In Game 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors accomplished as much as a team can accomplish in a game they did not win. They:
1) Got seven 3-pointers from Steph Curry, almost twice as many as he hit in the first two games.
2) Found offensive rhythym for the first time in the series, thanks in large part to David Lee, of all people.
3) Shook off a third quarter that went so poorly it looked like they could lose by 30 points.
4) Stayed close enough to the Cavaliers down the stretch that LeBron James had to stay in the game, and he ultimately played 46 minutes. James’ outside shooting has been better in this series than the ones previous, and the reason may have something do do with the week off he got before the series started. In the first few rounds the schedule was a little more forgiving, but now we have games every two days, and LeBron’s minutes played could be an issue as we all more forward.
5) Most importantly, Golden State showed for the first time in the series the kind of urgency that has been lacking, really since early in the Houston series.
After the game, Kobe Bryant tweeted this:
Cavs playing as if their life is on the line G.S playing as if they have more #NBAFinals down the line #ThisIsNOW #competitionIsEverything
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) June 10, 2015
How many talking heads are there sitting at desks tonight, in studios and right there in the arena in Cleveland? 40? 50? Kobe Bryant made the observation of the night in a damn tweet, and he had enough characters left over to go a little #hashtagcrazy.
From the time we knew that it would be the Warriors and the Cavaliers, I worried about this from a Golden State perspective. People wanted to discount the experience factor, but you know what? Most of the people who don’t think it matters never played in the NBA Finals. The Warriors have no players who have played in the Finals before. Their head coach has won five of them, and they have an assistant, Luke Walton, who has been there with the Lakers, and they have hoped (and still hope) that would be enough.
Look, I still think the Warriors will win this series, and I think they made a big step forward Tuesday night, but to say that LeBron James’ extensive experience, combined with the handful of other PLAYERS on that team who’ve been there, doesn’t have an impact on the ones who have not is ridiculous.
Did you see “Clutch City” Monday night on NBA TV? If you didn’t, go look up the 1995 NBA Finals, when the sixth-seeded (but defending champion) Houston Rockets ran the Orlando Magic out of the gym. The Warriors in the third quarter of Game 3 looked like that Magic team: rudderless, clueless, hopeless. There were several plays that typified their plight, but I think the one that does it best is the play at the very end of the third quarter, when Curry had a wide-open dunk but didn’t get the ball clear of his hands before the buzzer. Two free points, but the Warriors didn’t get them. Add those to the three gift points Cleveland got right before the half when Curry turned the ball over with 15 seconds to go and the shot clock off, and you have a pretty good game, don’t you?
In the fourth quarter, I think Cleveland started to get a little careless with the basketball, and the Warriors got back in the game. They ran the floor, they hit some shots, and generally looked like themselves. They have to hope that muscle memory will kick in at some point and they start to hit some more shots on a more regular basis. Golden State scored more points in the fourth quarter (36) than it did in the previous two quarters combined (35).
The reason I think the Warriors will still win the series is this: Just as a rookie player is no longer a rookie once the playoffs roll around, a Finals Rookie isn’t a Finals Rookie once a few games are under his elastic waistband. Players don’t all mature at the same time, and the age and experience of the player is a factor, which is why Andre Iguodala seems to be the most comfortable of all of the Warriors to this point. Curry showed signs in the fourth quarter that he’s past that point, and I believe once his shots start dropping the rest of the team will follow suit. That means you, Draymond Green, and you, Harrison Barnes.
This game seemed like a blowout, but the truth is that the Warriors could have been down much more than they were. Cleveland doesn’t score well, so Golden State can pretty much count on being within striking distance.
You have no doubt already read about how the Warriors were down 2-1 in the Memphis series, and that is true. That was also a series where the Warriors were initially out of their depth, and needed a few games to get acclimated and make the proper adjustments. 2-1 is nice, but it does not mean that you’re guaranteed to win the series, obviously.
In fact, what I didn’t realize until Tuesday night was that so far this season, every team that lost a Game 3 with the series tied 1-1 wound up winning their series. How’s that for a strange stat? Here is the list.
Clippers over Spurs (4-3)
Cavaliers over Bulls (4-2)
Hawks over Wizards (4-2)
Warriors over Grizzlies (4-2)
Rockets over Clippers (4-3)
That said, the Warriors — as much as they’ve been baptized by the waters of NBA Finals pressure — have to shake loose from their fear and discomfort in Game 4. If they don’t, one shouldn’t count on LeBron James losing three games in a row.
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Other notes from Game 3:
There’s one thing I enjoyed immensely in Game 3. There were several media “experts” I heard after Game 2 give Steve Kerr the friendly advice to shorten his bench. In particular, Leandro Barbosa was singled out as someone who should have his minutes curtailed or eliminated. David Lee was not mentioned by anyone I heard as a button Kerr should push. Yet those two players were at the heart of the Warrior comeback that ultimately fell short, but it’s hard to think about what the final score would have looked like without them. Festus Ezeli also played well, so I expect the Warriors will stay 10-deep throughout this series.
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This play, in my opinion, was huge. Curry threw a lazy pass that was tipped deep in the backcourt by Iman Shumpert. Klay Thompson ran it down in front of the Warriors’ basket, and then, with 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock, brought it almost the length of the court, caught Timofey Mozgov in a switch and drove around him to the basket for a dunk.
The score at the time the ball was deflected was Cleveland by 10, so if Shumpert had been able to corral the lose ball they could have extended to 12. Instead, Thompson’s dunk cut the lead to eight, and seemed to give the whole team energy.
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We have a dogfight, nothing different from what was promised after Games 1 and 2. As I noted in this space Sunday night, The Cavaliers miss Kyrie Irving’s scoring but not his lack of defense. You can see what Matthew Dellavedova means to them. Where the Cavs’ points come from doesn’t matter if they’re giving up fewer of them. Cleveland allowed 98 points in regulation with Kyrie in Game 1, 87 and 91 with Delly in Games 2 and 3, for an average of 89 regulation-time points per game.
