NBA Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers can take Golden State Warriors the distance, says Alex Ferguson
By Alex Ferguson
Last Updated: 09/06/16 12:37pm
After game three of the NBA Finals, US expert Alex Ferguson assesses whether the Cleveland Cavaliers can continue their comeback against the Golden State Warriors.
Cleveland completed a crushing 120-90 victory in Game 3, trimming Golden State's series lead to 2-1 in the NBA Finals, but can the Cavaliers dethrone the reigning champions?
Alex Ferguson looks ahead…
After being savaged in Oakland by the Golden State Warriors in the first two games of the NBA Finals, Cleveland looked completely and utterly lost.
Kyrie Irving couldn't hit a thing, LeBron James was turning the ball over like your dear writer does whenever he plays pick-up games with friends, and the only sound JR Smith heard when hitting a three was 'clunk' as ball hit metal and flew out.
On the other side, the Warriors survived without explosive performances from either Steph Curry or Klay Thompson. That was because everyone else was sharp and Cleveland simply could not compete.
"How are Cleveland going to get back into this?" people said, shaking their heads.
Immediately, they decided to blame LeBron James. After all, he is the best player on the court. He should be taking Golden State apart on his own, right?
Although James had not had a great first two games (especially his 11 total turnovers, including a seven turnover performance in Game 2), it was not all about James.
Irving and Smith were a shambles, and Kevin Love - who seems to be the king of injuries when it comes to important games - was sidelined with a concussion that limited his play. No one else off Cleveland's bench could even come close to Draymond Green, Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa and Harrison Barnes.
"Cleveland might have the best player in the finals, but Golden State has the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. How are they meant to compete?" said one member of the US media.
But, if you go back to it all, Cleveland really came apart in the third quarter of Game 1.
After facing a double-digit deficit, the Cavaliers roared back to lead the game, quietening the voracious Golden State crowd. But as they missed two or three shots in a row, Golden State made theirs - all from three-point range.
Suddenly a deficit of one was a deficit of 10 and the rest of the game - and Game 2 - wasn't even a competition. Funny what a few missed shots can do against a great shooting team.
Back to Cleveland
Well, Cleveland had to compete in Game 3, and they did so. Actually, it wasn't a competition. That would have been too nice to describe what happened in Game 3. It was a hammering.
At the start of the game, Curry had more fouls than he did points, and by the end of the game, his 19 points belied his worst three-point shooting game since Game 4 against Oklahoma City. Thompson, his 'splash brother', had to come off with a thigh injury which hardly helped matters either. He came back in, but by then it was too late.
There was a patch in the second quarter during which Cleveland could not get anything to hit and the Warriors closed to a makeable eight-point deficit at half-time. LeBron and Kyrie went colder than a January night in Newcastle and Harrison Barnes was leading the charge.
But in the third quarter, Cleveland's energy returned and by the middle of the fourth quarter, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr was putting up the white flag and sending in the reserves.
What will happen in Game 4?
I have a sneaky suspicion that Cleveland will win Game 4 on Friday night. They have (some) momentum back and they suddenly believe a bit more after an unbelievably bad first two games in Oakland.
All they have to do is keep LeBron, Irving and Smith hot and Curry cold.
