Cleveland Cavaliers, down 0-2 in the series, and egged on by a raucous home crowd was leading by six points with 3:09 minutes to go. Its mercurial shooting guard J.R. Smith had just shot a 3-pointer after receiving a pinpoint bullet pass from LeBron James, who was having a monstrous game, scoring 39 points.
The Cavaliers didn’t score from there as Golden State Warriors, which faded away in the third quarter after taking a six-point lead in the first half, played stifling defence the rest of the way.
Kevin Durant proved to be the difference yet again as he landed a haymaker on the Cavaliers with 45.8 seconds to go. After securing the defensive rebound following a Kyle Korver corner 3-pointer miss, Durant drove the ball to the top of the 3-point circle, noticed James hanging back a little, and pulled up a 3-pointer in transition to secure a two-point lead for the Warriors. Seconds later, the Warriors prevailed 118-113 and took a formidable 3-0 lead in the 2017 NBA Finals.
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It was pretty much an anti-climax for the Cavaliers, who played spiritedly. They drew a lot of energy from their 20,000 plus home crowd and competed throughout the game unlike the away games at the Oracle Arena.
James’s early forays
James got it going early, scoring in the paint at will and taking advantage of the lack of a shot-blocking center among the Warriors.
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He was the main reason why the Cavaliers kept it close in the first half, despite defensive breakdowns that yielded transition opportunities and opened 3-point looks for the Warriors’ sharpshooters Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry.
Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving, who has had an underwhelming Finals so far, then took over in the third quarter. The Cavaliers ran more “action-sets” — plays that involved significant movement of other players, screens etc. — to free up Irving and to get him the space to attack the basket. He also mixed these actions with robust isolation play, taking on Thompson, Curry and other defenders and coming up with difficult buckets.
The Cavs converted a six point deficit into a five point lead (94-89) heading into the fourth quarter.
But the superior Warriors never gave up. Coach Steve Kerr later explained that he told his players that Irving and James were playing too many minutes and that “fatigue will play a role”.
“I think we just stayed with [our defence] and [it] finally kicked in”, he said, explaining how the Warriors managed to overcome the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter.
James and Irving finished with 39 and 38 points respectively.
The Cavaliers have not lost a playoff game when both of them scored more than 30 points, but such numbers were rendered moot against a formidable opponent.
Thompson played a superb two-way game scoring 30 points with six 3-pointers, while Curry added a surprising 13 rebounds to his 26 points. Durant ended up with 31 points with four 3-pointers.
The Cavaliers coach Tyron Lue promised a competitive game in Game 4 but it is quite clear that 2017 belongs to Kerr’s Warriors who are now 15-0 in the playoffs and Durant is in line to win his first NBA Finals MVP.
The result:
Cleveland Cavaliers 113 (LeBron James 39, Kyle Irving 38, J.R. Smith 16) lost to Golden State Warriors 118 (Kevin Durant 31, Klay Thompson 30, Stephen Curry 26). Warriors lead the Finals 3-0 .
(The writer is in Cleveland at the invitation of the NBA)