2015 NBA Finals: Game 3 Recap

By Gerald Bourguet | Jun 9, 2015

Jun 9, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) talks with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) during the first quarter in game three of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

After shocking the world in Game 2 of the 2015 NBA Finals and handing the Golden State Warriors their fourth loss at Oracle Arena all season long, the Cleveland Cavaliers had an opportunity to take a 2-1 series lead at home.

It wasn’t easy, but the Cavs were able to make the most of that opportunity.

Despite almost letting a 17-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers were ultimately able to hang on for a 96-91 victory in Game 3, taking control of the series at Quicken Loans Arena. According to NBA.com Stats, the winner of Game 3 when the series is tied 1-1 has gone on to win the series 83.8 percent of the time (31 of 37 instances).

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LeBron James once again led the way with a massive 40-point, 12-rebound, eight-assist performance. He struggled from the field once again (14-for-34), but Cleveland’s grind-it-out style and unbelievably stingy defense got the job done for the third game in a row.

Matthew Dellavedova moved himself one more miracle closer to sainthood in Cleveland, pestering Stephen Curry on the defensive end and chipping in 20 points, five rebounds and four assists on the offensive end.

Curry led the Dubs with 27 points, but he didn’t look like the MVP until the fourth quarter with the lead all but out of reach. He scored 17 of his points (and five of his six threes) in the final period, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the struggles of Harrison Barnes (zero points, 0-for-8 shooting), Draymond Green (seven points, 2-of-10) and Klay Thompson (14 points, 6-of-16).

Andre Iguodala chipped in 15 off the bench and David Lee added 11. The Warriors’ bench combined for 39 of Golden State’s 91 points. Tristan Thompson had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Backed by a roaring home crowd hungry to see the first NBA Finals home win in franchise history, the Cavaliers got off to a quick 12-5 start in the first quarter, capped off by a thunderous LeBron dunk — his first dunk of the entire series:

But the Warriors somehow weathered the early storm, cutting Cleveland’s lead to 24-20 at the end of the first quarter. Iman Shumpert went to the locker room halfway through the period with a shoulder injury after getting nailed by Draymond Green on a screen.

With Andrew Bogut playing soft and Harrison Barnes getting torched off the dribble by LeBron, Steve Kerr was forced to bring in Festus Ezeli and Andre Iguodala to provide some sort of spark off the bench.

Iggy bricked his first two three-point attempts, but got open right at the rim for two easy dunks with the defense overplaying Golden State’s shooters. Ezeli had four points, three boards and one monster block on Dellavedova in his first six minutes of action.

On the other end, Tristan Thompson continued to be a thorn in Golden State’s side, racking up six points (3-of-3 shooting) and seven boards in the first quarter.

Foul trouble was the common theme early in the second quarter, with James Jones picking up his third foul one minute into the period. A few minutes after that, Draymond Green picked up his second foul on a boxout against Timofey Mozgov.

The Warriors had a rare David Lee sighting with Bogut struggling, but the Cavs also got a second quarter boost when Shumpert returned and promptly buried a three-pointer to put Cleveland up 38-31. The Warriors bench kept Golden State in the game, with Andre Iguodala’s 10 first half points leading the way.

The Warriors’ reserves (21 points) outscored the starters (16) in the first half, with the starters shooting an atrocious 6-of-27 from the floor. LeBron James led the Cavs with 13 points and nine rebounds in the first half while J.R. Smith added seven off the bench to give Cleveland a 44-37 lead at the half.

Andrew Bogut came out aggressive to start the half with Golden State’s first four points, but Dellavedova fired back with five straight points to give the Cavs their largest lead of the game, 51-41. At that point, Delly had outscored the Splash Brothers — combined — by a 10-9 margin.

At that point, Klay Thompson decided to take matters into his own hands with the Warriors struggling, driving and slamming down a dunk on Mozgov:

But on back-to-back plays, Green picked up his third and fourth fouls to suck away any possible momentum. With momentum up for grabs, LeBron James completely took over and tried to put the game out of reach.

On a 10-5 Cavs run that extended Cleveland’s lead to 61-48, LeBron scored seven of his team’s 10 points and assisted on the one other basket, a Dellavedova three-pointer. If it were possible to see a dagger in the third quarter, J.R. Smith supplied it with a three-pointer in transition that extended the lead to 18.

Curry started to come to life as the Warriors got increasingly desperate, scoring five straight points and finding Leandro Barbosa for a two-pointer that cut Cleveland’s lead to 15. But the Cavs led 72-55 heading into the fourth quarter with LeBron three assists shy of his second straight triple-double and Curry failing to get a layup off before the buzzer.

But the Warriors weren’t done, and as they’ve done many times this season, they started working their way back into the game with an onslaught of three-pointers. An 8-0 run capped off by triples from Thompson and Iguodala quickly cut the deficit to nine with just under 10 minutes to play and forced David Blatt to call a timeout.

Golden State’s small-ball lineup with Lee at center proved to be problematic for Cleveland’s stifling defense, as Lee’s passing ability led to Iggy’s three. On the following possession, he finished a three-point play to cut the lead to eight, and on the possession after that, he found Barbosa out of a pick and roll for an easy two that cut it down to six.

The Cavaliers started to attack Lee on the defensive end, and with Lee out of position, Thompson started to assert himself on the offensive glass again. But a stepback Steph Curry three cut the lead to four and sent nervous tremors through Quicken Loans Arena.

The Warriors cut the lead all the way down to three, but after Thompson failed to convert a well-contested layup, the Cavs turned the rebound into a fast break opportunity that extended the lead back to five:

LeBron came up limping after the alley-oop, which could have easily been called a three-point play, but he was back on the floor and looked okay after Blatt’s timeout.

A Curry three-pointer soon cut Cleveland’s advantage to one, but a clutch, improbable Matthew Dellavedova three-point play extended it back to four.

LeBron James supplied the final dagger with a three following a Golden State turnover, giving the Cavs a seven-point lead with 1:44 to play. The Warriors continued to stay within reach thanks to a late barrage of Curry threes, one of which cut the deficit to three with 18 seconds to play, but the Cavs were able to make their free throws and hang on for the victory and the 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 will be in Cleveland Thursday night as the Cavaliers look to establish a dominant 3-1 lead.

Next: Stephen Curry: Top 10 Moments From His MVP Season

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