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Wrap-Up -- The Cavaliers gave everything they had in Game 3 on Wednesday night at The Q – so much so that they simply didn’t have enough gas in the tank to finish off the white-hot Warriors.
Golden State outscored Cleveland, 11-0, in the final three minutes of Wednesday’s decisive battle – pulling away late to hand the Cavaliers a crushing 118-113 defeat, putting them in a 0-3 hole with Game 4 of the 2017 Finals slated for Friday night at The Q.
The dynamic duo of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James were outstanding in defeat – combining for 77 points and nearly willing the Wine and Gold to the victory. But both played almost the entire second half and couldn’t close the deal in Game 3.
Cleveland took its first second-half lead of the series early in the second half and led by five after three quarters.
The Cavs extended their edge to seven early in the fourth, but Golden State wouldn’t go away. After cutting Cleveland’s lead to just a single point with 4:28 to play, LeBron’s two free throws and a triple from J.R. Smith gave them a six-point edge, 113-107, with 3:09 to play.
But that was as good as it would get for the reigning Champs on Wednesday.
Steph Curry scored quickly on the Warriors’ next possession and, after a LeBron miss on the other end, Durant scored on a short pull-up to get Golden State to within a deuce, 113-111.
After Kyle Korver missed a three-pointer, Durant came right back and hit a bomb from the top of the arc – giving the Dubs their first lead of the fourth quarter.
On Cleveland’s next possession, Kyrie Irving’s step-back three-pointer was off target. Curry grabbed the rebound and fed to Durant, who was fouled by Korver. The eight-time All-Star drilled both free throws to put the Warriors up three, 116-113.
After their final timeout, the Cavaliers botched the in-bounds play as LeBron stepped out of bounds – with Curry sinking a pair of free throws on the other end to seal the deal.
”I knew it was going to be a tough game for us,” explained Tyronn Lue. “And for us to win, I knew I to give LeBron at least a two-minute blow in that first quarter because in the second half he might not get a blow. Kyrie was playing well, the game was on the line, so I decided to stick with those guys, being at home, down 0-2.”
The Cavaliers now need to win on Friday night just to stay alive in the series. No NBA team has ever won a Playoff series after falling behind, 0-3, but the Wine and Gold made history one season ago – and if they’re able to get a win in Game 4, they’ll at least have some historical precedent heading back to Oakland.
LeBron put together another herculean Finals effort – leading both squads with 39 points, his 12th 30-point game of the 2017 Playoffs but first in the series.
On the night, the four-time MVP went 15-for-27 from the floor, including 4-of-9 from long-range, adding 11 boards, a game-high nine assists, a steal and a blocked shot in nearly 46 minutes of work.
After struggling for most of the night in Sunday’s Game 2, Kyrie was aggressive from the opening tip on Wednesday – netting 16 of his 38 points in the third quarter, finishing 16-for-29 from the floor overall, adding six boards and three assists in the loss.
”It's the Finals; we had our horses in,” said Irving. “Myself and Bron eclipsed the 43-minute mark, playing pretty well, then they made some big-time plays down the stretch. They're a juggernaut of a team, do a great job of spacing out the floor, keeping a high tempo, and just made some big-time plays down the stretch. You got to give credit when credit is due.”
LBJ and Kyrie combine for 77 points as the Wine & Gold fall in Game 3.
J.R. Smith finally found his shooting stroke in Game 3 – finishing with 16 points, going 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
But again, the Cavaliers didn’t get big contributions from their bench – with the reserves combining for just 11 points – and for the third straight game, Tristan Thompson was completely neutralized, going scoreless for the second time the series, adding just three boards in 23 minutes of action.
Kevin Love had his toughest scoring game of the Finals – finishing with nine points on 1-for-9 shooting – but he did manage to lead Cleveland with 13 boards, four off the offensive glass.
The Warriors were led once again by Durant, who posted his third 30-point game of the series – netting 14 of his 31 in the final period and going 10-of-18 from the floor overall. The lithe superstar added eight boards, four assists, a steal and a block.
Klay Thompson bounced back from a rough opener to net 30 points in Wednesday’s win. After going 3-for-16 from the floor in Game 1, Thompson is a combined 19-for-30 over the past two contests.
Curry was tremendous again for the Warriors – finishing with 26 points and leading Golden State with 13 rebounds – five on the offensive end. Over the past two games, the two-time MVP is averaging 11.5 boards per.
Wednesday night’s thriller featured 10 ties and 19 lead-changes. The Cavaliers were beat on the boards, 44-37, on the break, 24-13, and on second-chance scoring, 46-38.
Cleveland was a little better from long-distance on Wednesday – drilling a dozen threes. But the Warriors were that much better, going 16-for-33 from deep. The Dubs also canned 22 of their 24 free throws in Game 3 and are 44-of-48 over the last two games of the series.
Turning Point -- The third quarter had been Cleveland’s Achilles’ heel through the first two games of the 2017 Finals. But behind Kyrie’s outburst, the Cavs reversed that trend on Wednesday – opening the second half on a 10-2 run and outscoring the Warriors by 11 in the period.
The Cavaliers kept the heat on Golden State early in the fourth, but the Warriors were never far from striking distance. And after Swish drilled his fifth and final three-pointer of the night nine minutes into the quarter, the Wine and Gold just didn’t have anything in the tank for the remainder.
Over the last three minutes, Cleveland went 0-of-8 from the floor and didn’t attempt a free throw. The Cavs shot 26 percent to the Warriors’ 53 percent from the in the final period.
By the Numbers – 93 … combined points from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith – tying the second-highest three-man scoring performance in Cavaliers franchise history (tying the mark set by James, Irving and Love in Game 4 vs. Boston). The highest mark – 94 points – was scored by the triumvirate of Brad Daugherty (40), Mark Price (35) and Hot Rod Williams (19) against New Jersey in 1992.
Quotable – LeBron James, on dealing with the high-powered Warriors …
”Before the series even started we knew what we was dealing with. I said it after we won the Eastern Conference Finals that we're getting ready for a juggernaut. It's probably the most, most firepower I've played in my career. I played against some great teams, but I don't think no team has had this type of firepower. So even when you're playing well, you got to play A-plus-plus, because they're going to make runs and they're going to make shots and they got guys that are going to make plays.”
Up Next -- The Cavaliers season comes down to Friday night’s Game 4 at The Q. If they’re able to get the win, they leave the next day for California – where Game 5 is set for Monday night in Oakland. If Cleveland can continue from there, Game 6 is slated for next Thursday night at The Q. If the series goes to a Game 7, that’ll be played on June 18 back at Oracle Arena.