James leads Cavs to 120-90 win vs. Warriors

The coach of the Golden State Warriors is someone who famously got into a fistfight with Michael Jordan as a player, and got into a fistfight with a clipboard earlier in these playoffs.

“At the end of the day, no matter if you lose by 30 or one, it’s just one win”, Cleveland star LeBron James said after the Cavaliers’ 120-90 win on Wednesday night in Game 3.

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James stepped in front of Steph Curry Wednesday night with less than three minutes remaining in the third and and got his fingertips on a lazily lobbed Golden State Warriors pass. After almost falling to the ground, James sent the rock ahead to Kyrie Irving, who tossed it near the rim, leading LeBron into the one-handed oop.

This is the first time since 1965 that there’s been two 30-point margin of victories in the NBA Finals – and the first time ever that teams have both won and lost games by 30 in the title series.

Combined, they’re shooting 31 for 77 (40 percent) from the field in the series, 16 for 45 (36 percent) from 3-point range, and have shot a combined nine free throws between them.

After he game, he reiterated, “Physically and aggressiveness. I thought were physical defensively and we were aggressive offensively”, he said. “I thought our physicality and attention to detail was really great”. Irving also made three three-pointers, and in a sign that pleases Cleveland’s coaching staff, Irving also facilitated the offense with eight assists.

Cavs guard J.R. Smith had his best game of the series with 20 points (15 on three-pointers), and forward Tristan Thompson controlled the paint with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

While Cleveland’s point guard was putting on a show, Golden State’s floor general was surprisingly silent.

NBA Most Valuable Player and scoring champion Curry managed only two points in the first half and finished with 19 while Harrison Barnes added 18 points and Klay Thompson contributed 10.

“We weren’t ready to play”.

The Warriors will get another shot soon enough in Game 4. What will the Cavs do with Love?

Kerr missed about half the year while recovering from back surgery, the Warriors appear to buckle a bit at times down the stretch from the strain of chasing the league’s best all-time record, they dealt with Curry getting hurt in the early portion of the playoffs and needed to win three elimination games over Oklahoma City (the series where Kerr shattered his clipboard) just to get out of the Western Conference finals alive.

“It wasn’t lineups. It wasn’t substitution patterns”. If the doctors say he can play, then he’ll play – but it wouldn’t seem likely that the Cavaliers will get away from what worked Wednesday.

Lue started Richard Jefferson in place of Love, saying, “Just like his physicality, able to catch the ball, straight-line drive, moves well without the basketball when we get stagnant”.

“For us, we have to just stop that force that they played with in Game Three and come with more effort and more focus from the jump”.

Thompson was forced to leave the game briefly, and after the game questioned the play that saw Mozgov attempt to set an awkward screen.