Cavs’ win game 3 NBA Finals

Warriors with a slow start again, second straight loss and trail 2-1 in series

Warriors vs. Cavaliers Game 3 NBA Finals

Cavs’ win game 3 NBA Finals

CLEVELAND — Not again! The slow start offensive Warriors left disappointed after falling short against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers imposed their tempo to the Warriors’ fast offense before their home crowd and escaped with a 96-91 win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of seven series.

Stephen Curry scored 27 points, but once again, he was outshined by Matthew Dellavedova, who scored 20 points, blocking and keeping up with the MVP, he also came up huge at crunch time.

The Warriors shot 40 percent from the field and saw Draymond Green with 2 for 10 from the arc, acknowledging afterward he was dealing with a back injury, while Harrison Barnes went scoreless in 19 minutes on a 0-for-8 shooting.

Curry hit seven 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 94-91 with 18.9 seconds left, and after a whistle stoppage that would have left the Warriors with the ball, a video replay ruling overturned the call.

Coach Steve Kerr said. “I didn’t like our energy,” “I didn’t like our body language for much of that first three quarters.”

The Warriors engineered a comeback from a 20-point deficit in the fourth, and cut it to 79-76 with 5:40 left. The hot start to the quarter was fueled by bench players Andre Iguodala, Leandro Barbosa and David Lee making an impact. Curry’s reverse layup cut it to three, and then his fourth 3-pointer of the game cut it to 81-80.”We became the aggressors,” Curry said. “For us to win this series, we have to play that way the whole game. We have the depth. We have the talent to do it.”
Kerr said: “It was good to see us bring the fight to the game.”

The Cavaliers responded with Dellavedova 3-point play. Curry then threw a behind-the-back pass out of bounds for one of his six turnovers to set up James’ 3-pointer on the other end to make it 87-80 with 1:44 left.
Once again, it was Dellavedova scrambling after a loose ball and the Cavaliers leading 88-83, who made a headlong dive and ended up on the bottom of the pile with the ball as he was fouled.
The crowd chanted at the Saint Mary’s product “Delly! Delly! Delly!” They were louder than any “MVP” chant or any to the four-time award winner King James.

“They obviously love the way he plays,” Curry said before addressing how the 3-point play turned the momentum back toward the Cavaliers. “He made some timely buckets, and that was one of them.”
Meanwhile, on a 12-0 run in the third quarter by the Cavaliers to push the lead to 20 points. It started when Curry committed a turnover and James hit a 3-pointer on the other end. James then backed down Iguodala and scored.
Timofey Mozgov had his third blocked shot of the quarter, and on the other end, Dellavedova grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. After J.R. Smith hit a 3-pointer, James blocked Klay Thompson and dished off to Mozgov for a dunk to put the Cavaliers ahead 68-48.

The Warriors trailed 44-37 at halftime after being held to the fewest amount of points in any first half this season.
Curry scored only three points in the half on 1-for-6 shooting as the Warriors remained cold from 3-point range with a 3-for-16 start.
“Steph never loses confidence,” Kerr said. “I just thought he lost a little energy, and I don’t know, life. We just need life from everybody. We need emotion from everybody. He’s not a really emotional player like Draymond is or somebody. But we’ve got to fight through the down periods with just that competitive life and energy.”

James scored 13 first-half points, James Jones beat the buzzer for a 3-pointer to finish off the second quarter. Iman Shumpert had a 3-pointer after getting shaken up on a hard screen, and Smith drained a shot from beyond the arc as he made each of his first three field-goal attempts.

And then, there was King James in the end, finishing with 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. LeBron James who has embraced an underdog role in the series, finished off the favored Warriors with free throws and led the Cavaliers to a second straight win.