DOWN 0-2 in the National Basketball Association Finals, the reigning league champion Cleveland Cavaliers seek some solace in the comforts of their home when they host Game 3 of the best-of-seven championship series against the 2015 titlist and playoffs-unblemished Golden State Warriors on Thursday, June 8 (Manila time, 9:00 a.m.), at the Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers have been forced into a must-win situation in Game 3 following yesterday’s 132-113 Game 2 shellacking at the hands of Golden State at the Oracle Arena that gave the Dubs a commanding 2-0 edge in the series.
The Cavs may be in a must-win situation in Game 3 but don’t forget that in last year’s Finals, the Dubs gained a 2-0 lead over the Cavs but the Wine and Gold rallied from a 3-1 series hole to claim the title and become the first team in Finals history ever to overcome such a deficit.
Cleveland got off to a quick start in Game 2, enjoying an 11-6 lead before Golden state erased that with a 6-0 run that propelled the Bay Area squad to a 11-11 tie. From thereon, Golden State, which got head coach Steve Kerr back on the sidelines after he missed the last 11 playoff games due to a back injury, never trailed nor did Cleveland even deadlock the score.
For the second straight game, early Finals Most Valuable Player candidate Kevin Durant reached the 30-point plateau, collecting 33 points (a follow-up to his 38-point output in the series-opening 113-91 victory)on 13-of-22 field shooting (including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc), 13 rebounds, six assists, five blocks and three steals in 40:42 minutes of action.
Back-to-back NBA MVP Stephen Curry registered his first-ever playoff triple-double of his career with 32 points (7-17 FGA, 4-11 3FGA), 14-14 FTA), 10 boards and 11 assists (plus eight turnovers). Klay Thompson broke out of an extended offensive slump with 22 points on an 8-of-12 floor clip, including 4-of-7 from downtown) along with seven reebies. Multi-dimensional frontliner Draymond Green netted 12 markers, six boards and six dimes.
LeBron James also collected a triple-double for Cleveland with 29 points (12-18 FGA), 11 rebounds and 14 assists – his eighth overall T-D in a Finals game that tied him with the Los Angeles Lakers’ Earvin (Magic) Johnson on the all-time Finals list.
James’ sidekick Kyrie Irving struggled offensively, going just 8-23 from the field to get 19 points along with seven assists. Kevin Love contributed 27 points (12-23 FGA) and seven rebounds after posting a double-double in those two categories in Game 1 with a playoff career-high 21 boards and 15 scores.
Where’s JR? J.R. Smith was absent for the second time in the series – held scoreless in Game 2 (0-2 3FGA) after going 1-of-4 (1-2 3FGA) in the opening contest for three points.
In the NBA’s 71-year history, only four teams (out of 32 series that went 2-0) have secured the title after dropping the first two games of a Finals series.
These are the 1969 Boston Celtics (4-3 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers), 1977 Portland Trail Blazers (4-2 vs. the Philadelphia 76ers), 2006 Miami Heat (4-2 vs. the Dallas Mavericks) and last year’s Cleveland team vs. Golden State (4-3).
None of the four teams enjoyed home-court advantage during those Finals and only the 2006 Heat’s triumph came under the 2-3-2 Finals format. The NBA has reverted to a 2-2-1-1-1 scheme since 2014.
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LeBron James, who scored 28 and 29 points in the first two games of the NBA Finals against Golden State, now has 1,136 points in Finals games in his eighth championship-round stint.
James still ranks seven on the all-time Finals scoring ladder.
He trails Jerry West (1,679), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,317), Michael Jordan (1,176), Elgin Baylor (1,161), Bill Russell (1,151) and Sam Jones (1,143).
James, who moved past Jordan to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA playoff history last May 25 in the series-clinching Game 5 of the East finals against Boston, is expected to surpass Jones, Russell, Baylor and Jordan during the course of the championship duel against the Warriors to climb to third on the all-time Finals list.
James is the 15th athlete in any of the four U.S. pro team sports leagues to play in seven consecutive Finals, and the first outside of the Montreal Canadiens’ dynasty in the National Hockey League in the 1950s and the Boston Celtics in the 1960s. (For record purposes, James’ close friend and current Cavs teammate James Jones, an often-benched journeyman since their Miami days in the early 2010s, is the 16th.)