes of play. They were physical and active for most of the
game.
Meanwhile, the Splash Brothers
were awful. Klay Thompson only managed
to take 11 shots and score 10 points within 40 minutes. And Stephen Curry, fresh from setting a Finals record for most three-pointers made, was an abysmal 1-of-10 from behind
the arc, and just scored 11 points overall.
Didn’t matter. Warriors still took a 3-0 lead.
The Warriors’ well-oiled,
unselfish offensive machinery was reliable as it always has been. Even though the superstar shooters were
having an off-night, role players kept receiving openings for buckets. The bigs – Draymond Green, JaVale McGee, and
Jordan Bell – each scored 10 points, while Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala
chipped in 8 points each.
This was also Iguodala’s first
appearance in the Finals after getting injured in Game 3 of the Western
Conference Finals. Right from the start,
I’ve believed that a sweep is guaranteed if the 2015 NBA Finals MVP plays. And indeed he made an impact in this
game. Coming off the bench, he played
for 22 minutes to share in the burden of slowing down LeBron, and to contribute
plays like this…
But the key to the Warriors’
victory was Kevin Durant, who matched LeBron James’ legendary Finals performance
in Game 1 with one of his own. He
dominated with 43 points (65% shooting), 13 rebounds, and 7 assists.
In the first half, when the Cavs
were outplaying the Warriors, it was his big buckets that kept them out of
getting blown out…
But the highlight of this spectacular
performance was his assassin trey that sucked the life out of Cavs Nation…
It was reminiscent of what he did
in last year’s Game 3. Here’s a
simultaneous look on both Game 3 daggers:
By the way, LeBron also performed
a throwback play from last year’s Finals (though he did that one during Game 4):
Pretty cool. But I would have been more impressed if he
had chosen to take on the challenge of locking down Durant and dogged him
instead (at least, in the final quarter).
I can’t see the Cavs coming back
from this. Hence, the only legit source
of suspense left in the Finals is who between KD and Steph will win Finals
MVP. With his incredible performance and
the latter’s terrible one in Game 3, KD is now the favorite. But it’s not yet out of Steph’s grasp.
They will likely try to outplay each other in Game 4 for it. That should be fun.
They will likely try to outplay each other in Game 4 for it. That should be fun.
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