For the second straight game, the Cleveland Cavaliers held off a furious comeback by the Golden State Warriors.
The Cavs held on for a 96-91 win at home on Tuesday night to take a 2-1 series edge behind another brilliant performance from LeBron James. He is obviously very motivated to win at all cost, but still keeps it to himself what the motivation he says is.
With Game 4 coming up on Thursday night on ABC15, here are some observations from a memorable Game 3.
LeBron James isn’t just trying to bring a first-ever NBA championship to Cleveland; he’s doing all he can to take the mantle from Michael Jordan as the best to ever play the game. The four-time NBA MVP had another ridiculous line – 40 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, four steals, two blocks – in guiding the Kevin Love-less, Kyrie Irving-less Cavs to the series lead. Through three NBA Finals games, King James is nearly averaging a triple-double: 41 points, 12 rebounds and 8.3 assists.
Through three quarters, undrafted second-year Cavs guard Matthew Dellavedova (Delly) pulled off a remarkable feat Tuesday: He outscored reigning MVP Stephen Curry by a 15-10 margin. The 24-year-old Aussie had 20 points, five rebounds and four assists for the night, and he added an incredible three-point play late in the game to help the Cavs hold off the Warriors in the final minutes. His hustle and tenaciousness had the home fans chanting “Delly! Delly!” in the fourth quarter.
Curry followed up arguably the worst seven quarters of his NBA career with one of his best. The point guard scored just 29 combined points and missed 16 3-point attempts in Game 2 and the first three quarters of Game 3 – but the real Curry returned in the fourth quarter, hitting five shots from beyond the arc and scoring 17 points in the final frame to help narrow a 20-point Cavs lead to a one-point advantage. The Warriors came up short Tuesday, but Curry’s late sharpshooting bodes well for Golden State heading into Game 4 on Thursday.
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