Heading into Wednesday night’s contest at The Q, the Cavaliers’ season hung in the balance. A loss would’ve meant almost insurmountable odds; a victory makes it a series.
The Wine and Gold opted for the latter – thumping the Warriors by 30, 120-90, one game after being blown out by 33 and doing so without the services of Kevin Love. The Cavs set a franchise mark, winning their eighth straight postseason home contest while handing the Warriors another Game 3 loss. (They’ve lost all four Game 3’s this postseason and are 2-6 over the last two.)
Richard Jefferson started at small forward and LeBron James moved over to the 4 – and the Cavaliers were energized and physical from the opening tip. Kyrie Irving and LeBron both topped the 30-point plateau, Cleveland outrebounded the Warriors by 20 and held the best backcourt in the NBA to a combined 10-for-26 shooting, including 4-for-16 from long-range.
But the Cavaliers still have a lot of work to do, needing to hold serve on Friday night if they hope to bring the series back to Cleveland for a Game 6. They’ll hope to get Kevin Love back and ride the momentum from Wednesday’s blowout when they saddle up for the critical Game 4 matchup on at The Q.
LeBron laughed off suggestions that he would have to play “like a man possessed” on Wednesday night, but most definitely played like a man possessed – imposing the Cavaliers’ will on Golden State early and often – posting his second 30-point game of the season and locking down Draymond Green on the defensive end.
In Wednesday’s win, James notched the 83rd double-double of his Playoff career – netting a game-high 32 points, going 14-for-26 from the floor to go with 11 boards, six assists, one steal and a pair of blocks. The four-time MVP – who scored 12 of his 21 after intermission on 9-of-12 shooting – is averaging 32.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.7 steals in nine postseason matchups against the Warriors.
Opposite LeBron, the versatile and mercurial Draymond Green finally cooled down after killing Cleveland through the first two contests. Including his 28-point outburst in Game 2, Green came to Cleveland averaging 22.0 points on 52 percent shooting to go with 9.0 boards and 6.0 assists through the first two games of the series.
But LeBron and the Cavaliers held him to just six points on 2-for-8 shooting on Wednesday night. He still grabbed seven boards and dished out a team-high seven helpers, but the Wine and Gold kept him from putting his stamp on the game.
They’ll need more of the same on Friday night.
Although it had gotten off to a shaky start, the point guard matchup between Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry has finally started to heat up.
In the first two games of the series, both All-Star performers have had their struggles – Kyrie, shooting the ball and Curry, staying out of foul trouble.
On Wednesday night, the reigning two-time MVP had to work for every inch of space and point that came with it – scoring 13 of his 19 points in the third quarter, going 6-for-13 from the floor overall. Through the first three games of the 2016 Finals, the league’s leading scorer has yet to top the 20-point mark – averaging 16.0 points on 44 percent shooting. In Games 1 and 3, he’s gone 10-for-28 from the floor and he’s had to play through four fouls in the previous two contests.
For the Wine and Gold, Kyrie has been excellent throughout the Playoffs and posted his fourth 30-point game of the postseason on Wednesday night – netting 16 of his 30 points in the first period, going 7-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-2 from long-range in the period and 12-of-25 from the field overall, adding a game-high eight assists in the win.
Both players are the straw that stirs their team’s drink; the one who comes out on top is often the key to his squad’s victory.
There are two ways to look at the matchup between Klay Thompson and J.R. Smith. One is to think that Thompson is simply struggling from the floor and is ready to break out at any time and that Smith is simply vexed by the Warriors’ defense. The other is that J.R. is locking Thompson down and this will continue throughout the series and that Swish will begin snapping out of a funk that had spanned two NBA Finals.
The answer will unfold over the next few games – beginning with Friday night’s matchup at The Q.
After getting off just three shots in Game 1 and just six in Game 2 – averaging 4.0 points per – Smith had easily his best game in his nine postseason matchups against Golden State, notching 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. With his five triples in Game 3, Smith broke his own Cavaliers record, having now canned 56 three-pointers (and counting) in 17 postseason contests.
Thompson came into the matchup with Cleveland as the league’s hottest three-point shooter in the postseason, but hasn’t come close to finding his rhythm in the Finals – going 6-for-20 from deep, 14-for-38 overall, through the first three games.
It’s been a fascinating battle between both teams’ best long-range shooters and perimeter defenders and it’s about to get even better.
Even without their leading rebounder, Kevin Love, the Cavaliers still managed to dominate the Warriors down low. Most of the credit for that goes to Tristan Thompson – who, in many ways, was Cleveland’s catalyst on Wednesday night.
As he did before being mired with foul trouble in Game 2, Thompson was the Wine and Gold’s most physical, energetic player. Doing good work against Golden State is nothing new for Thompson, who excelled in last year’s Finals – averaging 11.0 points and 13.0 boards in the six-game series.
In Game 3, the fifth-year big man turned in his second double-double of the postseason with 14 points and 13 boards, snagging seven of those off the offensive glass.
Overall, the Cavaliers outrebounded the Warriors by 20 boards – 52-32 (the third time they’ve done so this postseason). They outdid the Warriors on the offensive glass, 17-8, while outscoring them in the paint, 54-32, and on second-chance opportunities, 23-3.
Golden State’s Andrew Bogut was limited to just 12 minutes of action (Festus Ezeli, just two) as the Warriors tried to go small against Cleveland. The Cavs countered with Thompson, Frye and even an early run for Timofey Mozgov.
If the Wine and Gold are able to get Love back for Friday night’s affair, they have an excellent chance of continuing to win the battle in the paint and off the glass.
