NBA Finals: 6 burning questions heading into Game 3

With Game 3 of the NBA Finals tonight, here are some questions you may ask yourself heading into the contest.

The NBA Finals has been a hoot so far. In just two games it feels like we’ve already run the gamut of emotions, and yet things have just now gotten interesting. After Cleveland stole Game 2 – winning at Oracle, where no teams get out alive, without an All-Star point guard constitutes stealing – the series heads to The Forest City for a pivotal swing game.

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With a bevy of traditional headlines out there, here are six unconventional questions to consider while prepping for a third overtime game (fingers crossed – just keep saying this positive affirmation and it’ll come true – it’s The Secret). In the name of fairness it’s broken down to three for Cleveland and three Golden State.

Cleveland

1) Can LeBron get to 50%?

We know he’s going to put up a boatload of shots, but can LeBron get to 50%? Forget shooting percentage; can he take 50% of Cleveland’s field goal attempts. Throw efficiency right out the window, because that concept died right around the time Kyrie Irving limped to the locker room last Thursday. Since we know he’s going play no less than 45 minutes, let’s just get weird with it.

In Game 1 LeBron took 38 of the team’s 94 shots for a robust 40.4%; Game 2 saw a dip to 38.2%, with LBJ taking only 34 of 89 shots (bwah bwah). How about we shoot for the moon in front of a rabid home crowd. It’s a tall task, but as a famed philosopher once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” That means for every forced J.R. Smith three, we’ll need an LBJ answer. Speaking of Smith …

2) Will J.R. Smith make fans cheer non-sarcastically?

To say J.R. Smith played poorly in Game 2 would be putting it very kindly. Knicks fans soaked up all the schadenfreude as he made boneheaded foul after boneheaded foul. Such is the Tao of J.R.: Sometimes you get Earl the Bricklayer, sometimes you get Pete Townsend.

After two subpar games, will he come out and ignite the Cavs at home? You’d have to figure that he’s got at least one scorcher in him this series. And since he forgets even a bad shot the moment it leaves his hands, it’s likely that an ugly Game 2 was left in the rearview before hopping the bus out of Oracle. Smith will get cheered on Tuesday, the only question is whether or not it’ll be a Bronx cheer.

3) Will we get a Joe Harris sighting (or at least a fourth guy off the bench)?

We’ve had two overtime games and David Blatt hasn’t extended his bench beyond three guys. When Kyrie was healthy he played eight men; when Kyrie was out he played eight men. Can we get a niner out of him? Something to give his guys a rest?

In Game 2 Blatt turned to Mike Miller, and for six minutes it looked like Fred Sanford was lumbering up and down the court. With his sixth man (the aforementioned Smith) playing 38 minutes last game and Miller looking so banged up, might we be granted a Joe Harris sighting? Some young legs to run around and steal minutes?

If not Harris, maybe a K-Perk to knock the hell out of somebody in the paint? The Matrix to stretch the court and give three measly minutes of maximum intensity. Somebody? Something? If Golden State can play the Leandro Barbosas and Marreese Speights of the world, surely Cleveland can find room for another body.

Should this game go to overtime, look out. Right now Blatt is stretching the limit and just hoping the needle doesn’t break off.

Golden State

1) Can Steph Curry hit more than two three-pointers in a game?

Here’s a fun fact for all the stat people out there: the Warriors are 1-3 this postseason when Steph Curry makes less than three three-pointers in a game. It’s inconceivable to think that the dude who, just this year, has broken both the regular season and postseason mark for threes has only four total triples in his last two outings.

Maybe Curry has cooled off. Or maybe Matthew Dellavedova is this year’s defensive stopper to come out of nowhere, completely shut down a star player in the playoffs, and effectively ensure himself a solid NBA career by playing big under the lights (let’s call it the Tyronn Lue Lifetime Achievement Award). Whatever the case, Chef Curry was cold in Game 2. Can he return to that Em Vee Pee level in Game 3?

2) Does Golden State have a killer instinct?

In both games of this series, Golden State has felt like the vastly superior team. They’re lithe, fly up and down the court, cut leads like a warm knife through butter and score at will. And yet both games have gone to overtime. Moreover, Cleveland has had the final regulation possession in each contest. Think about it: if LeBron hits that awkward, left-leaning jumper in Game 1, this series is 2-0 Cavs.

Both games have been very reminiscent of the 2006 Rose Bowl. Texas and USC were both incredible teams, but throughout the game it just felt like the Trojans were the better of the two squads. However, USC played loose – too loose – got cute and ended up losing to a more disciplined, determined team.

Not to say that this Golden State team is undisciplined, but how tough is it truly? Can it put a boot on the Cavs’ neck and break the collective will of a city on the road? The Warriors play fun ball and never seem to lose control, but then again they’re an ugly jumper away from being in a significant hole.

3) Can Andre Iguodala keep it up?

Through the first two games, Andre Iguodala has shown flashes of his former self – slashing to the basket in Game 1, taking efficient shots and creating buckets in Game 2. Can he keep the motor running?

Going back to the Conference Finals, Iguodala has played more over 30 minutes in three consecutive games – his only three-game stretch of the kind this entire season. Beyond that, his 68 minutes in the Finals’ first two games mark the most in back-to-back contests since mid-December. On a squad flush with young legs, Iggy has been a solid, steadying veteran presence. With only five (max) more games to go, Steve Kerr isn’t going to pull back on the reins – can the slasher keep on the way-back machine?

However things play out in Game 3, prepare for a brand new narrative shift as one team takes control of the series (hopefully in an epic double overtime contest – fingers crossed).

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