THIRD DIMENSION
LeBron’s Cavaliers home to Warriors for Game 3 of NBA final
Cleveland’s LeBron James beats Golden State’s Kevin Durant for a clean layup early in Wednesday night’s third game of the NBA championship series, which ended after the Star’s deadline. Full story at thestar.com. .Warriors even mightier with Andre Iguodala back in action,
CLEVELAND— Andre Iguodala, welcome back to the NBA final.
The Golden State Warriors cleared Andre Iguodala to play in Game 3 of the title series against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, following a six-game absence to deal with a bone bruise around his left knee.
Iguodala hadn’t played since Game 3 of the Western Conference final against Houston, and the Warriors went 4-2 in his absence.
“Andre helps us in every regard,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s one of the smartest players in the league.”
Iguodala’s return offered another boost for the Warriors, who led the Cavaliers 2-0 and got the 2015 NBA final MVP back into their rotation.
Iguodala — who scored four points in limited minutes in the first half on Wednesday — averaged 11.4 points in 18 previous final games, including a 20point showing for Golden State in last year’s title clincher against the Cavaliers. He had been starting for Golden State in these playoffs, part of what is known as the Warriors’ Hamptons 5 lineup in a nod to the four players who went on the re- cruiting trip to lure Kevin Durant to their team two summers ago.
Iguodala was averaging 7.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in this post-season before Game 3.
“We talk about his versatility all the time,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “We talk about the ways that he can fill holes defensively and offensively for us, especially against teams that we have such famil- iarity with. He’s such a high-IQ type of guy that he’ll most likely find himself in the right place at the right time and help our rotation get back to what we’re consistently used to.”
With Iguodala, his value goes far deeper than stats.
“We all know what he’s capable of and how he helps this team,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “So it will be a huge boost for us.”