[live_blog_entry id=”LBE24″ title=”That’s a wrap” author=”34159″]At halftime, just over an hour ago, I wrote that despite Durant’s brilliance, the Warriors’ fate was still bound to rise and fall with that of the Splash Brothers, and well, despite the relative youth of those comments, they have already aged quite horribly. Durant played a great game tonight, carrying the Warriors to a hard fought victory in spite of the poor shooting from Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry who combined to shoot just 3-of-15 from 3 and 7-of-27 overall. It’s gotten easy to forget how good Durant is capable of being; he’s been the stable, unexciting counterpoint to Curry’s pyrotechnics throughout these Playoffs and I admit that I have not been immune to this forgetting myself. But tonight is a perfect reminder to me, as well as the rest of the basketball watching community, of what a great, and frankly unstoppable, scorer Durant is capable of being — the fact that Durant, at his best, is not merely a very good player, but one of the best in the world. And with his backbreaking three in the final minute tonight, Durant did not just remind fans of his greatness, but also, for all intents and purposes, ended the NBA Finals, practically ensuring the Warriors’ third championship in four years.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE23″ title=”A no-good, very-bad night” author=”24060″]No excuses here, even though he did hit the locker room at one point: Steph Curry has simply been awful tonight. The Cavaliers are clearly scheming to keep him and Klay Thompson contained, but still, his performance has been atrocious. There’s still time, and if anybody could shoot himself out of a 1-of-14 hole it’s Steph, but he’s not been able to do much of anything so far.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE22″ image=”1460926″ title=”The Rodney Hood Game” author=”34159″]And just as we all expected, Rodney Hood is the man keeping the Cavaliers in the game as we reach the seven minute mark in the fourth quarter. As the Cavaliers all series have been looking for consistent scorers not named LeBron James, Rodney Hood, despite barely playing in the first two games of the Finals has shot 7-of-9 for 15 points so far tonight, providing desperately needed firepower. If the Cavaliers pull out this tight game, we will improbably remember it as the Rodney Hood Game. What a world.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE21″ title=”Rodney Hood is still doing stuff” author=”24492″]Rodney Hood deserves some credit for continuing to play hard and make the most of this second chance he’s been given. He’s scored 11 points on 5-of-7 from the field, doing some work creating his own shot and brining plenty of energy on defense. He hasn’t been the answer. But he’s been useful.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE20″ title=”Durant showed up” author=”28954″]2017 NBA Finals Kevin Durant has decided to show up in Game 3 for the Golden State Warriors and his second-in-command has been none other than…JaVale McGee?! Durant has been locked in all game and he’s a dagger pull-up 3-pointer over LeBron away from replicating what he did to break the Cavaliers spirits a year ago. If Golden State gets another of their four-headed hydra to pick up the slack in the final quarter then Cleveland could once again be facing a 3-0 hole in the NBA Finals for the second straight year.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE19″ title=”Here it comes” author=”34159″]Led by a quick eight points by JaVale McGee, the Warriors have leapt out of halftime on a run and have their biggest lead of the game at 69-64. Considering how dominant the Warriors have been in third quarters over the last season, this could be where they finally assert themselves convincingly, taking a large lead for the first time in the game. I mean, Thompson and Curry are bound to make a few 3s at some point soon too, right?
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE18″ title=”Where are Curry and Klay?” author=”34159″]In the unofficial battle between Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry amongst the NBA community, I fall firmly into the “lmao steph better” camp and his failure to find a rhythm tonight, in a counterintuitive way, illustrates why. Durant has played a pretty much flawless first half, scoring 24 points on just 10 shots while Curry has scored just two points while going 1-of-8. But Durant’s successes have felt isolated, happening apart from the flow of the Warriors’ offense at its best, and hampering the Warriors connectivity. When Curry catches fire, it seems like the perfect embodiment of what makes Golden State so fearsome, making opponents just want to quit in frustration. Durant can score and score, but it doesn’t have the same psychic effect on the opposition, and the Warriors will need the Splash Brothers to start scoring more if they want to win tonight’s game. As always, the Warriors’ fate rises and falls with that of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE17″ title=”Let’s hear it for the Kevins” author=”24492″]The Kevins (Durant and Love) combined for 39 points and 18 rebounds in the first half, shooting 13-of-20 from the field and 6-of-9 on 3-pointers. And here’s some additional context on how important this was for Kevin Love.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE16″ title=”It’s nice to see you Rodney Hood” author=”21865″]Tyronn Lue’s best coaching adjustment was playing Rodney Hood over Jordan Clarkson. Even if Hood is a -7, he’s actually made some baskets and isn’t trying to do too much when he has the ball.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE15″ title=”Thank goodness for Kevin Durant” author=”24060″]In case anybody needed a reminder, this first half is exactly why the Warriors added Kevin Durant, and why it was the right thing to do. The fit is not perfect, but that doesn’t matter when a player is this damn good. Golden State would be getting blown out without Durant if Steph Curry was so cold, but instead the Warriors withstood a nearly ideal (aside from LeBron’s ankle sprain) first half and are down just six points. Durant has 24 points, eight rebounds, and two assists in just 21 minutes thus far.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE14″ title=”Minnesota Love” author=”25669″]Man, we may never see “Minnesota Kevin Love” again, but this version of the Cavs’ big man is one of the most fun guys in the league to watch catch fire.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE13″ image=”1460879″ title=”Kevin Love has been dynomite” author=”24492″]Kevin Love has been absolutely incredible. He’s now hit a double-double in the first half — with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3-of-5 on 3-pointers. Even those numbers might undersell his impact, and they don’t cover how aggressive and engaged he’s been on defense.[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE12″ title=”Who is he talking about?” author=”24492″]Seriously, any guesses?
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE11″ title=”A bag of excess” author=”28954″]Not to pull a Paul Centopani and count my chickens before they hatch, but if the worst case scenario happens and the Warriors go on to sweep the Cavaliers this first quarter will go a long way in determining that. Cleveland did everything perfect. Their supporting cast carried the offense and let LeBron work as a facilitator first. They had an early 12-point lead and The Q was rocking. Then, the Warriors reached into their bag of excess and plucked out a 13-point, 7-rebound first 12 minutes from Kevin Durant and just like that Cleveland’s edge was cut to one-point by the end of the first quarter.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE10″ image=”1460862″ author=”34159″]After the Cavaliers quickly bounded out to a 12-point lead early, the Warriors showed a great response cutting the deficit to one going into the second quarter. Led by Durant, who has shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, the Warriors quickly closed the gap, putting themselves in position to win a game that looked like it may quickly get out of hand. Moving forward, the Warriors need to close the gap on offensive rebounds (5-1, advantage Cavaliers) and shoot better from 3 (2-of-8 so far), but they’re in a much better place than I expected them to be four minutes in.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE9″ title=”Draymond wyd?” author=”24060″]Draymond Green is determined to push the referees tonight to the absolute limit. After getting a tech as part of a double technical involving Tristan Thompson earlier in the first quarter, he then picked up a foul on a pretty physical play under the basket and screamed something along the lines of trucking mule spit at full blast while somehow avoiding that second tech, and ejection. He’s either going to have the game of his life, or have to watch the second half from the bench.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE8″ title=”Home cooking” author=”34159″]Well, that homecourt advantage is certainly working in the Cavaliers’ favor four minutes in as they are up 10, looking better than the Warriors in every facet of the game. They’re only shooting 50 percent, but have three offensive rebounds which have led to second chance points and have taken advantage of the Warriors’ three early turnovers as well. This is obviously a manageable deficit for the Warriors, but considering their penchant for taking their foot off the proverbial gas pedal, it would not be altogether surprising to see the Warriors pretty much concede this one if the Cavaliers lead grows and just hope to take Game 4 on Friday.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE7″ title=”Just what the doctor ordered” author=”21865″]Cavaliers have the exact start that they need. Including a LeBron James self ally-oop. The goal now is to maintain this. The Warriors have gotten down big early throughout the playoffs and it hasn’t mattered because of the dreaded third quarter.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE6″ title=”LeBron with the assist to LeBron” author=”24492″]What do you even do with this?
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE5″ image=”1460829″ title=”Here comes the Hamptons 5″ author=”34159″]The big news entering tonight’s Game 3 is the availability of Andre Iguodala for the Golden State Warriors, who missed the previous six games due to injury. This means that the Warriors’ appropriately lauded Death Lineup is now able to be unleashed for the first time in the Finals so far. Throughout the playoffs so far, that lineup has a dominant net rating of 22.9, also operating at a much faster pace than their normal speed, which often serves to disorient the opposition. While this is great news for the Warriors, it should cast fear into the Cavaliers who absolutely have to win tonight, and considering their inability to pull out a victory in the first two games, the addition of Iguodala does not augur well for Cleveland. Using this lineup more frequently — with Harrison Barnes in place of Kevin Durant — was decisive in the 2015 Finals and it would not be shocking if it proved decisive again this year.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE4″ title=”Finally a game at home for the Cavaliers” author=”34159″]This being the first game at home for the Cavaliers, obviously bodes well for Cleveland, but for reasons deeper than mere homecourt advantage considering how drastically improved many Cavaliers players have shot at home throughout the playoffs. Kyle Korver has shot over 55 percent from 3 at home, but only 34 percent on the road while J.R. Smith has shot 39 percent at home as opposed to 34 percent on the road. The reasons for this are impossible to know with any certainty, but regardless, it is a promising sign for the Cavaliers as they have shot abysmally on open 3s in the first two games of the Finals and remedying that is an absolute necessity if they are to win tonight and make this a series.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE3″ title=”Stay golden, Cleveland” author=”24492″]Pro-tip. Do not visit Cleveland or Oakland in the month of June, wearing a black and white striped shirt.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE2″ title=”Iggy back” author=”24492″]Andre Iguodala is officially available for tonight’s game, which could be huge for the Warriors. His defense on LeBron in the 2015 NBA Finals was what won him the Finals MVP this year. No one is stopping LeBron, but slowing him down and making him use more energy could be another edge for Golden State.
[/live_blog_entry][live_blog_entry id=”LBE1″ title=”Game 3 prep” author=”24492″]
The Cavaliers are home and looking to get themselves back into the series. Everything is riding on tonight and here are a few things to know before tip-off:
- No one shoots 3-pointers like Stephen Curry and the Warriors
- How Steve Kerr shaped Stephen Curry’s shooting
- Can the Cavaliers solve the Warriors blitzing pick-and-roll defense?
[/live_blog_entry]