A general exterior view of the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Three of the 2016 NBA Finals on June 8, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images
CLEVELAND (Diya TV) — For the fourth time these playoffs, the Golden State Warriors were unsuccessful in winning the first road game of a series, falling to the Cavaliers 120-90 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday.
The Warriors trailed from wire to wire in the game, and now hold a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven series,
It was once again Golden State’s reserves, not their starters, who showed glimpses of championship greatness in the contest — the Warriors’ bench dug the team out of a 20-point deficit to pull within eight at the half. The third quarter proved to be the dagger. Four Warriors scored in double figures — Curry recorded 19, Harrison Barnes netted 18 and Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson scored 11 and 10 respectively.
Golden State was outrebounded 52-32 in the game, and in what has been an almost common theme, turned the ball over 18 times. Cleveland capitalized on the change of possessions, scoring 34 points off turnovers in the game.
Barnes posted one of the most respectable playoff efforts this postseason — his 18 points are a personal playoff-high and came from a 7-of-11 shooting performance. He added another eight rebounds and two assists, playing 33 minutes in the game.
Golden State’s coaching staff and fans likely gasped when Thompson was required to leave the game momentarily during the first quarter after sustaining a contusion to his left thigh during a collision with Timofey Mozgov. He ultimately returned during the second quarter.
During his postgame interview, Thompson would go on to say the collision “made no sense,” and “seemed kind of dirty to me.”
Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots the ball against the Golden State Warriors in Game Three of the 2016 NBA Finals on June 8, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
After being absent from the first two games, forward LeBron James showcased an outbreak performance with a game-high 32 points. Kyrie Irving made Game 3 a statement game for himself as well, scoring 30 points, 16 of which came during the first quarter. Cleveland stormed out of the gate early, racing out to leads of 9-0, 23-8 and 33-13 in the game.
Draymond Green, who has been the consensus pick for Finals MVP through the first two games of the series said Cleveland “came out like their season was on the line,” and that Golden State “came out like it was peaches and cream.”
As mentioned previous, the loss brings the Warriors Game 3 record these playoffs to 0-4, extending the streak to five in their overall losing streak in such postseason games, dating back to Game 3 of last year’s NBA Finals. For the Cavs, the win snaps a seven-game losing streak, which dated back to Game 4 of last year’s Finals.
Game 4 tips off Friday night at 6 p.m. PDT at Quicken Loans Arena.
