Friday night, we’ll all find out together if this will be one of the all-time great NBA Finals or if this could be over on Monday. Was Game 3 an aberration or was it a growing trend?
I watched the game the same as everybody else and I didn’t see anything to get alarmed about. The pundits from around the league are extremely critical of Klay Thompson and Steph Curry’s first three games. Commentators and analysts are now talking about Draymond Green’s dirty play and yelling at his team down 20-plus points in Game 3 of The Finals. Whether all of that talk actually motivates anybody is the real question. When you reach that upper echelon of sports the accolades increase, but so does the judgement. Was it an overreaction to one bad game or something that Golden State should be worried about?
The Cavs came out on fire no doubt because of the Cleveland crowd and by virtue of that they stayed undefeated at home. Richard Jefferson, despite rarely playing any minutes of note during the season, was a bit of a spark playing in lieu of Kevin Love. But that all pales in comparison to when you look at who really took that game over. Right at this moment, LeBron is the greatest player in the world. That takes into account what Steph has done these last few weeks. He’s got a fantastic skill set and in this series especially, that is on full display. If he can duplicate what he did last game and get a little bit of help, this could be very interesting come Monday night.
The only thing to be concerned about is if Klay and Steph continue to struggle and not look like the best backcourt in the NBA. Klay had to carry the team a few times against Portland and then the bulk of the OKC series, so perhaps he’s a little fatigued. Anybody that is watching this playoff run knows Curry is hurt. When you are not yourself, you can only do so much with what you have. When you can’t break free as quickly or get in the lane as easily, that can throw off your entire game and the overall team gameplan. This season has caught up with him, even if he won’t use that as an excuse. Regardless of how he is feeling, I don’t see how the unanimous MVP could have a fourth straight pedestrian game. He needs a big game and I think he may have one of those Friday in Ohio.
When it comes down to it, I just can’t see the Warriors losing three out of four games to Cleveland. If Golden State wins Game 4, we could be seeing more confetti in the Bay Area’s immediate future.
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