NBA Finals: Why Cavaliers can win Game 3 without Kevin Love
By Tom West
Home court advantage
It’s obvious, but it’s true. If the Cavaliers are ever going to win a game in the 2016 NBA Finals, it’s going to be at home in Cleveland. This season, the Cavs went 33-8 at Quicken Loans Arena and haven’t lost a single game there throughout the playoffs so far. Their only two losses before the Finals came against the Raptors in Toronto, which should give Cavs fans some hope that when their team is at home, they have their best chance to beat the Warriors.
Of course, that’s the case. Any team is at their best at home, with no travel, a comfortable environment and their own fans cheering them on for that extra mental edge. And as the Cavs continue to reel away from the surging Warriors, partly due to wavering intensity and defensive effort, the energy they should be able to receive at home can help some of their issues.
At least, that’s the idea when spinning a positive outlook on them for this game.
“We can’t afford to go down 3-0 to any team, especially a team that’s 73-9 in the regular season and playing the type of basketball they’re playing. So it’s a do-or-die game for us, and we understand that,” James said, via The Vertical.
As he’s forced to do in this situation, LeBron stated the obvious after going down 0-2, and should be more motivated than anyone, as the team’s leader down one fellow star, to fire back at home.
Well, these are reasons in their favor as to why the Cavs can win. It’s all up to them to make the correct adjustments, avoid heavy isolation usage, and drastically improve their overall team play and defense to make this series more respectable at 2-1.
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